Domestic Partner Information

 

To enroll a domestic partner for coverage, you need to complete and submit a domestic partner packet. Domestic partnerships must be established for at least 12 months before a domestic partner can be enrolled as a dependent partner under any of the District’s plans. Domestic partners are not eligible for COBRA or AB528 coverage. A domestic partner is someone with whom the employee or retiree:

 

• has shared a regular and permanent residence for at least the past 12 months;

• is engaged in an exclusive committed relationship for mutual support and benefit to the same extent as married individuals;

• intends to stay indefinitely;

• is jointly responsible for basic living expenses.

 

To be eligible, neither partner may be married to, or have signed a declaration of domestic partnership with, another individual in the previous 12 months, and both partners:

 

• must be at least age 18;

• may not be blood relatives any closer than would prohibit legal marriage in the state in which they reside;

• must be mentally competent to consent to a contract;

• must be financially interdependent as proven by required documentation.

 

If you elect domestic partner coverage, the IRS requires that the value of the coverage the District provides to domestic partners must be reported as taxable income. Employees and retirees who elect coverage for a domestic partner will have the value of domestic partner coverage reported on their W-2 forms. To cover a domestic partner’s child, you must have adopted the child or have been declared the child’s legal guardian.

 

If you and your domestic partner are registered with the State of California, you may enroll your domestic partner at any time. State-registered domestic partners follow the same eligibility rules as spouses. You must submit your registration certificate along with a “Request for Change of Dependent Status form” to Benefits Administration (see below for Active or Retiree specific forms).

If you and your domestic partner are registered with the State of California, your domestic partner’s children are eligible for coverage. To enroll your domestic partner’s children you must complete a “Request for Change of Dependent Status form” along with a copy the child’s birth certificate, a copy of your registration with the State of California, and a copy your latest income tax return showing the child’s dependent status or another form of documentation showing the child is a dependent.

 

If you divorce or terminate your domestic partnership you must wait at least twelve months from when Benefits Administration is notified of the divorce or termination of your domestic partner coverage before you can add another domestic partner.

Although State of California registered domestic partners are not required to report benefits as taxable income with the State, the domestic partners are required to report benefits as taxable income to the Federal tax board.

 

 

Active Employee:

 

Retired Employee: