Same-Sex And Worried About Retirement

Members of married couples also receive a one-time death benefit of $255 after their spouses die.

Also, if one member of a married couple has never worked or has low earnings, that spouse can be entitled to as much as half of the full retirement benefit produced by the higher-earning spouse's record.

• Property ownership. Married couples can own property as tenants and can automatically pass it on to the surviving spouse without the expense and hassle of probate. A certain amount of personal property, such as furniture or artwork, also automatically transfers. Sure, an unmarried couple may will each other property, but that makes it potentially subject to the estate tax, although that's currently not a problem for most people because it kicks in for only high-income families. A married person also may shift assets to a spouse without it being considered a gift and potentially subject to tax.

Another concern about wills is that they can be, and often are, challenged by hostile family members. "There's the lack of ease of the safety net that comes with automatic inheritance," Adams said. He also noted that "the vast majority of Americans don't have wills. The vast majority of gay and lesbian couples don't."

• Long-term care. To qualify for long-term care under Medicaid, individuals need to demonstrate that they have few assets. A married couple isn't forced to sell the house to cover expenses as long as one member still lives in it. Unmarried couples don't have that protection. This is a concern for Hausman and Bergsrud, since Alzheimer's disease runs in Bergsrud's family. One possible solution, according to Burda, is to buy a long-term-care insurance policy that covers five years' care. When determining whether someone qualifies for Medicaid coverage, states look back five years at an applicant's assets. With the five-year long-term care policy, the member of the couple requiring care could transfer his or her share of the home to the other partner, be covered for five years by the policy and then qualify for Medicaid coverage.
• Health insurance. Some companies provide health insurance coverage to domestic partners, although it's treated as taxable income. In some states, only one member of a same-sex couple is allowed to be the legal parent of the couple's child or children. Only that parent will be able to cover a child under employer-provided health insurance. Often that means that the insured parent will feel he or she can't retire or change jobs because it would result in the loss of dependent health insurance, Susan Sommer said.

And so it goes. Same-sex couples also may need to save more for retirement because of other expenses. They often don't qualify for discounts routinely available to married couples, ranging from lower rates for a gym or a swimming pool association or for auto insurance, for instance. Hausman and Bergsrud have one car and pay for more expensive business auto insurance so they can have both names on the policy.

They should shop around, said Burda, who added that Liberty Mutual and some other companies don't discriminate against unmarried couples. And there are ways to work around many of the other problems that such couples confront, she and others said. But obtaining what comes routinely to married couples may involve lawyers and financial planners and more money out of pocket.

And less money for retirement.

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