TERMINATING A CALIFORNIA REGISTERED DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIP Produced by the California Secretary of State's Business Programs Division Notary Public & Special Filings Section 2015 Table of Contents What is this Brochure..................................................................................................1 Some Important Terms To Know..................................................................................................1 Terminating a Domestic Partnership by a Notice of Termination of Domestic Partnership........3 Requirements for Filing a Notice of Termination with the California Secretary of State........3 What You Should Know About Revoking the Filing of a Notice of Termination...................4 An Important Difference Between Filing a Notice of Termination with the California Secretary of State and a Petition of Dissolution with the Superior Court.................................5 Court Set-Aside of California Secretary of State Termination .................................................5 Dissolution or Nullity of Domestic Partnership by Petition of the Superior Court ......................6 Petition for Dissolution of Domestic Partnership .....................................................................6 Petition for Dissolution of Domestic Partnership and Marriage...............................................6 Petition for Judgment of Nullity of Domestic Partnership .......................................................7 Petition for Legal Separation of Domestic Partners..................................................................7 Should You Consult an Attorney? ................................................................................................8 Notice of Termination of Domestic Partnership................................................Attached Revised February 13, 2015 i What is this Brochure This brochure describes the requirements for terminating a California registered domestic partnership in the State of California and explains the nature and effect of termination. In certain circumstances, if all the requirements are met, partners may terminate a registered domestic partnership by preparing and filing a Notice of Termination of Domestic Partnership form with the California Secretary of State. In all other circumstances, at least one of the partners must file a petition with, and obtain a judgment from, a California Superior Court in the same way that marriages are terminated. To terminate a domestic partnership using the procedure through the California Secretary of State, you must sign a form stating that you have read and understood this brochure. Therefore, it is important to read this entire brochure carefully. This brochure cannot answer every question that may arise in a particular set of circumstances, and this brochure is not intended to provide legal advice. For additional questions about terminating a registered domestic partnership and the effect of termination after you review this brochure, a private attorney should be consulted. If filing a Notice of Termination of Domestic Partnership, this brochure should be saved for at least six months from the date the termination form is filed with the California Secretary of State. Either partner can revoke the termination within six months of filing the termination form with the California Secretary of State. Some Important Terms to Know In order to understand the nature and effect of terminating a registered domestic partnership, the following explains some key terms that are used throughout this brochure. Additionally, both partners should understand that as a couple in a registered domestic partnership, there are certain things that the partners own together and there may be certain debts that the partners owe together. Termination of a Domestic Partnership The termination of a registered domestic partnership ends the registered domestic partnership and returns the partners to the status of un-partnered persons. The partners no longer will have the rights, protections and benefits or obligations and responsibilities under the law as registered domestic partners. The process of termination usually will divide all the community property and community obligations of the partners. Once effective, the termination may not be undone except in limited circumstances by order of a California Superior Court. Termination of a domestic partnership does not dissolve a marriage. Date of Separation The date of separation is the date one of the partners tells the other partner that they want to terminate the domestic partnership and there is no chance of continuing the partnership. In most cases, it is the date the partners stop living together as a couple, but if there are questions about the separation date, an attorney should be consulted. Community Property Community property is everything that the partners have acquired together after registering their domestic partnership. In most cases, that includes anything that either partner earned and anything that either partner bought with those earnings after the date the domestic partnership was registered but before the date of separation. This may not be the case if a written property settlement agreement was made between the partners regarding rights to partnership property. In Revised February 13, 2015 1 that situation an attorney should be consulted regarding the partners' respective rights to community property. Separate Property Separate property generally is everything that partners owned prior to registering their domestic partnership and any interest or other income received from that separate property after registering the domestic partnership and before the separation date. In most cases, anything earned or received after the date of separation and anything received by gift or inheritance at any time is also separate property. Fair Market Value Except for bank accounts and cash, which are valued at their actual dollar amount, the value of community property is determined by adding together the fair market value of possessions that are community property. Fair market value is an estimate of the amount of money that could be obtained if those items were sold to a stranger at a flea market, garage sale, on the Internet or in the newspaper. It does not mean what was paid for those items originally or how much it would cost to replace those items now. One way of estimating the fair market value is to see what similar