Rights of Unmarried Couples
by: New Mexico Legal Aid
Unmarried couples cannot be covered by each other's health insurance. Not even when they live in the same house.
It can only happen when one is the dependent of the other.
Being a dependent means one person supports the other.
The policy must say the other person is a dependent. It must say the dependent is covered.
No living together partner can just collect the other's life insurance.
There has to be a written document saying you are to get the life insurance money.
If you are a blood relative, you can.
If you have joint ownership of property you can insure the other to protect your part.
Usually people living together but not married, cannot make decisions for each other.
There is a new law, which allows them to do this. The two people have to be together for a long time. The sick partner has to have acted like a spouse. Then, the other partner can make decisions for the sick one.
It does not matter if the couples are man and woman, or of the same sex.
It does not cover couples in short-term relationships. It does not cover roommates.
An unmarried couple lives together.
They do not have the social security of married couples.
Unmarried couples cannot file tax returns as one person.
Children are born to unmarried couples. They are the mother's children.
The father has to make a written statement. This will prove he is the father.
The mother or the father can start a law suit. This called a parentage suit. It will prove who is the father.
Both parents have the responsibility to care for and support their children.
Both parents have the right to custody of their children.
The mother of a child can claim support for the child. The support will start from the date of its birth date.
A parent can claim child support. This can be done even if the parents never lived together. They had a child together.
Children are born to unmarried parents. The have the same rights to inheritance as those born to married people. And, they have the same right to support as those born to married parents.
A law suit to prove who the father is can be started at any time. It can start at any time during the life of a parent. That includes at or after death.
A mother receives any kind of public assistance for her child. She must sign over her child support rights to the state.
Same sex marriages in New Mexico are not likely at this time.
The same rules about property and support cover same sex arrangements.
This means living together arrangements.
Homosexual couples living together may adopt children in New Mexico.
In New Mexico a homosexual can adopt a child.
Last Reviewed On: 05/16/04
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