APPENDIX D

Department of Employee Relations-Definition of Same Sex Domestic Partner  for Insurance Purposes

A domestic partnership is defined as a relationship between an employee and another adult of the same sex, in which the parties, hereinafter called domestic partners:

6.                  Have entered into a committed interdependent relationship with each other;

2.         Are jointly responsible for each other’s basic common welfare;

7.                  Share a common residence  and intend to do so indefinitely;

8.                  Are not related by blood or adoption such that would prohibit marriage in Minnesota; are neither married nor registered in another domestic partnership; and

2.                  Are legally competent and qualified to enter into a contract.

“Joint responsibility ” means that each partner agrees to provide for the other partner’s basic living expenses if the partner is unable to provide for himself or herself.

“Basic common welfare” includes food, shelter, and health care.

“Share a common residence ” means that two (2) people share the same place to live.  It is not necessary that the legal right to possess the common residence be in both of their names.  Two (2) people may have a common residence even if one (1) or both persons has an additional place to live.  Domestic partners do not cease to live together if one (1) partner leaves the common residence but intends to return, including but not limited to, periods of time left for long-term or short-term medical care, sabbaticals, or employment.