Q. My lover passed away last month from an automobile accident. We were together for 18 years, unfortunately, neither of us had a will and we didn't become Civil Union partners. Because my lover made a lot more money than I, she wanted everything to be in her name alone, the house, the car and the bank accounts. The problem is that my lover's parents are now saying that they own the house and everything else. What are my legal rights?
A. Married couples and LGBT couples with a Civil Union who buy real estate together have divorce and probate laws to provide protection to them in case they should split up or die. Same sex couples who are not in a Civil Union, however, have to create for themselves their own safeguards.
If you should die without a will, the state in which you live has a very simple solution, they will write a will for you. The state will write a will to protect you're your Civil Union partner, your husband, your wife, your children and related family members. The state will not make any provision to provide for your LGBT lover, your favorite charities or friends. If you fail to have a will, your lover could receive nothing.
A pair of relatively uncomplicated wills for each member of a LGBT couple may require only one consultation with an attorney and may cost a total of only $300 to $500 a small price considering what can happen without a will.
There may also be times when you will want the same protection of a will deciding to whom your property shall go but yet in the event of death have title to the property transfer directly to your lover without the expense of probate court proceedings.
In Illinois, real estate can be owned by the device of an Illinois land trust. As a solution to the problem at hand, the lover that paid all the money could have held title to the house in a land trust and provide in the document creating the land trust that in the event of death the house would go to the surviving lover. That way the deceased lover could have total control over the property while she was alive and provide for her lover in the case of death.