Marriage | Vermont

是的。 On April 7, 2009, Vermont became the first state to obtain marriage rights for same-sex couples through a legislative process rather than a court case.  The bill, S.115 An Act to Protect Religious Freedom and Recognize Equality in Civil Marriage (the “Marriage Act”) (See An Act Relating to Civil Marriage at:  http://www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/2010/bills/Passed/S-115.pdf), was passed by the legislature on April 3, 2009; vetoed by the Governor on April 6, 2009; and the veto was overridden by the Senate (23-5) and the House (100-49) on April 7, 2009.  The Marriage Act took effect on September 1, 2009.

This was the result of nearly 15 years of relentless work by Vermont Freedom to Marry, under the leadership of Beth Robinson. GLAD was pleased to have been able to provide some assistance and support to the effort.

Six years later, in 奧貝格費爾訴霍奇斯案（135 S.Ct. 2584 (2015)）美國最高法院裁定美國憲法保障同性伴侶結婚的權利，使婚姻平權在全國範圍內成為現實。同性戀者反歧視聯盟（GLAD）的瑪麗·博諾托（Mary Bonauto）在口頭辯論中代表原告。奧貝格費爾，美國所有 50 個州都必須向同性伴侶頒發結婚證書，並且所有州都必須尊重在其他司法管轄區內進行的同性伴侶婚姻。

The process for getting married in Vermont requires the following basic steps:

1. an eligible couple submits an application for a license in either the town or city in Vermont where one of the parties lives (out-of-state couples can go to any town or city clerk) (18 V.S.A. § 5131(a)(1));
2. the couple must pay the applicable fee and receive a marriage license from the clerk;
3. the couple must have the marriage solemnized (i.e., have a ceremony) within 60 days of filing the application (18 V.S.A. § 5131(b));
4. once the ceremony has been performed, the person who performed it has 10 days to send the license back to the city or town where it was issued (18 V.S.A. § 5131(c)); and
5. the clerk will then file the original (18 V.S.A. § 5131 (c)), and the couple can receive an official certificate of their marriage.

The detailed process for getting married in Vermont, whether you should enter a marriage, and what it all means are questions that are addressed in GLAD’s publication, How To Get Married In Vermont， 在 https://glad-org-wpom.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/how-to-get-married-vt.pdf.

是的。感謝 奧貝格費爾訴霍奇斯案，所有州都必須向同性伴侶頒發結婚證書。

Yes. Vermont will respect the legal marriages of same-sex couples regardless of where the marriage was performed, just as all states will now respect the marriage of a same-sex couple married in Vermont.

Yes. Thanks to the recent demise of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 溫莎訴美國案 (133. S.Ct. 2675 (2013)), the federal government will recognize and respect the legal marriages of same-sex couples.

DOMA, a federal statute which defined marriage exclusively as the union between one man and one woman, once prevented same-sex spouses from accessing the 1000+ federal laws pertaining to marriage, including taxes, Social Security (including SSDI and SSI), immigration, bankruptcy, FMLA, federal student financial aid, Medicaid, Medicare, veteran’s benefits, and TANF. Happily, in 2013 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down DOMA as unconstitutional. GLAD filed the first challenge to DOMA in 2009, Gill v. OPM (699 F.Supp.2d 374 (2010)), and the legal framework developed in that case was used in many subsequent cases, 溫莎 包括. GLAD was also responsible for coordinating the 溫莎 amici briefs.

Unfortunately, one issue that has yet to be definitively resolved by 溫莎 和 奧貝格費爾 concerns spousal benefits and self-insured health plans. While New Hampshire state law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, self-insured health plans are governed by federal law. Title VII, the federal anti-discrimination statute, only prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin—sexual orientation is not explicitly included. As a result, some self-insured employers claim they can legally deny benefits to same-sex spouses.

Luckily, this issue is far from settled. Recently, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) took the position that Title VII’s prohibition against ‘sex discrimination’ encompasses discrimination based on sexual orientation (see Baldwin v. Foxx, Agency No. 2012-24738-FAA-3 (July 15, 2015)).

If your employer is discriminating against you in spousal healthcare benefits on the basis of sexual orientation, contact GLAD Answers.

有各種法律文件可以保護夫妻關係，無論夫妻之間沒有正式的法律關係還是已經結婚。

1. 關係協議或合約： 關於財產和財務的同居協議，為夫妻在分居前以書面形式處理各自事務提供了一種途徑。這類文件的功能與婚前協議類似。只要合約不涉及性服務，且符合有效合約的條件，就很有可能被認定為有效。需要注意的是，與任何州一樣，涉及兒童的特定條款可能無法按原樣強制執行，因為法院始終有權裁定兒童的最大利益。 （請參閱下文關於育兒協議的討論）

2. 授權委託書： 任何有能力的人都可以指定另一個人（例如其伴侶）作為其在喪失行為能力或喪失勞動能力時處理財務事務的「事實上的代理人」。

如果授權委託書中明確規定：“本授權委託書的有效期不受委託人後續殘疾或喪失行為能力的影響”，則該授權委託書的有效期可延長至委託人喪失行為能力時。如果委託人未指定，則將授權其「家屬」為殘疾或喪失行為能力的個人做出決定。授權委託書不包含醫療保健決定的授權。

A person may also indicate their preference regarding the appointment of a guardian — a longer-term appointment that applies to all areas of a mentally incapacitated person’s personal care and financial affairs (and courts consider the preference of the incapacitated person in appointing a guardian). The document indicating this preference should be executed with all of the formalities of a will and should be updated to keep track of all aspects of a person’s personal and financial situation.

3. 醫療保健和遺體處置的預立指示： 根據佛蒙特州法律，個人可以指定代理人在其喪失行為能力、喪失行為能力或死亡時為其做出醫療保健決定，並向代理人提供預先指示，例如，可以：

a. 指明所需或不需要的醫療保健類型；

b. 指導需要或不需要哪些維持生命的治療；

c. 確定代理人不應與其諮詢或分享資訊的人員；

d. 授權向代理人以外的其他人發布健康資訊；

e. 依據佛蒙特州法律進行遺體捐贈；

f. 提名人員在必要時擔任（或不擔任）個人的監護人；

g. 指導該人遺體的處置和葬禮安排。

如果沒有預先指示，醫療服務提供者和殯葬承辦者會尋求配偶或近親的幫助來做出決定。預立指示可以隨時透過建立新的預立指示或明確撤銷的方式撤銷。人們通常會將預立指示的副本交給醫生，有時也會交給家人。

4. 遺囑： If a person who is neither married nor joined in a civil union, dies without a will, their property passes to: (1) their children or (2) their family. If the person wishes to provide for others, such as their partner, a will is essential. Even if a person has few possessions, they can name in the will who will administer their estate. If a person has children, they can nominate the future guardian of the children in a will.

GLAD 建議與律師合作處理這些文件。

雖然表格可用，但表格可能不適合您個人的需求和願望。此外，律師或許能夠更好地幫助您實現目標，例如，以更可能阻止不滿意家庭成員提出遺囑異議的方式起草遺囑，或指定一位提供非常具體指示的醫療代理人。此外，律師還可以協助解決因這些文件之間存在重疊部分而產生的法律不確定性。 GLAD Answers 可以為您推薦 GLAD 律師轉介服務的會員律師。

是的，因為如上所述，同性已婚夫婦有權享有異性已婚夫婦享有的所有福利。

然而，直到 奧貝格費爾訴霍奇斯案 2015年6月26日的判決顯示，許多同性伴侶生活在一些違反憲法的婚姻法禁止同性伴侶結婚的州。因此，當他們的配偶去世時，他們無法滿足社會安全遺屬福利的條件，即結婚9個月。

為了糾正這種不公平現象，Lambda Legal 提起了兩起訴訟， 伊利訴索爾案 和 桑頓訴社會安全專員， 並成功為從未結婚的同性伴侶申請社會安全遺屬福利（伊利訴索爾案）或最終能夠結婚，但結婚不到 9 個月，其配偶就去世了（桑頓訴社會安全專員案). 

這兩項裁決允許因歧視性州法律而被禁止結婚，從而沒有資格申請社會安全遺屬福利的同性伴侶提交申請。然而，申請的成功取決於他們能否提供足夠的文件，向社會安全局證明，他們未能滿足9個月婚姻要求的唯一原因是歧視性州法律。

以下連結提供了更詳細的信息，並包含每起訴訟的常見問題解答，並列出了一些您可以提供獲得遺屬撫卹金所需文件的方式：

因違憲的州婚姻法而被排除在社會安全遺屬福利之外的同性伴侶和配偶的相關資訊 | Lambda Legal

後 奧貝格費爾訴霍奇斯案, same-sex spouses everywhere should be able to dissolve their marriages on the same terms as different-sex spouses. Vermont applies its divorce statutes to same-sex couples (See generally Solomon v. Guidry, 2016 VT 108, 155 A.3d 1218 (2016)).  However, spouses should note that when Vermont courts divide marital property and award alimony/maintenance, one of the factors a judge considers is the length of the marriage (15 V.S.A. § 751(b)(1)(division of property) and §752(b)(4)(maintenance)). Nonetheless, the court does include, as marital property, all property owned by “either or both of the parties, however or whenever acquired ….” (15 V.S.A. § 751(a)). So, for spouses whose partnership pre-dates marriage equality, the length of the marriage may not accurately reflect the true length of the relationship, resulting in an unbalanced division of assets.

If you are going through divorce proceedings in Vermont and believe your division of assets may be unfairly affected by length of marriage, contact GLAD Answers.

有孩子的同性伴侶分手後應該：

1. 支持 LGBTQ+ 父母的權利；
2. 尊重現有的關係，不論其法律標籤如何；
3. 尊重孩子分手後現有的父母關係；
4. 為孩子保持連續性；
5. 尋求自願解決方案；
6. 記住，分手很難；
7. 調查虐待指控；
8. 不允許因缺乏協議或法律關係而決定結果；
9. 將訴訟視為最後的手段；
10. 拒絕訴諸恐同/恐變性人的法律和情緒來達到預期結果。

有關這些標準的更多詳細信息，請參閱出版物 保護家庭：LGBTQ+ 家庭標準.