City of Cambridge

Domestic Partnership

Information Sheet

The Domestic Partnership Ordinance allows persons in committed relationships who meet the criteria established by the Ordinance as constituting domestic partnerships to register at the office of the City Clerk and obtain a certificate attesting to their status. The ordinance recognizes certain rights of access for domestic partners. This ordinance, in conformance with the Human Rights Ordinance, which bars discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, marital status and family status, also equalizes the treatment of City employees. THIS CITY ORDINANCE DOES NOT AFFECT STATE LAW IN MANY IMPORTANT AREAS OF PROPERTY RIGHTS, CUSTODY AND INHERITANCE, IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THESE ISSUES YOU SHOULD CONSULT A LAWYER.

To be domestic partners, you and your partner must reside together (see below for an explanation of what this means) in a relationship of mutual support, caring and commitment, be 18 or over, and consider yourselves to be a family. Neither of you can be married to anyone, and neither of you can have a different domestic partner. If either of you had a different domestic partner before, you have to wait six months and seven days after the old domestic partnership ended before you can set up a new one. You don't have to wait if your old partnership ended because your partner died. You cannot be related to your partner as a parent, stepparent, child, stepchild, sister or brother, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, grandparent or grandchild, or any other relationship that would bar marriage.

"Reside together" means living together in a common household. A partner may be temporarily absent from the common household, so long as she or he has the intent to return. A partner may own or maintain an additional residence.

The following answers many of the most frequently asked questions about domestic partnership. If you have questions not answered here, please feel free to contact the City Clerks office directly.

WHAT DOES "MUTUAL SUPPORT" MEAN?

"Mutual Support" means that the domestic partners each contribute in some fashion, not necessarily equally or financially, to the maintenance and support of the domestic partnership,

You may make an official record of a domestic partnership which meets the requirements described Above. To do so, you and your partner must come to the City Clerk's Office, first floor, Room 103, Cambridge City Hall, 795 Massachusetts Avenue. There you will file a Domestic Partner Registration, which both partners must sign under the pains and penalties perjury. The Registration can be amended to add or delete dependents or change the household address.

The fee for registering a domestic partnership with the City Clerk is $25.00. The City Clerk will mail you a Certificate of Domestic Partnership and two wallet-sized cards indicating the existence of the partnership, the names of the domestic partners, and the names of the dependents of the domestic partnership, if any. This record will be a public record, just as a. marriage record is.

"Dependent" means a minor who lives within the household of a domestic partnership and is: (1) A biological or adopted child of a domestic partner, or a foster child of a domestic partner, (under some circumstances); or (2) A dependent of a domestic partner, as "dependent" is' defined under Internal Revenue Service regulations; or (3) A ward of a domestic partner as determined in a guardianship proceeding.

Persons who have registered their domestic partnership at the office of the City Clerk are entitled to the same visitation rights as a spouse or parent of a patient, and a dependents has the same visitation rights as a patient's child, at the Cambridge City Hospital and all other health care facilities under the City's jurisdiction. This includes hospitals, convalescent facilities, mental health care facilities, and other short and long term care facilities under the City's jurisdiction.

Domestic partners registered with the City Clerk are entitled to the same visitation rights as a spouse or parent of a partner in custody, and a dependent will have the same . visitation rights afforded to the child of a person in custody, at all correctional facilities under the jurisdiction of the City of Cambridge.

A domestic partner who is also the parent or legal guardian of a child, may, by filing a form at or sending a letter to the child's school to arrange for the parent's domestic partner to have access to the child's records, access to school personnel in matters concerning the child, and access to the child, including the right to remove the child from the school for sickness or family emergency. When a domestic partnership is terminated, as described below, it is the parent's responsibility to notify the school, in writing, of the termination of rights of the former domestic partner.

Employees of the City of Cambridge or the Cambridge School Department with domestic partners can receive the following employee benefit which as are provided for employees with spouses.

Employees will be granted sick leave to care for a domestic partner to the same extent permitted to care for a spouse, and to care for a dependent of a domestic partnership to the same extent permitted to care for a child.

Employees can take parental leave to take care of a child born to their domestic partner or a newly adopted child to the same extent as a married person. 

Employees will be granted a leave of absence with pay for the death of a domestic partner or family member of a domestic partner to the same extent as for a spouse or family member of a spouse.

Employees of the City and School Department must file a Declaration of Domestic Partnership, signed under pains and penalties of perjury, with their, department administrator or Personnel Department. In this declaration, employees agree to promptly notify the City or School Department of any change in their status.

There is no fee. Employees do not have to file a Domestic Partnership Registration form with the City Clerk.

A domestic partnership is terminated two ways, by death of a domestic partner, or by voluntary w termination by one or both domestic partners.

The termination of a domestic partnership is effective immediately upon the death of a domestic partner.

Voluntary Termination

A domestic partnership may be terminated by a domestic partner filing with the City Clerk, either in person or by certified mail, a termination statement. The statement must declare under pains and penalties of perjury that the domestic partnership is terminated and that a copy of the termination statement has been mailed by certified mail to the other domestic partner at his or her last know address. The address to which this termination was mailed must be shown on the termination statement.

Termination forms are available from the City Clerk. Termination will be effective seven (7) days after receipt by the City Clerk. it can be withdrawn any time before those seven days have elapsed, and it has become effective. If a domestic partnership is terminated by one or both domestic partners, neither domestic partner may file another Until six months after the effective termination date.