COHABITATION RIGHTS BILL BEING DRAFTED IN UTAH: From the Salt Lake Tribune

Gov.-elect Jon Huntsman Jr. first suggested legislation to grant rights to unmarried, cohabiting adults in the heat of an election-year debate about gay rights and Utah's marriage amendment.

But now that a bill has been drafted that would put some of Huntsman's ideas into place, the governor's chief of staff is carefully describing the legislation as an effort to preserve "human dignity"--for a grandmother and her granddaughter, as well as for gay couples.

Fruit Heights Republican Sen. Greg Bell's draft legislation would allow unmarried adults who live together but are ineligible to marry in Utah--a sister and brother, aunt and niece, or a gay or lesbian couple--to sign a contract legally establishing their relationship and granting the couple some rights assumed in marriage. ...

Under Senate Bill 89, "mutual dependents" would have some of the same rights as a married couple, such as hospital visitation and end-of-life decisions about organ donation and the choice of burial or cremation. If two people purchase a home together and one dies, the contract would grant the remaining person "survivorship," without requiring a trip to probate court. The state Department of Health would develop a form couples could fill out, eliminating the need for lawyers. The contracts would be terminated if either party married.

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posted by Eve at 3:20 PM VOTE

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