Effective October 1, 2009, the Nevada Domestic Partnership Act provides legal recognition of domestic partnerships and creates a registry for domestic partnerships in the secretary of state's office (Senate Bill 283). The law requires that domestic partners have the same rights, protections, benefits, responsibilities, obligations, and duties that spouses have under state law. Same-sex and opposite-sex couples may enter into a domestic partnership. The law expressly states that a domestic partnership is not a marriage under the state constitution (NV Const. Art. 1 Sec. 21). The state constitution was amended in 2002 to recognize marriage only between a man and a woman.
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Download Now Other jurisdictions. A legal union (other than an opposite-sex marriage) validly formed in another state or jurisdiction is recognized as a domestic partnership in Nevada if the union is substantially equivalent to a domestic partnership under Nevada law. Couples must meet state eligibility requirements and register the partnership with the state registry.
To be eligible to register a domestic partnership, two individuals must:
• Have a common residence
• Not be married or a member of another domestic partnership
• Not be related by blood in a way that would prevent them from being married under Nevada law
• Be at least 18 years old
• Be legally competent to consent to the partnership
To register a domestic partnership, the individuals must file a signed and notarized statement with the secretary of state's office and pay a filing fee. The office issues a certificate of registered domestic partnership to individuals who satisfy the requirements. No ceremony or solemnization of a domestic partnership is required.