N.J. Admin. Code § 8:2B-2.1

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 12, June 17, 2024

Section 8:2B-2.1 - Filing of an Affidavit of Domestic Partnership

(a) Two persons who desire to become domestic partners and who meet the requirements of (b) below may, upon payment of the appropriate fee as set forth at 8:2B-2.3, complete an Affidavit of Domestic Partnership and file that Affidavit of Domestic Partnership with the local registrar.

1. The State Registrar shall establish a blank form of Affidavit of Domestic Partnership and make the form available to all local registrars.

i. Local registrars can obtain blank forms of Affidavit of Domestic Partnership from the State Registrar by contacting the Bureau of Vital Statistics and Registration, New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, PO Box 370, Trenton, NJ 08625-0370.

2. Local registrars shall make blank forms of Affidavits of Domestic Partnership available to all persons seeking to become domestic partners.

(b) Persons seeking to register a domestic partnership shall meet all of the following requirements:

1. Both persons share a common residence within the State of New Jersey or both persons share a common residence in another jurisdiction when at least one of those persons is a member of a New Jersey State-administered retirement system;

2. Both persons are jointly responsible for each other's common welfare as evidenced by joint financial arrangements or joint ownership of real or personal property, which shall be demonstrated by at least one of the following:

i. A joint deed, mortgage agreement or lease;

ii. A joint bank account;

iii. Designation of one of the persons as a primary beneficiary in the other person's will;

iv. Designation of one of the persons as a primary beneficiary in the other person's life insurance policy or retirement plan; or

v. Joint ownership of a motor vehicle;

3. Both persons agree to be jointly responsible for each other's basic living expenses during the domestic partnership;

4. Neither person is in a marriage or civil union recognized by New Jersey law or a member of another domestic partnership recognized by New Jersey law;

5. Neither person is related to the other by blood or affinity up to and including the fourth degree of consanguinity;

6. Both persons are 62 years-of-age or older;

7. Both persons have chosen to share each other's lives in a committed relationship of mutual caring;

8. Both persons file jointly an Affidavit of Domestic Partnership; and

9. Neither person has been a partner in a domestic partnership that was terminated less than 180 days prior to the filing of the current Affidavit of Domestic Partnership, except that this prohibition shall not apply if one of the partners died; and, in all cases in which a person registered a prior domestic partnership shall have been terminated in accordance with 26:8A-10.

(c) Upon receipt of a completed notarized Affidavit of Domestic Partnership and upon receipt of the appropriate fee pursuant to 8:2B-2.3, the local registrar shall:

1. Stamp the completed Affidavit of Domestic Partnership with the date of its receipt and the name of the registration district in which it is filed, and mark the document "filed"; and

2. Immediately provide two copies of the stamped Affidavit of Domestic Partnership to the person who filed the document.

(d) Each local registrar shall, on or before the 10th day of each calendar month, or sooner if requested by the Department, transmit to the State Registrar the original of all Affidavits of Domestic Partnership filed with the local registrar during the preceding month.

(e) The State Registrar shall cause all Affidavits of Domestic Partnership received to be alphabetically indexed by the surname of one of the partners and shall cross-reference each Affidavit of Domestic Partnership so filed to allow the records to be identified by the surname of the second partner.

N.J. Admin. Code § 8:2B-2.1

Amended by R.2011 d.102, effective 4/4/2011.
See: 42 N.J.R. 2361(a), 43 N.J.R. 834(a).
In the introductory paragraph of (a)1, substituted "establish a" for "prepare", "form" for "forms" twice, "Affidavit" for "Affidavits", and "the" for "those", rewrote (a)1i; in the introductory paragraph of (b), substituted "Persons seeking to register a" for "A" and "meet" for "be established when", and deleted "are met" following "requirements"; in (b)4, inserted "or civil union" and "recognized by New Jersey law"; rewrote (b)6; deleted former (b)8; and recodified former (b)9 and (b)10 as (b)8 and (b)9.