Three sample domestic partnership agreements are listed below. Each is acceptable to the University. The first two samples were provided by the Gay Lesbian Faculty Staff Association (GLFSA). The University prepared the third. Click on the agreement you wish to access.
Please note that these are all sample agreements. The University strongly suggests that the parties to the agreement consult their attorney(s) to obtain an agreement that meets their needs and to be sure that they understand the consequences of signing the agreement. Because the consequences are likely to be different for each of the two parties to the agreement, the parties should give careful consideration to having different attorneys so that their respective interests are taken into account in the preparation of the agreement. Of course, some partners choose to have one attorney represent both their interests, if they and the attorney are comfortable with such an arrangement.
The sample agreements do not address a number of issues that may be important to the partners. For example, none discuss the children or dependents of the parties. Indeed, the second sample agreement is skeletal and speaks only to the minimum requirements that a domestic partnership agreement must contain to make the non-employee or non-retiree domestic partner eligible to receive benefits through MSU. It is unlikely such an agreement will completely fulfill the needs of many partners.
Finally, MSU graduate assistants and their domestic partners are not required to enter into a partnership agreement which follows any of the three sample forms for the non-graduate assistant partner to be eligible to receive benefits through MSU. They may prepare a partnership agreement that is customized for their own needs as long as that agreement obligates each of the parties to provide support for the other, and provides for the substantially equal division, upon termination of the partnership, of the parties' earnings during the partnership, and of any property acquired with those earnings. These are the minimum requirements that a domestic partnership agreement must contain to make the non-graduate assistant partner eligible to receive benefits through MSU.
Sample Domestic Partner Agreements