Westlaw:  “Contemplating death is not a pleasant experience for most people. However, for the transgender community, it is becoming increasingly more important to consider from an estate planning perspective. Throughout their lives, transgender people face numerous challenges regarding their identities. These challenges can continue after a transgender individual's death if he or she is not buried according to their gender identity. Transgender individuals run the risk of having their surviving family members bury them in an undignified manner if the transgender individual passes away without specifically documenting instructions for their burial.”

Nolo.com:  “Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community often face financial and legal hurdles that many straight couples may have never even considered – such as the ability to participate in medical decisions for a sick spouse, or the concern that a partner or spouse's retirement plan or Social Security benefits would evaporate if their partner dies. These are just two of the things LGBT couples must consider when planning financially, so it's important that members of the LGBT community – and those who support them – understand these and other issues they may face, and how to approach them.

The inability to have a relationship recognized by their state can take a financial toll on LGBT families, so retirement and legacy planning takes on even greater importance for LGBT individuals and couples, and can help create a financial safety net for the future.

According to Lamda Legal, an organization committed to advancing the civil rights of the LGBT community, there are approximately 1,400 legal and financial benefits codified in federal and state laws that are reserved for married couples. These benefits range from joint parenting to bereavement and sick leave benefits to joint insurance policies, and many of them are truly priceless since they cannot be “bought” – even through a legal arrangement. Those that can be bought may be out of financial reach for those who can't afford to hire an attorney.

Delaware Online:  For gay and lesbian couples, embracing a life as loving partners can be just as fulfilling, and just as challenging, as a marriage between a man and a woman.

 When it comes to finances, though, such relationships can become even more challenging to pull off successfully.

 While Delaware's new law allowing civil unions has smoothed over some of the potential pitfalls, gay and lesbian couples remain in something of a legal limbo and face far more peril than married couples when it comes to ensuring that assets pass smoothly to a surviving partner.

 “With a same-sex relationship, some of the key things to be aware of are the rights of the partners in the event of the unexpected, addressing ‘What would happen if?' ” said Bridget Erhard, a Newport-based certified financial planner with Ameriprise Financial, which markets its services to same-sex couples.

 In response to the new law, some financial planners, attorneys and accountants are tailoring services specifically to the unique and still-uncertain circumstances that arise when domestic partners are not “officially” married in the eyes of the law.

In Delaware, the differences are now not as sharp, thanks to the passage of the Delaware Civil Union and Equality Act, which was adopted last year and took effect New Year's Day. But when it comes to the federal government, the law remains relatively blind to the notion of civil unions, creating a mix of conflicting rules, and potential risks, for couples who want to minimize taxes and protect family assets.

 Yet even as the professional community recognizes the market potential of financial planning for gays and lesbians, some couples remain dangerously unconcerned.

 “We have […]

Estate of Denial: One obituary described Ellyn Farley as a happy, studious, pet-loving attorney married to her spouse Jennifer Tobits and only “reluctantly” wearing dresses to attend Mass. The other described her as a fierce litigator and champion to the underdog, survived by her parents, her brother, various aunts and uncles, a godmother, and “good friends for life who will be in her heart forever, Jennifer and Nancy, of Chicago; and numerous cousins and other devoted friends.”

The first was published in the Chicago Tribune, the city where Farley lived with her spouse Jennifer Tobits. The latter was published in the Roanoke Times, in Virginia, where Farley grew up.

The first was drafted by one of the lesbian couple’s friends and was reviewed and edited by Tobits. The latter was coordinated by Farley’s parents who, according to Tobits, did not consult her about its contents.

The first makes clear that Farley was married to a woman; the latter scrubs that reality out of her life story.

“This is the new era,” said Shannon Minter, legal director of the San Francisco-based National Center for Lesbian Rights. “We are all familiar with hearing stories about parents stepping in and not honoring their children’s relationships and trying to take all the assets. Now that so many couples are in marriages or civil unions or domestic partnerships, it’s still happening; but we have a degree … of legal protections that we didn’t have before.”