In 1996, Congress enacted the Defense of Marriage Act which amended the Dictionary Act to define “marriage” and “spouse” as excluding same-sex partners. On June 26, 2013, the Supreme Court of the United States, in U.S. v. Windsor, ruled that the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”) is unconstitutional.
In its ruling, the Court held that DOMA is unconstitutional as a deprivation of the equal liberty of persons that are protected by the Fifth Amendment. The Court stated that historically, the definition and regulation of marriage has been treated as being within the authority and realm of the separate States, and although Congress has enacted discrete statutes to regulate the meaning of marriage in order to further federal policy, DOMA has a far greater reach. According to the Court, certain states, such as New York and Maryland, have enacted legislation to give same-sex couples the right to marry and in so doing exercised their sovereign authority. Hence, the Court found that the DOMA operates against a class of persons that those states have sought to protect.
The Court further held that by seeking to injure the very class of protected persons, DOMA violates basic due process and equal protection principles applicable to the federal government. The Court indicated that DOMA’s unusual deviation from the tradition of recognizing and accepting state definitions of marriage operates to deprive same-sex couples of the benefits and responsibilities that come with federal recognition of their marriage. This, according to the Court, is strong evidence of a law having the purpose and effect of disapproval of a class recognized and protected by state law.
In its ruling, the Court did not address the issue of whether same-sex marriages should be legal in every state.
Same-sex marriages became legal in Maryland on January 1, 2013, and now that DOMA has be ruled by the Supreme Court to be unconstitutional, benefits that the federal government provides for married couples will now be available to married same-sex couples in Maryland. Following is a list of some of the estate and gift tax benefits now available to same-sex married couples in Maryland:
- The estate tax unlimited marital deduction available to US citizens.
- The ability of a surviving spouse to use the unused portion of a deceased spouse’s federal exemption (often referred to as portability)
- The unlimited gift tax marital deduction available to US citizens.
- The ability to defer the payment of Maryland estate tax until after the death of a surviving same-sex spouse.
To establish an estate plan or for a detailed explanation of how these changes affect your current estate plan, please call Esther Streete at 410-266-9909.