Domestic partner property inheritance upheld

From today's SFGate,

Domestic partners, like married people, can inherit real estate from one another in California without being hit with big increases in their property taxes, a judge has ruled.

The March 17 decision by Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Jack Sapunor upheld the 2003 state Board of Equalization rules and a 2005 state law that gave registered domestic partners the same tax break as spouses under Proposition 13.

The ruling is important for same-sex couples, especially those who have owned property together for many years, Jon Davidson, legal director of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, said Friday.

Domestic partners include same-sex couples of any age and unmarried opposite-sex couples in which at least one partner is 62 or older.

This is all based around Proposition 13, which I discussed yesterday...

County assessors from Tehama and Madera counties joined Sutter County in challenging the tax break. Sutter County Counsel Ronald Erickson was unavailable for comment on the ruling. Prop. 13, a 1978 initiative, cut property taxes and limited annual increases in assessments to 2 percent, but provided that property would be reassessed at full value when it changed ownership. However, transfers to spouses at death or divorce were not classified as changes of ownership, meaning that they are still subject to the 2 percent limit. The same exemption applies to any transfer of the family home to a child or grandchild.