How to Become Domestic Partners in California: Form DP-1 and Fees

To become domestic partners in California, both of you complete a Declaration of Domestic Partnership (Form DP-1), get both signatures notarized, and file the original with the California Secretary of State along with a $33 fee. The partnership takes effect the day it’s filed, and from that point forward California treats you as spouses for nearly every purpose under state law.¹

Who Can Register

California Family Code section 297 sets four conditions, and both partners have to meet all of them when you file:

You’re both at least 18 years old.
Neither of you is currently married or in another domestic partnership that hasn’t been legally ended.
You aren’t related by blood in a way that would prevent you from marrying in California.
You’re both capable of consenting to the partnership.

That’s the entire list. You don’t have to live together, and you don’t have to have lived together for any period of time. California dropped its cohabitation requirement in 2020, and nothing in the current statute requires that either of you live at a specific address or in California at all.²

Someone under 18 can register, but the path is much heavier: a court order, written consent from at least one parent or guardian, an investigation by Family Court Services screening for coercion or duress, and a judge’s approval after reviewing that report.³

Completing and Notarizing Form DP-1

Download the Declaration of Domestic Partnership (Form DP-1) from the Secretary of State’s website.⁴ The form asks each of you for your full legal name, mailing address, and information about any prior marriages or domestic partnerships. You each declare under penalty of perjury that you meet the eligibility rules under section 297.

Both of you sign the form, and both signatures have to be notarized. One important detail trips people up: the Secretary of State accepts only the original notarized document. Photocopies and scans are rejected.²

Where to File and What It Costs

You can file by mail or in person. The standard fee is $33 if both partners are under 62, and $10 if either partner is 62 or older. Pay by check or money order made out to the Secretary of State.⁴

By Mail

Send the original notarized declaration and your fee to:

Domestic Partners Registry
P.O. Box 942870
Sacramento, CA 94277-2870⁵

Mail-in filings typically take several weeks to process. Once processed, your Certificate of Registration of Domestic Partnership comes back to you by mail.

In Person

Two offices accept walk-in filings:

Sacramento: 1500 11th Street, 3rd Floor, Sacramento, CA 95814
Los Angeles: 300 South Spring Street, Room 12513, Los Angeles, CA 90013

In-person filings carry an extra $15 special handling fee on top of the standard fee, and the trade-off is faster processing than mailing to Sacramento.⁶

If You Want the Record Kept Private

California offers a confidential version of the registration. Instead of Form DP-1, you file a Confidential Declaration of Domestic Partnership (Form DP-1A) with the same office. The eligibility rules and fees are identical, and the legal effect of the partnership is the same.⁴

The difference is access. A confidential declaration is a permanent record that the public cannot inspect. Only the partners themselves can request a copy; anyone else needs a court order showing good cause.⁷

What Changes Once You’re Registered

From the filing date forward, California law treats registered domestic partners the same way it treats married spouses. That parity extends across statutes, regulations, court rules, and common law, and it covers former partners (treated like former spouses) and surviving partners (treated like widows and widowers).¹

Community property rules start on the registration date. Wages and most assets either of you acquires from that day forward are owned equally. Debts incurred during the partnership are shared obligations too. Property you owned beforehand stays separate, as do gifts and inheritances received during the partnership, provided you keep them in separate accounts and don’t mix them with community funds.

A surviving partner has the same intestate succession rights as a surviving spouse. You can make medical decisions for an incapacitated partner on the same footing as a spouse. Employment and housing nondiscrimination protections cover you.

Children are covered too. When a child is born to one partner during the registered partnership, the other partner is legally presumed to be a parent under California parentage law.⁸ That presumption may not travel well to states that don’t recognize California domestic partnerships, so couples who may move or travel often should consider a second-parent adoption, which produces a court order other states must honor.

The California Family Rights Act lets you take job-protected leave to care for a domestic partner with a serious health condition, if you meet the usual length-of-service and employer-size thresholds.⁹

Where Federal Law Doesn’t Follow

Registering doesn’t make you spouses in the eyes of the federal government, and the gap matters in three places.

You can’t file a joint federal tax return. Each of you files as single, or as head of household if you qualify. Because California is a community property state, though, the IRS still requires you to split your combined community income 50/50 on your separate federal returns, using Form 8958 to allocate the amounts.¹⁰¹¹ For your California return, the state treats you as married, so you file with a married status.

The Social Security Administration classifies domestic partnerships as nonmarital legal relationships rather than marriages. Survivor and spousal benefits through a domestic partnership involve additional hurdles compared with marriage, and eligibility isn’t guaranteed the way it is for married couples.

The federal Family and Medical Leave Act doesn’t recognize domestic partners as spouses, so FMLA leave to care for a sick partner isn’t available on that basis.¹² California’s CFRA closes the gap inside the state, but it won’t help if your employer is covered only by federal law or you need leave while working elsewhere.

1
California Secretary of State. Domestic Partners Registry Frequently Asked Questions
2
California Secretary of State. Declaration of Domestic Partnership
3
California Legislative Information. California Family Code FAM 297.1
4
California Secretary of State. Domestic Partners Registry Forms and Fees
5
California Secretary of State. Domestic Partners Registry Contact Information
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California Secretary of State. Special Handling Drop-Off Service
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California Secretary of State. Instructions for Completing the Confidential Declaration of Domestic Partnership Form DP-1A
8
Social Security Administration. POMS PR 00905.006 – California
9
California Civil Rights Department. Family Care and Medical Leave Quick Reference Guide
10
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 555 – Community Property
11
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8958 Allocation of Tax Amounts Between Certain Individuals in Community Property States
12
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28L Leave Under the Family and Medical Leave Act for Spouses