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Birth, marriage & life events

Register a life partnership

Couples can be officially recognized by the City of Philadelphia as life partners. The benefits include being able to:

  • Name your life partner as a dependent to receive health benefits (employer-specific).
  • Make your life partner a beneficiary under the City’s retirement plan, if you are a City of Philadelphia employee.
  • Transfer property to your life partner without having to pay City real estate transfer tax, if you live in Philadelphia.

If your relationship with your life partner ends, you must notify the City.

Defining life partnership

Life partnership is a long-term committed relationship between two unmarried individuals who:

  • are residents of the City of Philadelphia; or one of whom is employed in the City, owns real property in the City, owns and operates a business in the City, or is a recipient of or has a vested interest in employee benefits from the City of Philadelphia;
  • are at least 18 years old and competent to contract;
  • are not related to each other by blood in any way which would prohibit marriage in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania;
  • have no other life partner but the other person;
  • have not been a member of a different life partnership for the past twelve months unless the prior life partnership ended as a result of the death of the other life partner;
  • agree to share the common necessities of life and to be responsible for each other’s common welfare;
  • share at least one residence with the other life partner; and
  • agree under penalty of law to notify the City of any change in the status of the life partnership.

Cost

Once your application is pre-approved, there is a $40 filing fee to complete your registration.

How

1
Prepare the documentation you'll need.

To register, you must download the life partnership registration packet and fill out the verification statement checklist with blue or black ink.

You must also prepare copies of at least two supporting documents that show interdependency with your partner for 90 days or more.

2
Email a copy of the checklist and supporting documents to lifepartnership@phila.gov.

The Marriage License Department will review your request. If your application is pre-approved, you’ll receive instructions for how to schedule an in-person appointment.

Mailed requests will not be accepted.

3
Attend your appointment to complete your registration.

Appointments take place at the Marriage License Department.

City Hall
Room 415
Philadelphia, PA 19107

At the appointment, both individuals must present government-issued photo IDs and the original supporting documents from the verification statement checklist. Photocopies will not be accepted.

Establishing rights in a life partnership

Life partnership does not provide all of the rights and benefits available to married couples and their dependents or children. For example, your life partner will not automatically have the right to make certain financial and medical decisions for you.

In addition, if either you or your life partner is the biological or legal parent of a minor child, additional steps must be taken to establish the parental rights of the non-biological or nonlegal parent.

In order to obtain these rights, you should consider speaking to a lawyer and taking additional legal steps after you register your life partnership with the City.

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