A domestic partnership is a relationship between two unmarried people who are living together in a committed partnership. Many states have allowed those in a domestic partnership (“DP”) to obtain some of the same benefits of married couples. One of the main purposes of the DP was to allow for same-sex couples to have access the same benefits as their opposite-sex counterparts were receiving.

However, since the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges the use of DPs has been substantially diminished. In Obergefell the Court decided that couples of the same-sex may not be deprived of the fundamental right to marry. Utah followed up and modified their marriage laws to allow same-sex couples to be married by the State.