CA Registered Domestic Partners, Apply for Property Tax Relief

May 15, 2009

Sen. Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) and Equality California announced a reminder last week that the deadline for registered domestic partners to apply to their county assessor for a reassessment of their property taxes is June 30, 2009, if their property taxes increased between 2000 and 2005 because of the death of a partner or the dissolution of the partnership.

Under the bill, registered domestic partners who qualify would simply need to present a copy of the Certificate of Registered Domestic Partnership to their local county assessor’s office. The assessor would then be required to reassess the property value back to the amount at which it would have been valued just prior to the unfair assessment. Going forward, the assessor would charge property taxes based on the new, adjusted value.

You may qualify for property tax relief in California if:

You were in a registered domestic partnership at any time between 1/1/2000 and 1/1/2006;
You currently pay property taxes (relief is prospective only); and
Your property taxes were increased between 1/1/2000 and 1/1/2006 due to a transfer between you and your partner (e.g., due to death or divorce).

Under the legislation, the deadline to apply for this property tax relief is June 30, 2009.

Senator Kehoe’s legislation, Senate Bill 559, which was initiated by Equality California and Lambda Legal, took effect January 1, 2008. It allows a registered domestic partner whose property taxes were increased between January 1, 2000 and January 1, 2006 because one partner died or the partnership ended in dissolution, to apply to the county assessor where the property is located for an exemption from the increase. If the person qualifies, his or her property taxes will be rolled back to what they were just prior to the increase.

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