SEATTLE — The change is due to a section of the same-sex marriage law voters passed in 2012.
"It was a surprise to a lot of people," Jenny Harding, wedding planner and owner of New Chapter Weddings, said.
Mike Hendrix and Mike Pollack came to Harding's One Love Wedding Showcase in downtown Seattle on Sunday to work on planning their wedding, set for July 20.
"Really looking forward to the big day now," Pollack said.
But there's another milestone in their future: June 30.
It's when the same-sex marriage law converts domestic partnerships into marriage.
Pollack and Hendrix said the change is no big deal.
"Really, it didn't matter so much to us," Hendrix said. "The way that we've been living, it's pretty much been just a marriage."
Pollack said he's been reading articles on the topic.
"Stop having two separate legal institutions," he said. "We have this less-than domestic partnership institution and marriage. We need to bring them together and just have marriage, and it'll simplify the legal issues for couples."
Washington state authorized domestic partnerships in 2007, giving marriage-like benefits to gay and lesbian couples as well as straight couples with at least one partner who is 62.
Harding said she believes some couples missed the fine print in the 2012 law that modified domestic partnership.
"Definitely a lot of couples did not know about it, or remembered it a couple years ago being a part of the law passing but then forgot about it," she said.
Harding and her partner Lindsay Larson are getting married this year, but Larson said she believes it should be a choice, not a default.
"My person opinion is, I don't think there should be a date," she said. "I think you should have to do that by choosing to make it legal yourself versus having a domestic partnership just roll into a marriage."
Domestic partnerships that are in the process of dissolution or annulment will not default into marriage.
After June 30, the only domestic partnerships that will be allowed will be ones where one or both of the partners are at least 62 years old because marriage could affect their Social Security or pensions.
The Washington Secretary of State's Office is expected to send out notices to couples in the domestic partnership registry to notify them about the upcoming change.
KIRO
