Case Summaries

Vasquez v. Hawthorne, 33 P.3d 735 (Wash. 2001)

The plaintiff in this case alleged that the Washington and United States Constitutions require same-sex couples be treated the same as opposite-sex couples. The heart of the case involved a legal doctrine (“meretricious relationships”) by which unmarried heterosexual couples have been given community property-like treatment of their property upon the death of one partner. The Washington Supreme Court remanded the case for an equitable distribution of the estate property.

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