• Maine allows adults to become domestic partners instead of getting married.man & woman holding hands image by Pavel Losevsky from Fotolia.com
  
  Adults, including gay couples and straight couples who do not want to become married, sometimes partner up and want legal rights in their relationships. The state of Maine defines domestic partners as two adults who live "together under long-term arrangements that evidence a commitment to remain responsible indefinitely for each other's welfare". Maine allows two people to apply for a domestic partnership have more rights in each others' lives.
  
  

Eligibility

• Before Maine considers partners eligible for a domestic partnership, the partners must live together in Maine for at least 12 months, be mentally competent adults, and not be married or in a domestic partnership with anyone else. The state does not allow domestic partnerships between immediate family including siblings, parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, aunts or uncles and nieces or nephews, or cousins.
  
  

Registration

• To become domestic partners, a couple must file with the Maine domestic partnership registry, according to state law. The state provides a domestic partnership registry form, which both partners must fill out. The form must be notarized and a filing fee of $50 must be paid.
  
  

Guardianship Rights

• When a person becomes incapacitated, Maine law allows someone to take over guardianship of the person to protect him and his property. According to this law, the spouse or domestic partner of a person who becomes incapacitated gets priority to become the incapacitated partner's guardian, unless the person previously nominated somebody else in writing.
  
  

Remains of a Deceased Person

• Maine law Title 22 states that the remains of a deceased person fall under the control of the person designated in writing by the deceased. However, if the deceased did not designate a person in writing, control of the remains goes to a spouse or domestic partner.
  
  

Domestic Partnership Termination

• A domestic partnership is automatically terminated if one or both partners get married. Alternatively, both partners can consent to terminate the domestic partnership then fill out and file forms with the state to terminate the partnership. If just one partner wants to terminate the domestic partnership, he should file a form with the state's Office of Vital Records and serve a photocopy of the form to the partner, according to state law.