Illinois' civil union legislation was a sop to fundies. The legislature didn't think it had enough votes without those congresscritters who didn't object to giving same-sex partners legal recognition just as long as we didn't get to use the super special magic word "marriage". So they compromised. Two years later, the ground had shifted so much that full marriage equality passed.
What did this mean for those of us who opted for civil union in the meantime? To my complete surprise, the state decided to forgo a revenue-enhancing opportunity and offer us the option to "convert" existing civil unions into marriage at no extra charge. [Offer good only for the first year after the new legislation was scheduled to come into effect--which ended up being six months after it actually came into effect due to a court ruling. Ah, the fun of separation of powers!]
But here's where it gets interesting: Those opting for conversion have the further option of either choosing the date of conversion or the date of the original civil union as the date on the marriage licence. We chose the latter, as being married for calendar year 2014 is better for our tax liability. So though the state only registered our married state this morning, it was recorded as commencing on October 12th of last year.
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What did this mean for those of us who opted for civil union in the meantime? To my complete surprise, the state decided to forgo a revenue-enhancing opportunity and offer us the option to "convert" existing civil unions into marriage at no extra charge. [Offer good only for the first year after the new legislation was scheduled to come into effect--which ended up being six months after it actually came into effect due to a court ruling. Ah, the fun of separation of powers!]
But here's where it gets interesting: Those opting for conversion have the further option of either choosing the date of conversion or the date of the original civil union as the date on the marriage licence. We chose the latter, as being married for calendar year 2014 is better for our tax liability. So though the state only registered our married state this morning, it was recorded as commencing on October 12th of last year.