Gay Man Adopts Partner in US to Reduce Inheritance Tax

Sir Ian McKellen waves multicoloured flag of gay rights.
Photograph by Pete Birkinshaw

The US Supreme Court may have struck down the Defence of Marriage Act to be unconstitutional, and a number of states do offer equal rights, but in states without such equality, gay couples are starting to look at other ways to balance the scales. One gay couple in Pennsylvania have decided that if they can’t get married to avoid inheritance tax, then they would use adoption instead.

John and Gregory from Pittsburgh met nearly 45 years ago in a gay bar, and have been happy together ever since. They have seen a lot of progress on gay rights, but now with John aged 65 and Gregory aged 73, they have started planning for the future and how their estates would be divided in the event of one of their deaths.

If Pennsylvania had gay marriage, then the couple could simply get married and when one of them passed away, their money and possessions would pass to the other without them paying any tax. HOwever, Pennsylvania does not offer gay marriage, and so the couple are reducing their inheritance tax bill by 75% by John adopting Gregory. Gregory be the older of the couple, but his father is still alive, so instead the younger man, John, has adopted the older as his son.

The US has come a long way with regard to gay rights in the last couple of decades, but this situation demonstrates how far the US still needs to go before there is true equality.