NEW JERSEY
Hennefeld v. Township of Montclair
22 N.J. Tax 166 (2005)
[slip op. in PDF] [slip op. in HTML]
[Westlaw (subs. req’d)] [Lexis/Nexis (subs req’d)]
In this decision the New Jersey Tax Court refused to give effect to either the Vermont civil union or the Canadian marriage of two New Jersey men.
At issue was an augmented tax exemption that hinged on ownership of a home as a married couple. The court held that the men were entitled to the exemption only from the date of their registration as domestic partners under New Jersey law. Their prior formalization of neither a civil union in Vermont nor a marriage in Canada qualified them for the tax exemption.
The court’s refusal to recognize at least the civil union and possibly the marriage has been superseded by enactment of New Jersey’s own civil union law in 2006.
Bluebook citation:
Hennefeld v. Twp. of Montclair, 22 N.J. Tax 166 (2005).
Documents
Tax Court
Press Release
- Lambda Legal (Mar. 16, 2005)
Other Sources
- Montclair Gay Couple Sues for Property Tax Exemption, NJ DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIP, Sept. 23, 2004
- NJ Tax Court Grants Veterans’ Tax Break to DP, NJ DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIP, Mar. 16, 2005
Cited in:
- In re Parentage of Robinson (N.J. Ch. 2005)
- Martinez v. Monroe Community College (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2006)
- Godfrey v. Spano (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2007)
- Conn. Att’y Gen. Op. No. 2005-024 (Sept. 20, 2005)
- Idaho Att’y Gen. Op. 06-1 (Feb. 8, 2006)