Section 298.5 Of Part 2. Registration From California Family Law Code >> Division 2.5. >> Part 2.
298.5
. (a) Two persons desiring to become domestic partners may
complete and file a Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the
Secretary of State.
(b) The Secretary of State shall register the Declaration of
Domestic Partnership in a registry for those partnerships, and shall
return a copy of the registered form and a Certificate of Registered
Domestic Partnership and, except for those opposite sex domestic
partners who meet the qualifications described in subparagraph (B) of
paragraph (5) of subdivision (b) of Section 297, a copy of the
brochure that is made available to county clerks and the Secretary of
State by the State Department of Public Health pursuant to Section
358 and distributed to individuals receiving a confidential marriage
license pursuant to Section 503, to the domestic partners at the
mailing address provided by the domestic partners.
(c) No person who has filed a Declaration of Domestic Partnership
may file a new Declaration of Domestic Partnership or enter a civil
marriage with someone other than their registered domestic partner
unless the most recent domestic partnership has been terminated or a
final judgment of dissolution or nullity of the most recent domestic
partnership has been entered. This prohibition does not apply if the
previous domestic partnership ended because one of the partners died.
(d) When funding allows, the Secretary of State shall print and
make available upon request, pursuant to Section 358, a lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender specific domestic abuse brochure developed
by the State Department of Public Health and made available to the
Secretary of State to domestic partners who qualify pursuant to
Section 297.
(e) The Certificate of Registered Domestic Partnership shall
include the name used by each party before registration of the
domestic partnership and the new name, if any, selected by each party
upon registration of the domestic partnership.