Law leaves gay couples in ‘financial’ limbo

GROWING numbers of long-term gay and lesbian couples are being left in financial limbo because of the lack of legal recognition of their relationships, it is claimed.

Support groups say some face being left in financial penury at an advanced age as family members of the deceased can successfully challenge wills and, because gay partners are not regarded as spouses, they can be hit with crippling inheritance tax bills.

“People are building their lives together and then they discover they cannot have anything,” said Marie Mulholland, manager of Gay Community News.

Ms Mulholland cited the case of a woman who was left with little after what she shared with a long-time partner was inherited by a family member and she was left to pay an enormous tax bill on a bequest.

“It’s affecting more and more people,” added Ms Mulholland. “We are now going into 10 years since decriminalisation and we’re now looking at the second generation, if you like, of gay couples.”

Apart from challenges from family members and tax bills, there are difficulties getting life insurance, particularly for gay men.

“Penury is a very real risk,” said Ms Mulholland. In cases where one partner has HIV, the problems are even greater, activists claim.

“They have got to make these kinds of arrangements because they are being forced to think about their own mortality,” according to Ms Mulholland.

Gay rights activists are being backed by the Equality Authority and Combat Poverty, who will jointly launch a report today into what it claims are direct links between discrimination and poverty, both of income and lifestyle, within different social groups: the elderly, disabled, women, Travellers and other ethnic minorities.

Equality Authority chief executive Niall Crowley admitted many of the issues raised in the report - lack of services for elderly, lower pay for women and poor housing for Travellers - have been widely reported on before.

He said discrimination is a major cause of poverty, the elimination of which requires an end to inequality. Policy makers should take this account when they are drawing up plans to tackle poverty, the two organisations say.

In the case of refugees and other immigrants, the report identifies a lack of recognition of professional qualifications gained in countries outside Europe as a barrier.

“It’s about not knowing what standard they are at or not having a system to find out,” said Mr Crowley.