Does a civil union provide the same rights and responsibilities as marriage?
No, a civil union does not provide the same rights and responsibilities as marriage in South Carolina. In South Carolina, civil unions were only legal for a brief period of time before they were repealed by the state in 2017. During that time, civil unions provided far fewer legal rights and obligations than marriage does, since they did not confer the same federal benefits as marriage. In South Carolina, civil unions only provided certain limited legal rights and obligations, such as the right to make medical decisions and inherit from each other. In addition, civil unions did not give couples the right to file joint tax returns, obtain health insurance through one another’s employer, or access Social Security benefits. Unlike with marriage, couples in civil unions could not get automatic legal recognition of their relationship, which means that it may have been more difficult for them to enforce their rights in the event of a dispute. In summary, civil unions did not provide the same rights and responsibilities as marriage in South Carolina during the brief period of time that they were legal. Couples in civil unions did not have access to the same federal benefits or recognition of their relationship as couples in a marriage.
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