Q: Can my gay friendly life insurance policy include my domestic partner?

A: Anybody can be named as beneficiary on your gay friendly life insurance policy, but one obstacle for long term gay couples is that you cannot get a policy together. Instead, if your intent is to leave your assets to your partner upon your death, and they to you, then each of you should get your own life insurance policy and name the other as the beneficiary. It’s a little more of a hassle than the other way, but in the end it’s best to go ahead and do it, because in states where gay marriage and civil unions are not legal, not specifying who you want your stuff to go through could lead to a lot of trouble for your significant other.

However, if you have children together and are interested in protecting them financially, then you can be insured together with what is called a second-to-die policy. This means that you will have a dual gay friendly life insurance policy, but that nobody gets any money until you both have passed on, at which point the money will revert to the named beneficiary.