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When a Same-Sex Couple Separates

By Darryl M. Vernon
June 01, 2016

This article discusses a more equal road to succession in New York's regulated apartments after Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. __, 2015WL213646 (2015), and the Marriage Equality Act. In Obergefell, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated laws prohibiting marriage between same-sex couples. In New York, the right of a tenant not named on a lease to keep one's regulated apartment when the tenant named on the lease dies or vacates is in many cases a valuable right that affects whether one can remain in his home, or even in his city. Under the Rent Stabilization Code, spouses of a tenants of record do not share such a concern, as they have the automatic right to be added to the lease while residing there with the tenant of record. However, before New York's legalization of same-sex marriage, a gay person living with a tenant of record as a couple in a rent-regulated apartment did not have this automatic right to be added to a lease as a spouse, and could only claim that right through succession after the tenant of record died or vacated the apartment. The New York case of 360 Associates v. Hyers and Pederson, N.Y. County Civ.Ct. Index 72743/13 (2015), illustrates the resulting problems and the impact of Obergefell.

The Pederson Case

In 1988, Michael Pederson moved into the rent-stabilized apartment of Kemper Hyers, who was his partner of over 20 years. They had all the usual indicia of a marriage including shared accounts, attendance at family functions, and in general an emotional and financial interdependence. They wanted to marry, but were not legally allowed to do so. In 1993, they obtained a domestic partnership certificate with the City of New York and had a ceremony and celebration, with all the hallmarks of a wedding.

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