Bethlehem Woman Files Lawsuit Seeking Partner's Inheritance

A widow in Bethlehem, PA, has filed a lawsuit seeking her rightful inheritance from her partner's will, after the state ruled their marriage was not valid, and assessed her under the highest tax rate in the state.

"I want my marriage to be respected like any other marriage," said Baus. "It is hard enough to cope with the loss of a spouse, but to have my marriage treated with such disregard is heartbreaking."

Barbara Baus and Catherine "Cathy" Brugi-Rios were living together for 15 years when they married on Apr. 29, 2011 in Fairfield County, CT. But on Sept. 21, 2012 at the age of 55, Brugi-Rios passed away from complications due to leukemia.

Although the two owned a joint home, cars and bank accounts, and Baus was named as executor and sole beneficiary of all of Brugi-Rios' assets in a will, Pennsylvania has chosen not to acknowledge the women's relationship.

When Baus filed the Inheritance Tax Return with the Register of Wills of Northampton County, claiming the spousal tax rate of zero, the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue Service declared that her marriage was "not valid in Pennsylvania" and levied the funds at 15 percent, the highest tax inheritance rate in the state -- and the one reserved for legal strangers.

In response, Baus filed a petition on Oct. 25 with the Orphan's Court of Northampton Country by her attorney Benjamin Jerner and Tiffany Palmer at Jerner & Palmer, P.C., a law firm that focuses on LGBT estate planning, estate administration and family law.

"This case is a clear example of how Pennsylvania's DOMA injures same sex-couples who have valid marriages," said Jerner.

According to an article in LeHigh Valley Live, Elizabeth Bassell, a spokeswoman for the Department of Revenue, said that while she was prohibited from discussing individual cases, the state defined marriage as between a man and a woman.

"In our administration of tax law, the Department of Revenue is required to follow Pennsylvania law," said Bassell.

Baus is charging that the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue Service's unwillingness to recognize her marriage and apply the correct tax rate for spouses is a violation of the Pennsylvania and U.S. Constitution. Specifically, she is asserting that the state's Defendant of Marriage Acts violates the Uniformity Clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution, which states that all taxes in the state must be assessed upon the same classes in a uniform fashion.

"The Pennsylvania Constitution does not permit the Commonwealth to same-sex married couples and opposite-sex married couples differently for inheritance tax," added Palmer.

The case is very similar to the U.S. Supreme Court DOMA-busting Edie Windsor inheritance case in New York last year, in which the 84-year-old widow challenged a $363,000 tax bill on her late wife's estate. Judge Leonard Zito has already granted a motion barring Registrar of Wills Gina Gibbs, from enforcing the tax until the issue is settled.

"I know standing up for our equal rights is what Cathy would have wanted me to do," said Baus.

In a separate case, a Department of Revenue Board of Appeals hearing officer will consider a protest of the $21,000 inheritance taxes being charged to the estate of Jeanne Schwartz' partner Nancy Nixon.

According to an AP article posted in the Daily Times News, Nixon said she and Schwartz were together from 1981 until Schwartz' death in April 2012 from a longtime illness. They were never married in any state that permits such unions, but still want their longtime relationship to be recognized.

"It is a lot of money to me," said Nixon, 68, of Carlisle. "The main thing to me is that gay people should not be discriminated in this way. A relationship that is equal to a marriage in every sense should be treated as a marriage by the state."