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The City of New York has enacted Domestic Partners Law providing for "domestic partnerships", which can be used by couples who are living together without being married.

A Domestic Partnership may be registered by two people who meet the following requirements:

• Either or both persons are New York City residents or at least one person is employed by the City of New York on the date of registration;
• Both persons are eighteen years of age or older;
• Neither of the persons are married or related by blood in a manner that would bar his or her marriage in New York State;
• The persons have a close and committed personal relationship, live together and have been living together on a continuous basis;
• Neither of them is currently a party to another Domestic Partnership or has been registered as a member of another Domestic Partnership within the last six months

Domestic partnerships provide some of the legal benefits of marriage, such as child care leave for New York City employees, visitation in a city correctional facility, visitation in facilities operated by the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, eligibility to qualify as a family member to be added by the New York City Housing Authority to an existing tenancy as a permanent resident, eligibility to qualify as a family member entitled to succeed to the tenancy or occupancy rights of a tenant or cooperator in buildings supervised by or under the jurisdiction of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and health benefits provided by New York City to its employees and retirees and eligible members of their family pursuant to stipulation or collective bargaining.

Importantly, the domestic partnership law did not transform domestic partnership into any form of common-law marriage or impinge on state's exclusive right to regulate institution of marriage and there are enormous differences between marriage and domestic partnership. For this reason, it is advisable to consult an attorney for the purpose of entering into a formal agreement between domestic partners since there are special problems with the enforceability of these agreements.