How deeds have changed to handle same sex marriages

Over Tom's 30 years of law practice, deeds to married couples have changed from "his wife", to "husband and wife" to now "a married couple".

Attorney Tom Olsen: Chrissy, I was thinking about something just yesterday, taking the dog for the walk, about things have changed in the law over the years, but particularly, what I want to focus on was how we do deeds. Historically, when I would do a deed to a married couple from way back in the days, it'd be John and Mary, his wife. Then we changed a few years back, we did John and Mary, husband and wife. Then just recently, we changed all our deeds now to read John and Mary, married couple.

Chrissy: Yes, what a change over the years.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Yes, just providing that there's legal marriage between men and men and women and women these days, so married couple seems less sexist and more appropriate to what's going on these days with people being married.

Chrissy: Yes, and of course, like you said too, whether it's on, of course, other legal documents, but in particular with deeds, and we know how important it is to make sure that that designation, as well as every word in a deed, is perfect.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Yes. When we do to deed to John and Mary, a married couple, that's good enough. However, if it's a same-sex marriage, it would be a married couple under the laws of the state of whatever state they happen to get married in, because a gay couple cannot get married in every state, so if you are married, we need to know what state you were married in so we know that it was a legal marriage.