How to Legally Prepare For A Trump Administration

Photo by Justin McCallum Photography

Like many of you, we are concerned (to say the least) about the chaos that will undoubtedly ensue when Trump takes office. AGAIN! We are especially concerned for our undocumented immigrant and LGBTQIA+ communities. While we’ve been here before, countless financial and political experts have come forward to detail how this administration will be a whole lot worse for non-billionaires, generally, and the most marginalized, specifically. With the promise of mass deportations, increased tariffs, and dangerously unqualified cabinet picks (just to name a few), we are heading into another dark age. Kind of like the 2020 pandemic but with less guardrails.

This may sound pessimistic to some but for the vast majority of us who are paying attention, this is current-day America. We, at Once Upon a Vow, stand with every single one of you who are trying to figure out how to best brace for this impending future.

To quote Amira Hasenbush from All Family Legal, “Marriage equality is the law throughout the US, and even if the federal government were to refuse to recognize marriage equality prospectively, your already-existing marriage would likely remain valid. . .Similarly, if a state were to roll back its freedom to marry, and you were already validly married, it is extremely unlikely that such decisions will impact pre-existing marriages.”

Because of the outright threat to marginalized communities, especially immigrant and LGBTQIA+ communities, we are sharing a few recommendations to help guide you. Fair warning, it’s a lot of paperwork.

Get legally married. If you’re already planning on getting married even if you’re not technically engaged yet, now’s the time to book an appointment with the City Clerk to obtain your marriage license. You can also make an appointment to have the ceremony on-site 24 hours later or choose a progressive Boston wedding officiant or NYC wedding officiant, like us, to legally wed you. We are offering FREE marriage license signings in Boston, NYC, and NJ for LGBTQIA+ and immigrant couples until January 20th, 2025.

While many officiants, like us, will mail your marriage license on your behalf, it may be beneficial for most of you to drop off your marriage license and pick up your marriage certificate due to any time constraints you may have. It can take up to 4-6 weeks to receive your marriage certificate in the mail. In this case, we recommend you book a separate appointment with the ‘Records Room’ for NYC marriage certificates within 5 days of your wedding date. In Boston, you can simply drop off your marriage license without an appointment.

Estate Planning. Part of marriage is sharing financial responsibilities. Now’s the time to add one another and any children as beneficiaries to whatever trusts, assets and life insurance policies you may have. Should something happen to either of you, you’ll know that your partner is protected.

Outline Health Plan. There’s a reason ‘in sickness and in health’ is included in wedding vows. We, able-bodied folks, can often take our health for granted but truthfully none of us are immune to accidents or health scares so now’s the time to have these tough conversations and be prepared. Be one another’s health care proxy and discuss health directives for any worst case scenarios. Create a will, living and otherwise.

Update your lawyer. For undocumented immigrants, it’s important to contact your immigration lawyer and share these important documents for your case. In particular, your marriage certificate and familiarize yourself with the process as it’s different from the DACA recipient process, for example.

Renew or obtain your passport. Traveling abroad is a privilege in countless ways and now, more than ever, many are considering moving overseas to a safer and more accepting country. None of us want to be here for the Handmaids era. While that may sound extreme, even to us, we can’t lie that this dystopian fiction feels much too close for comfort.

United in love and solidarity, we have to believe that we’ll stay focused and committed to standing up for one another. Especially in the face of fascism. Universe, please help us all weather the storms to come.