divorce

Even though Kentucky bans same-sex marriage, Jefferson Family Court Judge Joseph O'Reilly granted a divorce to a same-sex couple married in Massachusetts, The Courier-Journal's Andrew Wolfson reports: "O'Reilly said that barring same-sex couples to divorce here violates the state constitutional guarantee that all people should be treated as equals."

Colleen Logan, writing in the Huffington Post, writes about five reasons why the LGBT community is ready for same-sex marriage but not divorce. The upshot is that there are legal ramifications from state-sanctioned matrimony. Those include:

One- The law's notion of presumed parenthood does not protect non-biological mothers and fathers. "Until the law sees fit to protect both parents in a same-sex couple in the case of divorce, we won't truly be ready for marriage," Logan writes.

Two- Different tax treatment is going to ensue from same-sex matrimony: "Filing jointly may seem like a benefit, but what if your newly betrothed had huge tax debt that you didn't know about before you got hitched? Coupling your doom is the fact that that sweet little refund that you used to get as single and head of household is now a distant memory," Logan also writes.

A Mississippi judge has rejected a lesbian's request to have her California same-sex marriage dissolved by the courts of her home state, according to the Associated Press. Democrat Attorney General Jim Hood said in a motion to intervene on Nov. 15 that Mississippi "has no obligation to give effect to California laws that are contrary to Mississippi's expressly stated public policy" barring same-sex marriage, the AP also reported.

Mississippi bars same-sex marriage by statute and in the state constitution.

The flip side of the national movement to establish same-sex marriage in the United States is the right to dissolve same-sex unions. The Associated Press reports on how estranged couples in "nonrecognition states would have to move back to the state where they were married and establish residency in order to get divorced — an option that can be unworkable in many cases."

James Esseks, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, told the AP that the right to end marriage is just as important as the right to enter them. '"Part of that system is creating a predictable, regularized way of dealing with the reality that relationships sometimes end,' [Esseks] said. 'Those are the times people are the worst to each other, and that's why we have divorce courts. There's got to be an adult in the room."'

The AP further profiles a Mississippi case in which that state's Attorney General's office filed a motion to intervene because a same-sex couple married in California is seeking to have a divorce recognized by Mississippi's family courts.

Next month, the Texas Supreme Court will consider two separate cases of estranged same-sex spouses who married in Massachusetts and want to get divorced in Texas. This blog post notes: "Currently, it is unclear what the decisions of the Texas Supreme Court are likely to be. More than anything else, these upcoming decisions reflect the changing landscape of family law in the U.S. As of now, just over a quarter of the U.S. population lives in jurisdictions that have legalized same-sex marriage. As one of the fastest growing states in the U.S., it is important for Texas law to articulate its approach to these sorts of issues. Indeed, questions regarding same-sex marriage and divorce are likely to become more common throughout the country."

PENNSYLVANIA: The register of wills in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, ordered to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples is seeking the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's review on whether the lower appellate court had jurisdiction and if the state health department opposing the licenses' issuance made out its burden of proof in the case, Reuters reports: http://whtc.com/news/articles/2013/oct/01/pennsylvania-clerk-appeals-ban...

NEW JERSEY: This state's attorney general has asked a state judge to put a stay in place until the New Jersey Supreme Court can rule on the constitutionality of the state's civil union law when it does not allow same-sex marriage, Bloomberg Businessweek reports. The AG argued, Bloomberg reports, "the judge should allow the Supreme Court, 'the ultimate arbiter of substantial constitutional issues, to definitively determine the contested issue and allow that court, if it deems necessary, to take the drastic step of rejecting on constitutional grounds' a state law.": http://mobile.businessweek.com/news/2013-10-01/new-jersey-asks-judge-to-...

WEST VIRGINIA: Lambda Legal has filed a constitutional challenge to WV's ban on same-sex marriage, arguing it violates the plaintiffs's rights under the Fourteenth Amendment, the Associated Press reports: http://m.tribtown.com/view/story/4c19a72e9dbc40cca08b54eb02037d72/WV--Ga...

MISSISSIPPI: A same-sex couple seeking a divorce after getting married in California are litigating to have their marital dissolution recognized under Mississippi family law,WMC-TV reports: http://m.wmctv.com/#!/newsDetail/23551743

That case may be the first of its kind in the state.