This publication explains laws that allow same-sex couples who cannot dissolve civil unions or domestic partnerships in their home state to dissolve these relationships in the state where they entered their union. Download PDF
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divorce
Every year, more states and countries allow same-sex couples to marry. But in the states that continue to bar same-sex couples from marriage, a new legal question is emerging: will the state permit married same-sex couples to divorce, even though it will not allow them to marry? If not, these couples are stuck in a terrible legal limbo. They are legally married, and their mar- riages are recognized in many places. But they cannot get a divorce where they live, and they cannot file for divorce...
Jessica Port and Virginia Anne Cowan married in California in 2008. Unfortunately, their relationship broke down and they made the difficult decision to end their marriage. They were residents of Maryland at that time, and sought a divorce in a Maryland court in 2010. Longstanding Maryland law provides that couples who validly married in another state are recognized as married in Maryland, even if the couple would not have been able to marry in Maryland. However, the trial court found that...
Marilynn Zupancic and her former partner Dianne were together for 30 years and planned on spending the rest of their lives together. Although they could not legally marry in their home state of Colorado, Marilynn and Dianne were partners in every respect. Marilynn, a teacher, supported Dianne while she was in graduate school, and they took out a mortgage on their jointly-owned home so that Dianne could pay off her school loans. In 2007, their relationship ended. If Marilynn and Dianne had been...