Jun 30, 2015

With the recent ruling by the US Supreme Court on June 26^th, 2015 that states that marriage is allowed by law for all people of any gender regardless of sexual orientation, some people are wondering what this will mean when it comes to potential divorces down the line. With so much support of the new law, it’s surprising that divorce is even being brought up, but it’s possible in any marriage.

One of the major reasons for the fight for same-sex marriage is the fact that those that want to marry someone of the same sex are partially doing so in order to have the same rights that married men and women have.  When a same-sex couple marries, they now have the same rights as a married man and woman, so where does that leave them when divorce happens? Here is a look at how divorce will affect the same-sex couple’s family.

The Rules for All Couples

The way things were working before the law change was that for a same-sex couple, they were able to get married and still get divorced from the state they reside. If they were in a state that doesn’t recognize their relationship, they were unable to get divorced as the state wouldn’t recognize their union as a marriage. After the recent ruling, same-sex couples are now able to get divorced in any state whether or not it was the one they were married in.

Assets

When a same-sex couple gets divorced, the couple will be forced to deal with negotiations on their assets just like in a regular divorce. If you bought a home together, it’s considered marital property and must be dealt with as a co-owned asset during the divorce process. The same applies to vehicles, bank accounts, etc. 

Child-Custody

When children are involved in a same-sex marriage that is ending, the process is a bit more complicated. States don’t recognize “de facto” parents, meaning those that share equally in primary childcare responsibilities while residing with a child for a reason other than money.

When one member of the couple isn’t the natural or adoptive parent to the child, that parent gets no legal recourse if the relationship ends. The biological or adoptive parent has legal rights and would get to take the child from the other parent’s life easily. After the recent ruling, adoption agencies and state adoption laws have to allow the other parent to adopt a child that isn’t naturally theirs and are able to rule in their favor for custody rights during divorce proceedings.

With the newest ruling, same-sex couples won’t have a much different divorce experience than a straight couple.