California Family Law Blog

The Boston Globe reports that the Boston-based legal advocacy group, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) that helped legalize same sex marriage in Massachusetts is gearing up for a fight to expand rights to same-sex married couples. A spokeswoman for the group that won the landmark 2003 Massachusetts state Supreme Judicial Court case legalizing gay marriage, stated that GLAD is taking aim at the federal Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 (DOMA). GLAD spokeswoman states that the group is targeting the provision of DOMA that denies federal recognition of wedded same-sex couples and is not trying to expand gay marriage beyond the traditionally liberal New England. GLAD has not stated whether they will file a lawsuit or urge Congress to repeal DOMA. However, for more than a year, GLAD has been surveying same-sex couples who have wed in Massachusetts to see whether they want federal benefits currently provided only to married heterosexual couples, including Social Security, payments to families of public safety officers killed in the line of duty, burial in Arlington cemetery, and family leave under federal law.

The Defense of Marriage Act, states that no state need recognize gay marriage from another state and denies hundreds of federal benefits to same-sex spouses. Therefore, California need not, and does not, recognize the marriage of same-sex couples. Although same-sex couples in California can register as domestic partners and receive state-level benefits, California does not yet recognize a marital union in the legal sense between same-sex couples states San Jose family law attorneys. The California Supreme Court is considering challenges to the constitutionality of law prohibiting same-sex marriage in the state, however, as of September 2007, the Court has not yet calendared the matter for oral argument.

Lacy Woo and Christy Chung, the same-sex couple whose names are on all of the arguments in California’s same-sex marriage court case, are ending their relationship. They have requested that their names be struck from the lawsuit challenging California’s marriage statutes. The two women say they remain advocates for same-sex marriages.

Prior to separating the two women were domestic partners that had been together for 18 years. They have daughter together.

Terminating A Domestic Partnership:
Terminating a registered domestic partnership ends the partnership and makes both persons legally un-partnered persons. Each person will no longer have the rights, protections, benefits, obligations, and responsibilities that they do as registered domestic partners.

Continue reading "Registered Domestic Partners Whose Names Headline Case To Legalize Same-Sex Marriages Decide To Separate " »

The deadline is today, November 14, for the plaintiffs' attorneys to file their appeal with the California Supreme Court over the issue of whether or not same-sex couples have the right to get married. Several lawsuits have been filed by gay and lesbian couples as well as the city of San Francisco on this matter.

Last week, the Court of Appeal in San Francisco issued an order saying it would not reconsider its ruling from last month by its panel (in a 2-1 vote) upholding state law, which stipulates that a couple have to be a man and a woman in order to get married—although the panel had agreed that gay and lesbian couples had the right to the same benefits as married couples under California’s domestic partnership system. The court’s ruling had overturned the decision by San Francisco Superior Court that had ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and their right to marry.

While same-sex couples are not currently allowed to get married, in California, they have the right to register their domestic partnership as long as they meet the requirements of Family code Section 297:

· Both partners must reside together.
· Neither must be married to someone of the opposite sex or in another domestic partnership that has not been terminated or dissolved.
· Both partners cannot be related to one another.
· Both partners must be 18 years of age or older.
· Both partners are members of the same sex or at least one partner must be 62 years of age or older.
· Both partners agree to the domestic partnership.
· Both partners agree that the Superior Court of California has jurisdiction over the termination of this partnership.

For a couple wishing to terminate their domestic partnership, here are the main differences between dissolving a domestic partnership and filing for divorce (by a married couple):

Continue reading "In San Francisco, Attorneys For Gay And Lesbian Couples Say They Will Appeal To California Supreme Court Regarding Whether Same-Sex Couples Have The Right To Marry" »