When the desire to live apart becomes stronger than the desire to live together, most couples simply file for a divorce. That is easy enough for some couples in Florida, but for other couples the situation turns into a much more complex case because of Florida laws. A recent case in Broward County included a judge’s ruling that the state’s ban on recognizing same-sex marriages performed in states that allow them violates the United States Constitution.
A woman and her partner were married in Vermont. The couple then moved to Florida. The state doesn’t recognize their marriage, so now that they want to get a divorce, they are unable to. The judge presiding over the case is the third to rule that not recognizing or performing same-sex marriages is unconstitutional in less than a month.
In this case, the judge stayed the ruling because he anticipates that the attorney general will appeal the ruling. She has already appealed the other two cases in which the judge has ruled that denying same-sex marriages is unconstitutional.
Instead of simply ruling about the constitutionality of the state’s law forbidding same-sex unions, the judge wrote out a 16-page decision for the case after the woman’s attorney asked the judge to rule on the law’s merit.
Wanting to get a divorce usually isn’t a decision that made in haste. For couples who don’t want to remain married, the final divorce decree usually can’t be signed fast enough. In order to keep things moving along at a speedy pace, it is important for the parties involved to understand the laws so they can determine how to address any potential issues that might arise during the hearings.
Source: The Advocate, “Judge: Florida Must Recognize Out-of-State Marriages” Sunnivie Brydum, Aug. 05, 2014
