With the updates to laws that make same-sex marriages equal to opposite-sex ones, people might think that there aren’t any unique challenges to divorce cases. This isn’t the case. Same-sex couples do have some concerns when a marriage ends that aren’t present for others.
One factor that can come up in these cases is that the length of the relationship might not be what you think it is, at least from a legal standpoint. It is possible that a marriage that happened prior to 2015 won’t have the entire length recognized during a divorce. This is due to same-sex marriage not being recognized in some states until then.
Alimony is one of the areas in which the length of the marriage might be considered. If you think that your divorce will have this as a factor, be sure to find out how the laws might apply to your case so that you can formulate a plan for handling this aspect of the split.
Another issue that can come up has to do with the children. There is a chance that the nonbiological parent might not be granted custody or visitation. The exception to this is when the child is legally adopted. Outside of adoption, you might be in for a serious battle if you want to continue your parenting time with the child.
Same-sex divorces might benefit from the mediation process. When this happens, both parties can negotiate on the terms of the split. This might be preferable for people who don’t want to have to try to guess how the court might view the marriage.
