Same-sex marriage in Texas has been legal since the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell against the State of Texas prohibited same-sex marriage both by law and in its State Constitution. A federal judge today declared Texas's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. The state's refusal to recognize same-sex marriages outside the state is also unconstitutional, he ruled.
Today's ruling is one of a line of decisions that overturn statewide marriage bans. Yes, there is usually a 72-hour waiting period before a judge or authorized religious official gets married. See Common Law Marriage between Persons of the Same Sex in Texas. The Department of Labor has extended these protections to all married same-sex couples.
Now that the issue of recognition of same-sex marriage has been resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court, divorce proceedings should not be handled differently from opposite-sex divorces. Same-sex couples can get a divorce in the county where at least one of them resides. Yes, but it's a good idea to hire a lawyer if you can.
This is especially true if there are custody, maintenance, or property issues. Your property, money and rights as a parent may be at risk. The Texas Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a lower court ruling that said spouses of gay and lesbian public employees are entitled to government-subsidized same-sex marriage benefits. Nationwide marriage equality was at the forefront of HRC's work for years before it shifted public sentiment toward same-sex marriage.
For couples who choose not to marry, estate planning is important to obtaining some of the protections for their family that would otherwise be available through marriage. It's worth noting that in Wyoming, gay divorce has been considered constitutional, even though gay marriage remains illegal in the state. Now, however, nearly a third of states (which contain nearly forty percent of the population) have legalized gay marriage and, in most cases, that has been through the actions of elected legislatures or voters at the polls. That request to the court came more than a year after state agencies moved to extend benefits to spouses of married gay and lesbian employees just days after the high court ruling.
On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court agreed with that argument, noting that Obergefell requires states to license and recognize same-sex marriages in the same way as same-sex marriages, but did not hold that “states must provide the same benefits publicly funded to all married people. This statute stated that “A same-sex marriage or civil union is contrary to the public policy of this state and is void in this state, and prohibits the state, or any state agency, from giving effect to any “public act, record, or judicial proceeding that creates, recognizes, or validates a marriage between persons of the same-sex or civil partnership in this state or any other jurisdiction. In anticipation of the floodgates that would open soon after a judge declared gay marriage constitutional in Massachusetts, the Texas Legislature voted in 2003 to add more text to the Family Code that would prohibit gay marriage and civil unions through Section 6.204. And there are four pending lawsuits that are challenging the various restrictions in the state that prohibit gay marriage. The outcome of that case is unlikely to determine the future of gay marriage in Texas, even the divorce lawyer insists that “gay marriage and gay divorce are two separate things, although it can open the door for cases that are likely to.
In Texas, meanwhile, if same-sex marriage status is going to change at least in the short term, it will likely have to be in court. .
