Friday, January 14, 2011

You can't get married in TX but maybe you can get divorced.

From The Austin Statesman, the story of two women married in Massachusetts who moved to TX and now want to divorce. The Attorney General of Texas did not agree that a court granted them a dissolution, apparently believing that to grant them a divorce suggests they were married, and preferring them to STAY married. Not that the AG has any interest in a private divorce, it seems….
An appellate court ruled … that Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott may not intervene in a Travis County same-sex divorce case, a finding that lets stand for now the divorce of two women who were married out of state but does not affect Texas’ ban on gay marriage….

There are certain circumstances where the state could enter a case after a judgment has been entered, including when state statutes are under attack, the court ruled.

“This case, on the other hand, is not a suit to declare a statute unconstitutional or enjoin its enforcement, but a private divorce proceeding involving issues of property division and child custody,” said the court’s opinion, written by Justice Diane Henson.

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