• 10
  • October
    2011

Abby Tolchinsky and Ellie Wertheim, writing for the New York Law Journal, argue that "genuine marriage equality" has not yet been achieved - the passage of New York's Marriage Equality Act notwithstanding - because states across the nation are not obligated to recognize an out-of-state same-sex marriage.

In other words, if you get married in New York, your marriage will not be recognized as valid in a state that formally bans recognition of same-sex marriages performed out-of-state. The authors cite Virginia as an example of one state that would not recognize your marriage.

Similarly, Virginia would not enforce the provisions of a divorce decree coming out of a same-sex relationship, either.

What this means, Tolchinsky and Wertheim write, is that you're going to have to be mindful, more than ever, of both the federal and state treatment of family law when it comes to same-sex divorce cases.

Here's one example:

Under federal law, a spouse in a same-sex marriage who gets health insurance through her spouse's employer has to pay income tax on it.

Source: New York Law Journal, "Creative Parenting Agreements Still Needed With Same-Sex Marriage," by Abby Tolchinsky and Ellie Wertheim, 08/29/11