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California Marriage Primer

Nobody ever said marriage was easy, and in the wake of the California Supreme Court’s May 15 decision to legalize marriage for same-sex couples, there arises a host of new legal questions that need answers. We went to Lambda Legal director Jon Davidson for the scoop and found out some surprising benefits (New Yorkers, you may want to book a trip out west) and pitfalls (divorce complications) related to this historic decision.


What does this mean for people who already have domestic partnerships? Are partnerships nullified, or should gay people still apply for them when they get married?
The ruling is scheduled to go into effect June 16. At that point people will be able to get married if they want, but if they’re in a registered domestic partnership in the state of California already, they’ll still be in a domestic partnership. Now, people in a domestic partnership can get married -- as long as they marry the same person they’re in the domestic partnership with! [Laughs] The domestic partnership is not converted into a marriage; it’s a separate status.

So they’d effectively be keeping that status but adding marriage?
Yes -- that’s why it might be a good idea [to have both]. For example, some states like Oregon, Vermont, and a number of others that have domestic partnerships and civil unions will not honor a marriage from another jurisdiction -- but they will respect and honor a domestic partnership from another jurisdiction. It might not be a bad idea to have a marriage and a domestic partnership if you’re traveling to one of those states.

How does this affect people who live in other states but want to marry in California?
There are no residency requirements to get married in California, so people from other states can come and get married here. The problem they may experience is that if the couple breaks up, there is a residency requirement in California to divorce. You have to live in California for six months before you can file for a divorce.

Uh-oh! How might that complicate things?
In some states that may not recognize the marriage, it may not be possible to get divorced where they live.

So they’d have to move back here to qualify for the divorce?
Correct. We’ve seen this happen in Canada. Canada has no residency requirements to marry [some jurisdictions impose a short waiting period, however], but it has a one-year residency requirement for divorce. So there are gay people living in other jurisdictions who haven’t been able to get a divorce.

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