In , when the Supreme Court of the United States found state bans on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional in Obergefell v. Hodges, same-sex marriage, as well as same-sex divorce, became legal in Texas. This is true whether or not the divorcing couple was married in Texas. This area of the law is new and because of the unique complications in a same-sex marriage , you need a well-schooled, compassionate divorce attorney to help you come out of the legal wrangling intact and ready to restart your life.
Mike Youngberg is dedicated to making sure that you receive justice from the court system and your ex-spouse. He is a keen negotiator and powerful litigator and will approach your case with personal attention and provide you with the support you deserve.
Same-sex couples who were not permitted to obtain a marriage license until recently may have been married in one of the states that permitted marriage, or may have entered into a civil union, or may simply have agreed that they were married and referred to each other that they were married, even though the law did not recognize it.
This makes many same-sex divorces more complicated. The State of Texas allows for informal marriage and is a community property state so the character of some of your assets will be determined by the date the couple married. Determining the appropriate date of the marriage in same-sex divorce cases can be especially difficult, as parties may have been married informally even before the Obergefell decision, which can cause serious property division issues.
Decisions about child custody and visitation arrangements are not easy in any divorce, but they are often especially complicated when same-sex marriages reach their endpoint. Separating a family is painful in the best of circumstances, but in same-sex marriages, the situation can be legally ambiguous. While this ambiguity used to be a factor in some heterosexual divorces, paternity testing can now verify the biological father.
