By Carl Bialik | The Wall Street Journal
As Rhode Island joins the swelling ranks of states that permit gay marriage, such places are grappling with a resulting complication: how to enable, and tally, gay divorce.
Many same-sex couples who want to undo their “I dos” are running into difficulties if they no longer live in states that recognize their marriage or civil union, lawyers say. That may be suppressing the number of people who officially untie the knot. It is difficult to say, in part because even some states where gay marriage is legal aren’t counting gay divorce, for a number of reasons. In Iowa and Massachusetts, for example, divorce forms don’t provide a way to indicate they are being used by a same-sex couple.
“The dissolution forms have not changed, and still read husband/wife,” said Polly Carver-Kimm, spokeswoman for the public-health department in Iowa, where same-sex marriage became legal four years ago.
Gay divorce is of great interest to a number of groups. Gay-rights advocates say it is just as important a civil right as gay marriage, as it allows couples to more tidily untangle financial and parental arrangements.
Some scholars agree. “One of the reasons that same-sex couples need marriage is that they need divorce,” said Ellen Lewin, a cultural anthropologist at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.
Also: Iowa court: Married same-sex parents must be on birth certificate
If you’d like to discuss family law, contact with Kaine Fisher, director of Rose Law Group Family Law Department, kfisher@roselawgroup.com.
