Montgomery Mediation LLC

Same Sex Marriages

Families of a same sex marriage have very special needs. The laws are different in virtually every state. At this time, same sex marriage is allowed in Connecticut, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and Washington DC. The states of Washington and Maryland have recently passed laws allowing same sex marriage.

Some of these issues include:

• What happens with the house?
• Do one or both of you have a pension?
• What are the tax implications of the decisions and directions that you want to take?
• If you have children, what happens to the kids? Will there be joint or sole custody? Who makes the important decisions for the kids involving religion, health and schooling?
• What happens in the event of Second-parent adoption? Second-parent adoption is used where a same-sex partner adopts her or his partner's biological or adoptive child without terminating the first legal parent's rights. California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington state and Washington, DC allow second-parent adoption by same-sex couples. What happens if your spouse tries to use this against you?
• Can the couple afford for one spouse to continue to stay home, or does that spouse now need to go back to work because there really isnít enough money for that spouse to stay at home any longer.
• Should there be spousal support (aka alimony) and if so for how long?
• Even if you have not been legally married, many times the same sex couple combines assets, have joint debts and need help dividing these up.
• Did you get married in another state or even country (e.g. Canada) and now want to divorce here in Maryland, DC or Virginia? What are the implications?

While there are a lot of laws to deal with divorce of heterosexual marriages, there is very little law or information on the rights and legal process involved with same sex divorce or break ups. Every state has its own explanation for how it should be done.

With Mediation, you get to decide what the answers to these important questions are, and the direction your new life will take. If you prefer to go to court, you will not be deciding what happens to your life. Instead, a judge will decide what they think is best for you. It will also take you longer and cost you more in money and in anxiety. To us, the decision is rather simple, i.e. try to mediate your issues before you go to court. Save your money and anxiety. The best person to decide what is best for you is you.

With offices in Rockville/Montgomery County Maryland (next to the Rockville Metro), we are located conveniently for clientele throughout the Washington DC metropolitan area.