On June 26, 2011, the Marriage Equality Act was passed in New York. New York became the fifth state to recognize same sex marriages. The Marriage Equality Act states “a marriage that is otherwise valid shall be valid whether the parties of the marriage are of the same or different sex.” The intent of the statute is to allow marriage to become a … [Read more...]
Former President Bush’s Daughter Endorses Gay Marriage
Barbara Bush, age 29, one of George Bush’s twin daughters, has taped a video endorsing gay marriage. The video calls for the State of New York to legalize gay marriage. In her video, she says this a matter of conscience and equality. Her father, former President George Bush, does not agree with her on this topic. Barbara Bush is not the first … [Read more...]
Canadian Gay Marriage Valid, Partner to Inherit in Probate Court
The Appellate Division in New York held in February of 2011, in the matter of the Estate of H. Kenneth Ranftle, that they recognize as valid the Canadian marriage of H. Kenneth Ranftle and J. Craig Leiby. The late Kenneth Ranftle named Craig as "surviving spouse and sole distributee" in his will. The court found that the recognizing of the Canadian … [Read more...]
Governor Cuomo Seeks to Legalize Gay Marriage in New York
In March of this year, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo went on record that he was in favor of the legalization of same sex marriage in the state of New York. He stated that he would be involved in a campaign to legalize same sex marriage. Same Sex Law Failed in 2010 Last year, a same sex marriage law was proposed. It was defeated in the New York State … [Read more...]
Same Sex Marriage Fails in Maryland
There is a bill before the Maryland State Legislature to allow same sex marriage. On Friday, March 11, 2011, this bill was withdrawn from consideration due to the unlikelihood of the bill being passed by the state legislature. The law was titled the Civil Marriage Protection Act. For the past few weeks, the bill sponsors have been claiming that … [Read more...]
Non-biological Gay Father Prevails Against Biological Father
This is the story of a complicated, unique case decided by the Texas Court of Appeals. Two men first travel to Canada and thereafter to California for the purpose of creating a legal gay union. A surrogate was hired who bore a child for one of the gay men. A proceeding was brought in the State of California to establish both gay men as legal … [Read more...]
Lesbian Obligated To Pay Child Support
Under current law, if a heterosexual male has a one night stand with a woman and she becomes pregnant, the man is legally obligated to pay child support. Furthermore, in situations where a male is paying child support to a woman even when he is not the father, he cannot discontinue payments under the doctrine of "equitable estoppel". This … [Read more...]
New York Court Grants First Lesbian Divorce
Our office practices a great deal of matrimonial law, so it is with great interest that we read about a Broome County New York Supreme Court justice who just granted Lauren Wells-Weiss and Shari Weiss (married in Canada) a divorce. By doing so, it implicitly also recognized the fact that they were initially married, the first time this has … [Read more...]
Can Simultaneous, Multiple Wives All Receive Spousal Health Benefits in NY?
As a law clerk in a law office that does a tremendous amount of Wills Trusts and Estates work, I found this story pretty interesting. Professor Volokh at The Volokh Conspiracy reported on a New York County Surrogate's Court case, which granted "surviving spouse" status to a "husband" whose same-sex marriage was performed in Canada. In the case of … [Read more...]
