As difficult as it can be for lesbian or gay same-sex couples to get married in most states these days -- let alone get divorced when their relationships go awry -- the marriage and divorce obstacles facing transgender men and women are even greater.

Many of these men and...

The Williams Institute, a prestigious gay-legal think tank located at the University of California Los Angeles, has just released some fascinating statistics. In a comprehensive study, researchers Lee Badgett and Jody Herman surveyed the number of same-sex couples that married or state-registered in civil unions or domestic partnerships. They also...

One of the nastiest dimensions of the battle over same-sex marriage has been the lack of access to divorce courts for same-sex married couples that reside in non-recognition states. While you might think that anti-gay judges would be thrilled to help these gay couples break up, in fact that is...

With all the attention being bestowed on the legalization of same-sex marriage in New York state, there is another queue being formed there as well: the line of those couples wanting to get divorced. It's not quite as romantic, but from a legal and financial perspective the access to a...

The victory in New York State is incredibly important in the struggle to extend access to legal marriage for all same-sex couples. New York is the home to nearly 50,000 same-sex couples, and the lack of marriage or its equivalent (civil union or domestic partnership) has made it difficult for...

In an important ruling by its state Supreme Court, Wyoming has reversed a lower court's refusal to hear a petition by a lesbian couple seeking to end the marriage they entered into in Canada. As has happened in various other states (Rhode Island, Texas, and Oklahoma for example), the trial...

A recent decision by the Texas Court of Appeals in Houston illustrates the complexity -- and the nastiness -- of one particularly ugly gay divorce. The partners lived in Houston but they traveled to Canada in 2003 to get married and then they registered as domestic partners in California in...

Unlike most other states that only apply marital law to legally married couples when they get divorced (including both gay and straight couples or those in marriage-equivalent state registrations), the courts in Washington State have adopted a unique approach. They are authorized to apply marital rules to unmarried couples, but...

The Attorney General in New Mexico recently issued a very well-written Opinion, stating that same-sex marriages from other states should be recognized in New Mexico. If the state government agencies and local courts adopt this opinion, couples that married in other states (such as Massachusetts or Iowa)...

State laws across the country now impose a "no fault" rule on divorces -- which means that financial and property disputes are resolved without regard to the allegations of fault between the spouses. While legislators and lawyers strongly support this approach, many divorcing couples have a great deal of trouble...

A recent decision by the North Carolina Supreme Court appears to have invalidated potentially thousands of second-parent adoptions by same-sex couples (mostly lesbian couples) in that state. This is one of the worst examples of how a particularly nasty divorce can lead to bad court decisions, which in turn can...

Breaking up is hard enough to do, but it's especially painful when a court or the IRS doesn't honor your "marriage" at the time of divorce. One problem that received a fair amount of notice is where a cluster of local courts (in Texas most recently) have refused to grant...

Monday's hearing at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco focused on the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the initiative that prohibited same-sex marriage in California. The legal issues in this appeal are complex, especially as there is a reasonable prospect that the court will throw out the appeal...

One of the most hotly debated questions amongst my lawyer and mediator colleagues is whether or not gay or lesbian divorces differ from straight divorces, and if so, in what ways. While some folks opine that all divorces are miserable in their own unique way, I'm convinced there are numerous...