Brangelina may have sounded like cheeseball idealists when they said, “Angie and I will consider tying the knot when everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able.” But seriously, wouldn’t the world be a much better place when we stop this nonsense about who can get married and now who can get divorced?

In a bittersweet statement, Providence resident Cassandra Ormiston, sums it up in her inability to get divorced from her lesbian partner Margaret Chambers, “I’m a 61-year-old woman who always votes and pays my taxes, “I’m a good citizen, a good American. And then to be told I don’t have the same rights as everyone else.”

They are caught in a no-way-out situation where they cannot get divorced in their home state of Rhode Island as the court does not recognize same-sex unions, which means they cannot divorce if they weren’t married in the first place.

Although they got hitched in Massachusetts, divorce is not possible either because they need to be residents for at least a year.

The LA Times sketched out a very good article on this topic and points out the legal traps of clashing federal and state laws relating to same-sex marriages in the US:

* If a judge orders a heterosexual couple to divide a pension during a divorce, federal law allows the pension to be divided without triggering early-withdrawal penalties. Divorcing gay couples must pay the penalties.

* Court-ordered alimony payments can be deducted from federal income taxes in straight divorces, but not in same-sex divorces.

* In gay divorces, when a judge orders one party to give money or other assets to a spouse, those assets may be subject to gift or income taxes.

* When real property is transferred from joint ownership to one gay spouse by a court order, capital-gains taxes are often triggered.

What I find curious is there was a lesbian couple who were residing in Canada and managed to get a divorce in New York, which is dubbed the first gay divorce in the history of the state’s family law system. Maybe Ormistan needs to head over there?

Gay marriage on both coasts is something I support but it is truly a pity that the whole country isn’t in synch on this issue. I think it’s time that divorce laws for same-sex unions catch up fast.

Related posts:

1. More gay divorces as laws change
2. First gay divorce in New York
3. Alimony: A thorny part of divorce - Part 4: Alimony and Taxes: How to play it right

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