D.C. Moves To Adjust Divorce Law for Same-Sex Marriages

The Washington City Council is on track to make it easier for same-sex couples who got married in the District of Columbia to get divorced.

D.C. Councilman Phil Mendelson proposed the legislation after hearing reports that same-sex couples who wed in the District were being denied divorces after moving to jurisdictions that don’t recognize same-sex marriages. The District of Columbia began allowing same-sex marriages in 2010. But those marriages are recognized in only a handful of places, meaning divorce proceedings can’t be started in many places that haven’t recognized the marriages in the first place.

“I received a number of reports from couples or attorneys about this impossible situation,” Mendelson told the Washington Examiner.

Mendelson’s bill removes a six-month waiting period during which someone seeking a divorce must reside in the District, provided the marriage occurred in the District in the first place.

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