The Mississippi Supreme Court will hear arguments to decide whether a judge got it right when he denied a divorced women’s request to be listed as a parent to a child conceived by her ex-wife through donated sperm. The case involves two women, one of which, had a child using assisted reproduction technology during their…Read More
Property Rights of Unmarried Domestic Partners
In 1979, the Illinois Supreme Court, in a case entitled Hewitt decided that based on the prohibition in Illinois Statutes against common-law marriages, unmarried people who lived together could not bring claims against one another to enforce property rights if the rights asserted are based on a marriage-like relationship between the parties. Very recently, August…Read More
Illinois Same-Sex Marriage Family Law
Many Illinoisians are jubilant following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down bans on same-sex marriages, making gay marriage legal nationwide. In a long-awaited ruling, the nations highest court ruled 5-4 that outlawing gay marriage and refusing to recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other states violated the equal protection and due process clauses…Read More
Recent developments in Illinois same-sex family law
On June 1, Illinois was added to a list of more than a dozen states that now recognize same-sex marriage. Of course, with the freedom to marry also comes the need to end a marriage in divorce. Under the state’s same-sex marriage law, a same-sex divorce is treated largely the same as an opposite sex…Read More
Chicago Court of Appeals: Gay Marriage Bans are Discriminatory
Last week, a federal appeals court in Chicago upheld lower court rulings that struck down the same-sex marriage bans in Indiana and Wisconsin. The decision was notable, in part, because the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals often takes months to issue a decision but the decision in this case was issued just nine days…Read More
Court extends paternity rights to non-biological same-sex parent
This summer, Illinois joined more than a dozen states that now recognize same-sex marriage. However, even though it is now legal for gay and lesbian couples to marry, adopt children and divorce in these states, there are many issues on which the law still needs to catch up. In fact, courts all over the country…Read More
Olympic skater Johnny Weir and husband divorce
In Chicago and across the U.S., same-sex marriage is becoming a reality for many. In some Chicago counties, same-sex couples have been able to legally marry before same-sex marriage is set to be widely legalized in the state. As same-sex marriage is becoming more common, same-sex divorce is also a reality that many are now…Read More
Could same-sex couples across Illinois wed immediately?
Same-sex couples in Illinois reached another milestone earlier this month, after the state’s Attorney General wrote a letter urging that all county clerks in Illinois allow same-sex couples to marry immediately, instead of waiting until June, when the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act is scheduled to take effect. Although federal law defines marriage as…Read More
