Man must pay alimony to wife despite her domestic partnership

[The_Professor]

Man must pay alimony to wife despite her domestic partnership
Story Highlights
Judge: Domestic partnership doesn't stop wife's alimony
Man ordered to continue alimony even if wife uses other woman's name
Ex-husband plans to appeal

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A judge has ordered a man to continue paying alimony to his ex-wife -- even though she's in a registered domestic partnership with another woman and even uses the other woman's last name.

California marriage laws say alimony ends when a former spouse remarries, and Ron Garber thought that meant he was off the hook when he learned his ex-wife had registered her new relationship under the state's domestic partnership law.

An Orange County judge didn't see it that way.

The judge ruled that a registered partnership is cohabitation, not marriage, and that Garber must keep writing the checks, $1,250 a month, to his ex-wife, Melinda Kirkwood. Garber plans to appeal.

The case highlights questions about the legal status of domestic partnerships, an issue the California Supreme Court is weighing as it considers whether same-sex marriage is legal. An appeals court upheld the state's ban on same-sex marriage last year, citing the state's domestic partners law and ruling that it was up to the Legislature to decide whether gays could wed.

Lawyers arguing in favor of same-sex marriage say they will cite the June ruling in the Orange County case as a reason to unite gay and heterosexual couples under one system: marriage.

In legal briefs due in August to the California Supreme Court, Therese Stewart, chief deputy city attorney for San Francisco, intends to argue that same sex couples should have access to marriage and that domestic partnership doesn't provide the same reverence and respect as marriage.

The alimony ruling shows "the irrationality of having a separate, unequal scheme" for same-sex partners, Stewart said.

Garber knew his former wife was living with another woman when he agreed to the alimony, but he said he didn't know the two women had registered with the state as domestic partners under a law that was intended to mirror marriage.

"This is not about gay or lesbian," Garber said. "This is about the law being fair."

Kirkwood's attorney, Edwin Fahlen, said the agreement was binding regardless of whether his client was registered as a domestic partner or even married. He said both sides agreed the pact could not be modified and Garber waived his right to investigate the nature of Kirkwood's relationship.

Garber's attorney, William M. Hulsy, disagreed.

"If he had signed that agreement under the same factual scenario except marriage, not domestic partnership, his agreement to pay spousal support would be null and void," Hulsy said.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/wayoflife/07/23/alimony.partnerships.ap/index.html

[yellow_crane]

Man must pay alimony to wife despite her domestic partnership
Story Highlights
Judge: Domestic partnership doesn't stop wife's alimony
Man ordered to continue alimony even if wife uses other woman's name
Ex-husband plans to appeal

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A judge has ordered a man to continue paying alimony to his ex-wife -- even though she's in a registered domestic partnership with another woman and even uses the other woman's last name.

California marriage laws say alimony ends when a former spouse remarries, and Ron Garber thought that meant he was off the hook when he learned his ex-wife had registered her new relationship under the state's domestic partnership law.

An Orange County judge didn't see it that way.

The judge ruled that a registered partnership is cohabitation, not marriage, and that Garber must keep writing the checks, $1,250 a month, to his ex-wife, Melinda Kirkwood. Garber plans to appeal.

The case highlights questions about the legal status of domestic partnerships, an issue the California Supreme Court is weighing as it considers whether same-sex marriage is legal. An appeals court upheld the state's ban on same-sex marriage last year, citing the state's domestic partners law and ruling that it was up to the Legislature to decide whether gays could wed.

Lawyers arguing in favor of same-sex marriage say they will cite the June ruling in the Orange County case as a reason to unite gay and heterosexual couples under one system: marriage.

In legal briefs due in August to the California Supreme Court, Therese Stewart, chief deputy city attorney for San Francisco, intends to argue that same sex couples should have access to marriage and that domestic partnership doesn't provide the same reverence and respect as marriage.

The alimony ruling shows "the irrationality of having a separate, unequal scheme" for same-sex partners, Stewart said.

Garber knew his former wife was living with another woman when he agreed to the alimony, but he said he didn't know the two women had registered with the state as domestic partners under a law that was intended to mirror marriage.

"This is not about gay or lesbian," Garber said. "This is about the law being fair."

Kirkwood's attorney, Edwin Fahlen, said the agreement was binding regardless of whether his client was registered as a domestic partner or even married. He said both sides agreed the pact could not be modified and Garber waived his right to investigate the nature of Kirkwood's relationship.

Garber's attorney, William M. Hulsy, disagreed.

"If he had signed that agreement under the same factual scenario except marriage, not domestic partnership, his agreement to pay spousal support would be null and void," Hulsy said.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/wayoflife/07/23/alimony.partnerships.ap/index.html

Divorce and lawyers, used together in a phrase, is the most insidious reference to pure evil that exists in the language.

What happens is that you couple the fey, spidery savagery of the female at her best/worst with the cavalier brutality of the rock-scurrying, coin-flipping legal creatures.

I have know women who have divorced their husbands and caused me to stop conversing with them because now I feared them.

[kimba1]

unrelated
but i keep thinking about a friend of mine.
his ex-wife wants more money ,but if she ask for more it` mean he has to move in with her.
judge simply said how else can he pay support if he has to pay rent also
the judge is not forcing her to take him in,but it`s the only way for her to get the money.
he lives in her closet and now she`s upset he doesn`t talk to her.

[fatman]

I don't see the problem here.  The women are not technically married, or have the financial rights of marriage, so why should he have to stop the alimony? The alimony doesn't stop until she's remarried. Give the women at least the financial rights of marriage and then he might have a case.

[Plane]

When I divorced my Wife was makeing more than I was , but I didn't even ask for alimony.

[The_Professor]

Plane, this is because the justice system is skewed against you in this regard. My opinion, and only my opinion, is that the courts are skewed TOWARD the female, at least in my limited experience in these type of issues.

Plus, your attoryney, and my FIRST attorney, got chewed up by the HERS, that shark!