Gay Divorce OK – Gay Marriage NG

Here’s one to tickle your psyche. A Gay couple, legallly married in Canada was granted a divorce in good ole Mercer County recently. Here it seems that the plaintiff, La Kia Hammond had moved to NJ and thus did not satisfy the residency requirement under Canadian law. She was separated and was living in New Jersey. Lia Kia had been diagnosed with terminal musculat dystrophy and needed a divorce quickly so that she could move back to Canada and marry another woman who was willing to care for her. Her partner did not contest the divorce.
In determining that the couple was entitled to divorce in New Jersey, Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson ruled that even though New Jersey does not permit same sex marriage, nevertheless, the principle of comity requires our courts to recognize marriages granted in other states or countries. The judge determined that the marriage did not violate the public policy of New Jersey, and would be recognized for dissolution purposes. In ruling from the bench, Judge Jacobson expressed that what Lia Kia needed, is a divorce, and not a civil union dissolution, because she was married, and “you don’t end a marriage with a dissolution of a civil union.” I give kudos to Judge Jacobson for putting common sense and decency in front of old minded bigotted notions, and doing the right thing in this difficult case.

Palimony – About to be abolished??

Once again Palimony is in the news – The Bill – blogged about below – S2091, requiring palimony agreements to be in writing to be enforceable recently passsed out of comimittee. I don’t know about you all – but I’ve NEVER seen an agreement for palimony in writing. Isn’t the whole point that the relationship was never formalized?????? The bill would overturn D’Devaney v. L’Esperance, (decided June 17, 2008) holding that cohabitation is not required for a finding of palimony, In re Estate of Roccamonte, (174 N.J. 381) (2002) which held that plaimony could be awarded against the estate of the cohabitant’s, and Kozlowski v. Kozlowski, 80 N.J. 378 (1979), which held that a promise of lifetime support by one cohabitant to another in a marital-like relationship would be enforced, if one of the partners was induced to cohabit by the promise.

NJ to bar alimony/equitable distribution to killers

The NJ Legislature is considering a bill A2681 which would ban husbands and wives who have been convicted of trying to kill, or consipiring to kill their spouse from an equitable distribution award incident to a divorce proceeding. The bill would also bar a spouse convicted of murder (you think!) or of attempted murder, manslaughter criminal homicide or aggrivated assault from receiving alimony. Further the intended victim would not have to pay their spouses attorneys fees. The bill, if passed would also eliminate a parent’s right to inherit from the estate of their child if the parent abused, abandoned, neglected, endangered the welfare of, or committed any sexual offense against the minor child.
This remedial legislation was spurred on by the 2007 case of Calbi v. Calbi ,396 (NJ SUper 532) where a mother who had beat her child to death in a drunken stupor was awarded alimony from her former husband, the child’s father after her release from prison.