Mass. governor orders 26 gay marriages registered
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[##_1L|1285036493.jpg|width="200" height="143" alt=""|_##]Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has directed the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to register the same-sex marriages of 26 couples from outside the state whose licenses were not previously allowed to be included in state records by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. The couples were married in 2004 in four Massachusetts towns and cities which refused to follow an order by Romney not to marry out-of-state same-sex couples. Patrick said Monday that he would support the repeal of a 1913 state statute, upheld by the Massachusetts Supreme Court last year, which prohibits couples from marrying in Massachusetts if their marriage would not be legal in their own state.
Earlier this year, Massachusetts lawmakers lobbied for a proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage which would strictly define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, though it would leave existing Massachusetts same-sex marriages intact. While the recognition of the 26 marriage certificates does not actually change the legal status of the marriages, Patrick's decision has been heralded by the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) as a move toward treating same-sex couples equally to heterosexual couples. Patrick's order was criticized, however, by the Massachusetts Family Institute which said Patrick was "placing his personal preference above the law."
Massachusetts is currently the only US state to recognize same-sex marriage, after a November 2003 state high court ruling, and more than 8,000 same-sex couples have since been wed there.
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Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC
A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party
Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party
However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.