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January 17, 2007

Same-sex marriage case sent back to Family Court

PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island Supreme Court has decided that it’s premature for the state’s highest court to decide whether the Family Court can hear a divorce case involving two Providence women who married in Massachusetts.

According to an order entered today, the Supreme Court has ruled that additional proceedings should take place in Family Court before the state’s highest court determines whether it can respond to a question posed last month to the Supreme Court by Chief Family Court Judge Jeremiah S. Jeremiah Jr.

The question at issue is “Does the Rhode Island Family Court have subject matter jurisdiction under R.I. General Laws 8-10-3 (1956) to hear a divorce complaint wherein the plaintiff and defendant are of the same sex, were lawfully married in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, are both domiciled inhabitants of the State of Rhode Island for at least one year, have met all other jurisdictional requirements and are seeking a divorce?”

In remanding the matter to Rhode Island Family Court, the state Supreme Court directed Family Court to address a host of questions, some of which include: Was a Massachusetts marriage license issued to the parties? Where was each of the parties domiciled at the time that they applied for a Massachusetts marriage license? Did each of the parties reside in Rhode Island at the time of the application for a Massachusetts marriage license? If so, for how long had each resided in Rhode Island?

The case involving Margaret R. Chambers and Cassandra B. Ormiston represents the first time a same-sex couple has sought a divorce in Rhode Island, and it's believed to mark the first time that any of the 8,000 same-sex couples married in Massachusetts have sought a divorce in another state.

Chambers, 70, and Ormiston, 59, married in Fall River in May 2004, shortly after Massachusetts became the first state in the nation to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Rhode Island law does not explicitly prohibit or allow same-sex marriages, so attention has focused on whether Jeremiah would conclude he had jurisdiction to handle the divorce case.

-- projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson

Posted by Kate Bramson  at 12:32 PM | Permalink

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