A law that needs changing
From the AP:
LOS ANGELES - 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.
Does anyone else think this is fair?
posted by joestrummerlives at 11:53 AM
1 Comments:
I saw this story in the La La Times and it struck me as pretty wrong, too. I'd say it's not fair (at least on its face which is all we see) for a couple of reasons:
1. It's clearly a legal loophole that she's taking wild advantage of
2. If domestic partnerships are to be seen as 'separate but equal' (UGH) to marriage, it should go both ways: DP's should get all the same rights as man/woman marriage (another debate entirely) and should fall to the same limitations as marriage
All that said, the judge could have made the decision in this particular case b/c of extenuating circumstances peculiar to the case but it looks like the decision was made just because the law wasn't there to support the opposite decision.
3:38 PM
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