Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Miscellaneous Blogs -> Outside Counsel

Miscellaneous

: Outside Counsel

By Bill Altreuter

New York's Court of Appeals got it right, I think, by holding that the State must recognize marriages that are legal where performed, including same-sex unions, and I am pleased that Western New York's own Judge Eugene Pigott wrote the majority opinion. During argument Judge Pigott had seemed troubled by the idea that holding this way would amount to telling "Canadians and ...Vermont residents and to people of other states that, 'You're more valuable to us than our own residents,' That, if you're married in Canada, we're going to recognize your marriage. But if you have a civil union or a domestic partnership in the state of New York we're not." As Outside Counsel noted at the time, the problem here is that there are two problems. First New York ought not treat its own residents like second class citizens. That said, different kinds of cousins can get married in some places, there are different rules for what constitutes legal age, there may even still be places that recognize common law marriages. As long as the marriage was legit where it was entered into, if you are living in New York you are entitled to the protection of the laws of the state of New York. That's been the rule for a long time, the Court of Appeals got it right in this case. Now it falls to the Legislature to repair the other problem.

Full post as published by Outside Counsel on November 19, 2009 (boomark / email).