iwilltrytobereasonable:

solarcat:

hanzotitty:

I attended a seminar on Legal Issues and the LGBTI community and one HILARIOUS side effect of same sex marriage getting legalised was in reality…horrible for estate planning and property disputes, but also sounds like an incredible fic premise

Before same sex marriage was legal a fair few gay couples got married in foreign countries; it had no effect in Australia but it was the principle of the thing. When it became legal, their marriages took effect in Aussie too.

This was wonderful for couples who were still together, but for couples who had broken up, and hadn’t bothered to go back to that foreign country to get divorced (and they rarely did)…they suddenly found themselves married again.

Oh, it gets better than that!! There was a panel on a similar topic at Lavender Law a few years back. In the US specifically, we had that time period where there were just a few states that had legalized same-sex marriage, and then Obergefell happened and it’s legal everywhere! Yay! EXCEPT. A very similar problem cropped up.

See, people had gotten married in Massachusetts when it legalized same-sex marriage, but then they broke up with that person and didn’t get a divorce because it wasn’t really real, right? So they got together with someone else, maybe moved in between, and decided to get married when California legalized. And then they broke up. And didn’t get a divorce. Because it wasn’t really real; it’s only in that state, right? (And no, there isn’t a good country-wide system to check these things.) So then they got together with someone else, and hey, it’s legal to get married in New York, we’ll do that! …and then they broke up. (Sensing a pattern yet?)

But then. Obergefell. Your marriage is recognized in EVERY state! Yay! Except… you have three or four marriages, actually. Concurrently. Which is, y’know. Illegal. AND one or more of your spouses could now be also married to yet another person, or people, if they did the same thing. Who could then also… (you get the picture).

Apparently there were a NUMBER of VERY BUSY family lawyers and estate planners untangling the absolute mess people created by getting married in multiple states to different people during that period.

So basically: Someone PLEASE give me the ensemble cast who are all, somehow, simultaneously married to each other. It is my dream, okay. XD

That’s AMAZING