BREAKING NEWS: Tampa Same Sex Divorce Dismissed by Trial Judge; Parties to Appeal
Many people have been following a matter that I am involved in, the same sex divorce case in Tampa, Florida. Well, the judge just issued her ruling, and she dismissed the amended petition for dissolution of the parties’ marriage.
In her order, Judge Lee writes the following:
The Petitioner filed her initial Petition for Dissolution of Marriage on January 15, 2014. Thereafter, the parties entered into the collaborative divorce process and successfully completed that process. As a result, the parties voluntarily entered into a Collaborative Marital Settlement Agreement on March 14, 2014. Subsequently, on March 17, 2014, the Petitioner filed her Amended Petition for Dissolution of Marriage and asked the court to accept jurisdiction of the subject matter, dissolve the marriage of the parties, and adopt and incorporate the Collaborative Marital Settlement Agreement into a Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage.
RELATED: Tampa Same Sex Divorce and Collaborative Practice
As alleged in the Amended Petition, the parties married …in the State of Massachusetts. The parties are a same-sex couple. While the State of Massachusetts authorizes and recognizes same-sex marriages, by current law the State of Florida does not authorize or recognize such unions.
Specifically, in 2008, Florida citizens amended Article I of the Florida Constitution by voter initiate to provide as follows:
Inasmuch as marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized. Art. I, s. 27, Fla. Const.