A judge in Washington County has been assigned the divorce case of two women who married in May, when a flurry of same-sex marriage licenses were issued in the state.
Divorce cases are generally resolved in 90 to 120 days, but judges now face the questions of whether those May marriages are legal and whether they have jurisdiction to hear the divorces.
Elizabeth Linh Moore, a Washington County resident, and Abigail Leigh Hill of Tippecanoe County, Ind., were married May 16, according to county records. Moore filed for divorce Dec. 9 in Washington County Circuit Court.
Moore said in her divorce filing that the couple had been separated since Nov. 10. The complaint asks Washington County Circuit Judge Doug Martin to divide the couple’s marital property and any debt if they are unable to reach an agreement on those issues. No children are involved.
Ray Niblock, who represents Hill, said the case is in the initial pleading stage and likely had not yet come to Martin’s attention, but he doesn’t expect the case to be handled any differently than a traditional divorce.
“As far as I know, the ones that did occur are valid,” Niblock said of the gay marriages in the state. “I know of no authority or court order that has said any marriages that took place during that time frame are null and void. Absent that, I feel the court will treat it with blind eyes like any other divorce.”
Circuit Judge Joanna Taylor recently was assigned a same-sex divorce case in which the couple were married in a state where same-sex marriage is legal. Generally, a person can get a divorce in Arkansas — regardless of whether they were married here, another state or a foreign country — after establishing residency in the state.
Washington County was one of several in Arkansas that began issuing same-sex marriage licenses after a ruling by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza striking down the state’s ban on gay marriage.
After Piazza’s May 9 ruling, Washington, Pulaski and three other counties began issuing licenses to same-sex couples. More than 500 of the couples obtained marriage licenses, including 140 in Washington County, before the state Supreme Court stayed Piazza’s ruling a week after he issued it.
Piazza’s ruling was appealed and counties halted issuing licenses until the issue is decided. Both sides submitted briefs and made oral arguments in the state’s appeal of Piazza’s ruling, but the state Supreme Court has not yet ruled in that case.
In the interim a federal judge, Kristine Baker, last month found the state’s 10-year-old ban unconstitutional. Baker stayed her ruling upon issuing it to allow for appeals.
Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel on Tuesday filed notice that his office will appeal Baker’s ruling. Attorney General-elect Leslie Rutledge also has said she’ll work to overturn Baker’s ruling.
The U.S. Supreme Court will consider in a Jan. 9 conference whether to hear any of five same-sex marriage appeals filed with the court.