In a December 28, 2016 opinion, the Superior Court determined that civil unions can be dissolved, despite the fact that Pennsylvania law does not specifically recognize civil unions.
On July 12, 2002, two adult Pennsylvania residents entered into a civil union in Vermont, the first state to offer civil unions. In December 2002, the parties began living separate and apart. At that time, Pennsylvania law did not recognize same-sex marriage.
The law changed in 2014 under the Whitewood decision, which granted same-sex couples the right to marry, and formally recognized already married same-sex couples. In 2015, the United States Supreme Court confirmed that same-sex couples have a fundamental right to marry.
The same year as Whitewood, both parties signed affidavits of consent, stating that their civil union was irretrievably broken and they desired a decree of divorce/dissolution. The trial court dismissed the complaint in divorce/dissolution on the basis that Pennsylvania does not recognize civil unions. Notably, the Family Court Division of Philadelphia County indicated that the Civil Trial Division had jurisdiction over complaints seeking dissolution of civil unions as actions in equity and advised that it had entered orders/judgments dissolving same.
On appeal, the Superior Court held in a unanimous decision, that the Vermont civil union statute “provided ‘all the same benefits, protections and responsibilities under law…as are granted to spouses in a civil marriage.’” Accordingly, they ruled “that a Vermont civil union creates the functional equivalent of marriage for purposes of dissolution and conclude[d] the trial court erred in dismissing the complaint.”
The court also decided that civil union dissolutions should proceed though Philadelphia County’s Family Court Division:
The family court division possesses the expertise and the unique toolbox available, via the Pennsylvania Divorce Code, necessary to resolve the intimate and complex domestic matters likely to be at issue incident to the dissolution of a Vermont civil union, such as equitable distribution, child custody, and support. These benefits and obligations of marriage are the precise legal protections explicitly provided under Vermont’s civil union statute and exactly what the parties knowingly accepted when they entered into a Vermont civil union.
The trial court order was reversed, and the case was remanded for further action consistent with the Superior Court’s opinion.
Lehigh Valley Family Law is a publication of KingSpry’s Family Law Practice Group. It is meant to be informational and does not constitute legal advice.
