Same-sex divorce may seem like a relatively new legal topic since same-sex marriage was only legalized in the past decade in many states. In fact, it was legalized about ten years ago in Illinois, effective as of June 1, 2014. Although same-sex divorce is not very different from divorce for a straight couple, what happens when a same-sex marriage ends is extremely different from what used to happen in the past. Before same-sex marriage was legal, a spouse would not legally inherit their deceased spouse’s estate, and instead, it would be liquidated and divided among any blood relations. And if a couple no longer wished to be together, if one spouse was the breadwinner and the other was the homemaker, the one who took care of all the household responsibilities would be left without any financial backing. If you have questions about same-sex divorce in Illinois, an experienced Cook County, IL divorce attorney has answers.
