CHICAGO, IL – I’d like to formally welcome the LBGT community to the wonderful and often times tumultuous world of married life. This article, however, is not all in the vein of puppy dogs and ice cream cones, it really focuses on the reality of marriage… which is that fifty percent of the time it ends in a messy, costly, and emotional divorce.
SCOTUS Ruling on Gay Marriage
The landmark 5-4 Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, came down on June 26, 2015 and will be ranked among the most socially and morally imperative and important decisions in United States history, along with the likes of Brown v. Board of Education, and Roe v. Wade. In a nutshell, the Supreme Court held that the 14th Amendment requires a State to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and that a State must recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex as long as the marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out of state. Equal Protection under the law for all people has prevailed once again and America is all the much better for it. Whether for or against the concept of marriage between same sex couples, which always was and will always remain a private preference or opinion, being treated equally in the eyes of the law is an absolute necessity, in a democratic and free society.
The Unfortunate but Necessary Conversation: Divorce
With no intent to rain on the parade, so shortly after it has started, I feel it is necessary to discuss the good along with the bad. The bad being…divorce. Along with the legal right to marry comes the legal necessity to dissolve the bonds of marriage, should things go awry during the course of the marriage. You don’t need to ever have been married to know that marriage is a great challenge, requiring compromise, sacrifice, compassion and patience. When all or one of those challenging requirements becomes impracticable or impossible, the contemplation of terminating the relationship, legally becomes a start reality. Sadly, love does not always prevail and typically in a divorce, neither do either of the parties involved.
Dealing with the Judicial System during Divorce
Divorce is a strange dichotomy, wherein on one hand you have the highly charged emotional aspects of ending a relationship permanently, and on the other, the cold, emotionless starkness that is the judicial system. Within the hallowed halls of the courthouse, your case is but merely a file, containing pleadings and motions, which has been pulled from a shelf by a clerk and been laid on the Judge’s bench. It is literally your relationship on paper, with no context or frame of reference whatsoever. To a judge, you are two names on a docket sheet, nothing more, nothing less. In the mean time, you are going through an absolute emotional rollercoaster, which seemingly never ends, or at the very least, not soon enough.
Exposing Your Most Intimate Details to a Total Stranger
However bleak this may seem, it highlights the importance of hiring the right divorce attorney. Your attorney is going to be privy to information that your best friends may not even know about your private life and situation. You are basically an exposed, raw nerve left to discuss the intimate details of your relationship with a total stranger. Sound awkward? It is. A skilled practitioner knows this, and more importantly acknowledges that this situation exists. Divorce law is unlike any other area of the law, in that as much of the role of the attorney is to counsel the client on the law and the client’s rights, but to listen to and counsel the client when they are feeling overwhelmed emotionally and vulnerable. Choosing the right attorney makes a very sad situation just a bit more tolerable.
A Humble Message from your Divorce Lawyer
I sincerely hope that I never hear from any of you, but in the event you need me, I’ll be here…ready to listen.
Sincerely,
– Bob Motta
