Lawyers Befuddled without Sex Discrimination as Guidepost in Divorces

For those casual visitors to MANN who may be under the impression that “family courts” don’t consider such things as people’s sex when divvying up child custody, property, etc., just read this. Excerpt:

‘Same-sex couples who break up are finding themselves in a legal morass. State divorce laws conflict with federal tax laws; differences among states' laws can jeopardize child-custody agreements if one or both partners move; and some attorneys are shying away from same-sex divorces for fear of their own liability.

Attorneys "are worried that they don't know the answers to a lot of questions, and people are making decisions on what their lawyer tells them to do. There can be liability on the lawyers' side if they make their best intelligent guess that happens to be wrong," said Deborah Wald, a San Francisco family law attorney who works with same-sex couples.’

If it didn’t matter, lawyers wouldn’t be so confused about things that some refuse even to handle same-sex couple divorce and custody cases. The truth is, it’s easy when the couple is a man and a woman: simply shaft the man and gush over the woman, and you’re safe and paid. However, when it’s people of the same sex, you don’t know who to stick it to and who to pander to, and so you run for cover.