Although same-sex marriage is not legal in New Jersey, many gay and lesbian couples do have relationships that are similar to marriage. And, of course, many of these couples raise children. Because such families are not recognized under state law, things become very complicated during break ups.

When married couples divorce, New Jersey law governs the division of property as well as child custody and support, but the break-ups of same-sex couples fall into a gray area. An example of such a complex split recently took place in Wisconsin.

That case involved two women who were in a committed relationship for many years. One of the women gave birth to a daughter, and the couple raised her together for eight years until they broke up.

At that time, in 2006, the former couple decided to continue raising the child together by sharing custody and expenses equally. In 2008, however, the biological mother tried to restrict her ex’s custody and visitation. A judge did restrict the visitation, but not to the extent that the biological mother had requested. He also ordered her ex to pay child support.

That decision was appealed by both sides.

A state appeals court has now ruled that the trial court did not have authority to order the child support, because state law does not require non-parents to pay support to parents. The biological mother was ordered to return those payments that had already been paid.

The state’s laws also do not afford child placement to non-parents, but the law does give courts discretion to determine whether placement with a parent-like figure is in a child’s best interests. So, the court did uphold the non-parent’s visitation rights.

Since this case hinged on state law, it could have turned out differently here in New Jersey. Nonetheless, the case illustrates some of the legal concerns facing same-sex couples.

Source: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, “Court says no child support due in split of same-sex couple,” Bruce Vielmetti, Sept. 6, 2013