Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Adoption blocks gay couple from marrying

Before marriage became an option for same-sex couples, the simplest way for a couple to gain some legal rights of relationship (inheritance tax, next-of-kin status regarding medical decisions, etc.) was for one partner to adopt the other.   It has generally been an easy, no hassle proceedure.   Adopting babies, as a couple, was an entirely different matter.

Drew Bosee, 68, and Nino Esposito, 78, have been together for 45 years, and they took this step years ago before it seemed likely that marriage would become an option for them.   Mr. Esposito is legally Mr. Bosee's father.

But now that marriage is an option, they would like to get married.   The problem is that marriage between a parent and a child is considered incest and therefore illegal.   So they applied for an annulment of the adoption, which has been done by other gay couples in their state.    The judge who heard their case, however, followed the letter of the law which, according to his interpretation, allows annulment only in the case of fraud.

They are pursuing other opinions and other legal options, and it will probably be solved eventually.   But for the time being they are stuck in a legal bind of unintended consequences.

Ralph

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