Family Law

Tulsa County Judge Perugino Dismisses Same-Sex Divorce Petition

By Dan Nunley

Yesterday, Tulsa County Special Judge Robert Perugion dismissed a same-sex divorce petition filed on behalf of Cait O’Darling. Perugino noted that Oklahoma defines marriage ?as the union of one man and one woman? and said he could not grant O?Darling?s request for a ?dissolution of marriage? from another woman. A 2004 amendment to Oklahoma’s Constitution bars same-sex couples from marriage in the state and prohibits the state from recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states.

This case was originally filed by Ms. O’Darling in 2006 as an uncontested or agreed divorce. Judge Michael Zacharias initially granted the divorce decree but upon becoming aware that the parties were both women, Zacharias immediately vacated the divorce decree and dismissed the case. O’Darling appealed to the Oklahoma Supreme Court which ruled that Zacharias acted properly in vacating the divorce decree but should not have dismissed the underlying divorce petition absent notice and hearing to the parties.

For more on the history of this case, see my earlier posts here, here, here and here.

Source: The Tulsa World.

Full post as published by Oklahoma Family Law Blog on November 26, 2008 (boomark / email).