August 2, 2013
RI Couples Use New Marriage Law to Get Divorced
Jason St. Amand READ TIME: 1 MIN.
While many same-sex couples married on the first day it became legal in Rhode Island, others filed for divorce.
Attorney Neville Bedford tells WPRI-TV (http://bit.ly/13AhthJ ) his client was married in Massachusetts in 2008, is now living in Rhode Island doing her residency as a doctor, and didn't want to move to get divorced.
He filed her divorce paperwork in Providence Family Court on Thursday, as many other same-sex couples were at city halls, getting marriage certificates.
He says the woman and her wife separated in 2011, but couldn't divorce in Rhode Island then because the state didn't recognize their marriage. The Rhode Island Supreme Court had ruled that same-sex divorces could not be completed in the state after a Fall River, Mass., couple tried to end their marriage in 2006.
