seperation in same sex marriage

is my wife liable to pay me anything after leaving our family home?, i have children that live here but obviously they are just her step children, i am currently unemployed and she is the main breadwinner

I've never tried to answer a question on a same sex marriage before.
I guess we're in uncharted territory to some extent.

In my article on spousal maintenance I did express the view that
maintenance would be possible between same sex partners.

In addition, there is child support, of course, and I can't say I'm sure about that, except to say that liability to pay child support stems from parenthood and not marital status.

When it comes to the marital home, it would be rare for one married partner to get 100% and the other nothing. But when considering the house, the welfare of any children would be a priority for the
Court, just as it would be in a heterosexual marriage.

The other is that both partners need somewhere to live, same sex marriage or no.

I'd be interested to see any other comments.

LMM

Hi,

Can I just clarify: are the children your children that you already had (her stepchildren) or were they born in your relationship (both of you as their parents)? Does she have parental responsibility for them, for example? If she does then there may be a case for child maintenance but you would need to look at the child maintenance rules and you would probably need legal advice - I am not an expert on how they apply with two parents of the same gender. I also don't know how the law would apply if you have a know donor, particularly if he also has parental responsibility.

There might be a case for spouse maintenance as I assume the maintenance rules are the same for same gender as well as opposite gender marriage. Similarly, there would be parallel questions about property - though given that same gender marriage has only been legal relatively recently I would expect it to be a short marriage unless you lived together for a long time prior to that or were previously civil partners.

I guess Wikivorce people are going to have to get up to speed on this now...In the meantime even an hour with a solicitor who has experience of same gender marriage would be a good idea in order to find out where you stand - and please let us know what they say so that we can build our general level of expertise in this area.

Best wishes,
Sadie

As far as I know, divorce for a same sex couple is the same as for a heterosexual couple (although I remember reading something about adultery grounds which may be different because same sex relationships are not adultery). like Sadie and LMM have said it's important to establish the length of the marriage and if your wife has parental responsibility for the children.

I expect the financial remedy will be dealt with in exactly the same way as any other divorce. You would need to post some more financial details about your circumstances. You have children to care and provide for and there is an imbalance of income. I expect as your wife was a step parent, the children could be considered children of the family.

Some solicitors give free 30min initial consultations. I also think it would be a good idea to get some professional advice on this.