Law Commons^™

(In)Formal Marriage Equality, Michael Higdon

College of Law Faculty Scholarship

In 2015, same-sex couples throughout the United States obtained formal marriage equality. But is the prospective ability to obtain marriage licenses sufficient to achieve Obergefell’s promise of equality? What about individuals whose same-sex relationship did not survive — either through death or dissolution — to see marriage equality become the law of the land? Or those who did ultimately wed but now have a marriage that appears to be artificially short when considering just how long the couple has actually been together in a marriage-like relationship? With marriage benefits conditioned not only on the fact of marriage but also the …