Same-sex couples married in another state cannot divorce in Rhode Island

In Chambers v. Ormiston, 935 A.2d 956 (R.I. 2007), the Rhode Island Supreme Court considered whether a Family Court could “properly recognize, for the purpose of entertaining a divorce petition, the marriage of two persons of the same sex who were purportedly married in another state.”

The Court held that the Family Court had no jurisdiction to grant a divorce because the statute empowered it to hear petitions for divorce from the “bond of marriage,” and “marriage” did not encompass same-sex couples.

The Court noted that a different outcome in this case could be achieved on a legislative, but not on a judicial level.