Wyoming Case: Jurisdiction to Grant Divorce in Non-Same-Sex Marriage State

Christiansen v. Christiansen
2011 WY 90
(Wyoming Supreme Court, June 6, 2011)

District court had subject matter jurisdiction to dissolve same-sex marriage lawfully entered into in Canada, though statute defined marriage as a contract between a man and a woman, as another statute provided that all marriage contracts which are valid by the laws of the country in which contracted are valid in the state, and the two statutes could coexist in harmony, in that they addressed different situations, i.e., one prevented a same-sex couple from entering into a marital contract in the state while the other expressly allowed for recognition of a valid Canadian marriage in the state, and recognition of a valid foreign same-sex marriage for the limited purpose of entertaining a divorce proceeding did not lessen the law or policy of the state against allowing creation of same-sex marriages.