On June 26, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-4 ruling striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The law denied federal benefits to same-sex couples including those legally married in states that permit such unions. That meant that filing for joint bankruptcy \u2013 that is, filing a single petition instead of two individual petitions, thereby saving money on legal fees and in other ways \u2013 was usually not an option for legally-married same-sex couples.<\/p>\n
Bankruptcy in the U.S. is subject to federal law \u2013 the U.S. bankruptcy code. The law varies somewhat from state to state, but bankruptcy cases in the U.S. are heard in federal court. That means bankruptcy cases were subject to DOMA. The prohibition of joint bankruptcy filings by same-sex married couples was not ironclad, however.<\/p>\n
In fact, determining whether such a couple could file jointly has been a confusing matter for some time. Under the (more…)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On June 26, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-4 ruling striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The law denied federal benefits to same-sex couples including those legally married in states that permit such unions. That…<\/span><\/p>\n