Although the Supreme Court ruled on June 26, 2015, to formally, nationally legalize same-sex marriages, many states took steps to protect the rights of members of the LGBT community long before that important ruling. Colorado was one of these states.
By creating a legal framework for civil unions, Colorado lawmakers ensured that same-sex couples had many of the same rights that heterosexual married couples enjoyed, such as the ability to share health benefits or be with a loved one receiving intensive care services in a hospital.
Many couples in civil unions chose to marry when federal laws changed. However, plenty of other couples chose to stay in their civil unions. If you were in a civil union and that relationship has begun to break down, you might want to explore whether mediation can offer a positive resolution to the end of your civil union.
Mediation gives you much more control over terms and outcome
There are many reasons why a couple in a civil union may want to go to mediation instead of to the courts. First of all, the dissolution of legal unions between same-sex couples remains a relatively new area of law, which means it can be particularly difficult to predict the outcome in these cases.
Especially if you share children within the context of a civil union, mediation may be the best way to enshrine both parents’ rights to the children. When you go through mediation, you can set your own terms in a legally binding agreement and then move forward with court proceedings for the formal dissolution of the civil union itself.