A judge in Madison County has granted the same-sex divorce she denied a year ago. Madison County Circuit Judge Karen Hall signed the divorce decree yesterday.
Here’s the story on Al.com. When the couple tried to divorce a year ago, Hall ruled that because Alabama did not recognize same-sex marriage, she had no power to divorce a same-sex couple. So Shrie Michelle Richmond and Kirsten Allysse Richmond – both natives of Alabama – faced the choice of either remaining in a marriage neither wanted or establishing residence elsewhere just so they could split up. They chose to wait. On the day the stay was lifted after US District Court Judge Callie Granade ruled Alabama’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, the parties filed for an uncontested divorce.
Like almost every other uncontested divorce in Alabama, the divorce for the Richmonds was based on incompatibility. Madison County attorney Patrick Hill represented Shrie Michelle Richmond. The story doesn’t make it clear, but it appears that Kirsten Allysse Richmond did not have counsel.