To date, a joint petition has been “reserved” only for a heterosexual married couple.

This following news tip I just received could radically change my practice. From time to time I have the privilege of being asked to help same gender couples with financial problems. It is interesting to see whether I will be able to file joint chapter 13 and chapter 7 petitions for a same gender couple household. I don’t yet know how it will work out in practice, but following the Obama administration’s announcement that it will no longer defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, the Department of Justice announced it is dropping its opposition to joint bankruptcy petitions filed by same-sex couples. In a recent petition filed in California, the Bankruptcy Court held DOMA unconstitutional. Twenty of the district=s twenty-four judges signed off on the decision. This could be a mixed blessing for same-gender couples, though. In a same gender couple household where both people have a significant income, a joint petition might be disadvantageous and “disqualify” them from the otherwise advantageous position enjoyed when not allowed to file together as a couple. If one thing is for sure, it seems that I am always dealing with some new challenge or uncertainty in my bankruptcy practice. That is why I am a proud member of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys and also the American Bankruptcy Institute. This is where I enjoy the receipt of a lot of my “material” that I use to innovatively help people through a difficult economic period in life.

So, perhaps not right now, but yes, some day perhaps quite soon a same gender couple may file bankruptcy together. I am not sure I want to be the first guinea pig filling the first case in this district, but once there is something out there in the way of a roadmap, I am inclined to be an early filer of the first few joint petitions.

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