Nashville, TN family law attorney Anne Hamer talks about her experience in handling LGBTQ divorce. Anne has represented numerous LGBTQ clients and mediated for them in divorces. She notes significant changes in the legal landscape since the Overfelt opinion. Previously, parenting rights were often restricted, especially when one or both partners were not biological parents due to adoption or assisted reproductive technologies such as IVF or IUI.

According to Anne, these circumstances could complicate divorces for LGBTQ clients. However, she observes that courts and legislatures have made efforts to establish frameworks supporting relationships between non-biological parents and children. Anne highlights a positive shift with the legal recognition of marriage for LGBTQ families. Specifically, she notes that parents who adopted children after Overfelt and were married at the child’s birth have benefited greatly from these legal changes.