O'Reilly-Morshead v. O'Reilly-Morshead

OPINION OF THE COURT

Richard A. Dollinger, J.

“I do”—a one-letter overused personal pronoun and two-letter auxiliary verb—is uttered in many contexts. Separated, even by a comma, the two words may be all but innocuous. When uttered as a response to a question in a certain context, the words marry a couple, not only to each other, but to a cascade of rights and responsibilities. In this matter, a couple was united in a civil union in Vermont, but lived the majority of their marriage in New York. Now, one spouse asks this court to distribute “civil union” assets by applying the equitable…