Man has to pay alimony to lesbian couple

Usually alimony ceases when the recipient remarries, but look at this case:

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A judge has ordered a man to continue paying alimony to his ex-wife -- even though she's in a registered domestic partnership with another woman and even uses the other woman's last name.

California marriage laws say alimony ends when a former spouse remarries, and Ron Garber thought that meant he was off the hook when he learned his ex-wife had registered her new relationship under the state's domestic partnership law.

An Orange County judge didn't see it that way.

The judge ruled that a registered partnership is cohabitation, not marriage, and that Garber must keep writing the checks, $1,250 a month, to his ex-wife, Melinda Kirkwood. Garber plans to appeal.

California has a same-sex domestic partnership law that is supposed to be the same as marriage in most respects. I believe that the alimony would even be considered community property to the lesbian couple. The ex-husband should not have to support the lesbian couple.