Relates to requiring all parties to an annulment or divorce to remove religious barriers to remarriage

2025 Regular Session Introduced by Linda Rosenthal

Requires all parties in a divorce or annulment to remove religious barriers to remarriage, ensuring civil remarriage proceeds without religious constraints on former spouses.

REFERRED TO JUDICIARY

Overview

Bill Number: A 660

Official Title: Relates to requiring all parties to an annulment or divorce to remove religious barriers to remarriage

Sponsor: Linda Rosenthal (primary)

Status: Referred to the Judiciary Committee (as of January 8, 2025)

Introduced: January 8, 2025

Related Bills (prior sessions): A 10171, A 392, A 640, A 215

Purpose and intent

The bill aims to address the issue of religious barriers affecting remarriage after an annulment or divorce. In broad terms, it would require that any religious barriers impeding remarriage be removed by all parties involved in the dissolution of a marriage or annulment. The underlying goal appears to be ensuring that civil dissolution and subsequent remarriage are not blocked or conditioned by religious constraints.

Key provisions (as described by the bill’s title and summary)

Scope: Applies to all parties involved in an annulment or divorce proceeding.

Core requirement: Parties must remove any religious barriers to remarriage. This language suggests a prohibition on enforcing or maintaining religious conditions that hinder remarriage in the aftermath of an annulment or divorce.

Enforcement/Compliance: Specific enforcement mechanisms, definitions of “religious barriers,” and remedies are not provided in the summary. The actual text would clarify how compliance is measured and what remedies or penalties (if any) would apply.

Who is affected

Individuals: Divorcing or annulled spouses and former spouses, who would be required to remove religious barriers to remarry.

Parties’ representatives: Attorneys and possibly court personnel involved in dissolution proceedings.

Religious institutions or authorities: Depending on the bill’s definitions, there could be indirect effects if religious practices or requirements are implicated, though the text would specify scope and applicability.

Procedural and timeline aspects

Status: In committee (Judiciary). No further action details are provided in the summary.

Next steps: If advanced, the bill would proceed through standard committee review, possible amendments, and floor consideration in the Assembly. The legislative history indicates related prior-session bills (A 10171, A 392, A 640, A 215), signaling ongoing interest in this policy area.

Context and considerations

The bill’s objective intersects civil rights (the right to remarriage free of barriers) with potential interests in religious freedom. Key questions likely to emerge in committee analysis include:

How “religious barriers” are defined and evidenced.
What constitutes compliance or removal of barriers.
Any penalties, remedies, or enforcement mechanisms.
Interaction with existing family law, domestic relations procedures, and religious liberty protections.

This summary reflects the information available from the bill’s introductory notice. The full text would provide precise definitions, procedures, and any associated fiscal or administrative impacts.

Bill