PENNSYLVANIA: Court Rules That Couple Together 46 Years Can Overturn Adult Adoption And Get Married

The Associated Press reports:

A Pennsylvania court has ruled that a gay couple can have their 2012 adoption overturned so they could finally get married. A three-judge Superior Court panel on Wednesday handed down a decision saying that state law permits an adult adoption to be dissolved when no one’s opposed.

Roland Bosee Jr, 68, and Nino Esposito, 78, of Fox Chapel, have been together since 1970. Esposito, a retired teacher, says he legally adopted Bosee when same-sex marriage was still illegal in Pennsylvania to lower their inheritance tax and out of a desire ‘be a family of our own.’

The idea came to the pair while they were revising their wills in 2012. Esposito and Bosee thought that by going through with the adoption, they would become entitled to some of the same benefits allowed to straight married couples.

Esposito and Bosee explained last year that they had ‘never thought we’d see the day’ gay marriage was legal and they had come to view adoption as ‘the most legitimate thing available to us,’ reported CNN.

Last year a lower court ruled that adoptions can only be annulled in cases of fraud.