Same-sex couples who want to end their civil unions have the same right to no-fault divorce as married couples, a New Jersey trial judge has ruled in an opinion approved for publication and released Jan. 20.

Even though New Jersey’s civil union statute does not list irreconcilable differences as grounds for dissolving a relationship, Ocean County Family Judge Lawrence Jones held in Groh v. Groh that a lesbian couple could rely on that basis to sever their legal ties.