2027 Legislative Ordinances
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ClassificationsArchive
Object numberLG.LGO.2027
Description2027 Legislative Ordinances#27-01-Or-T13
Finding AidCitizen Potawatomi Nation
Ordinance #27-01-Or-T13
AN ORDINANCE
WHEREAS, the Citizen Potawatomi Nation is a Federally-recognized tribe of North American Indians
reorganized pursuant to the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of June 26, 1936, with a history of self-government
that begins long before the creation of the United States of America and the State of
Oklahoma; and
WHEREAS, the United States of America has recognized the Citizen Potawatomi Nation as a
sovereign with the powers and authority to govern its resources, as well as the activities that take
place on its lands, in a manner consistent with governing law and regulation;
WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court decision of Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584
(2015), held that state-law bans on same-sex marriage were violative of the Due Process Clause
(U.S. Const. Amend. V & XIV) and Equal Protection Clause (U.S. Const. Amend XIV) and the Nation's
Constitution Article 16 Section 1(H) creates rights substantially similar to those referenced Clauses;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT ORDAINED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE CITIZEN POTAWATOMI
NATION that the following amendments made to the Tribal Code be adopted:
Section 13-1-101 is amended as follows:
(A) Indians may become married or divorced by Tribal custom and common law. Indians who assume
or claim a divorce by Tribal common law and custom shall not remarry until they have complied with
Tribal common law, remain separated for six months and until they have recorded such divorce at
the District Court.
(B) The validity of Indian custom marriage and divorce shall continue to be recognized.
(C) Where the martial status of an Indian is at issue, the Court shall have full authority to determine
the marital status of the parties to any purported Tribal common law marriage or divorce and enter
its declaratory judgment.
(D) Nothing in the tribal code or any other provision of tribal law shall be construed to require
that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups.
(E) A marriage between persons performed in another jurisdiction
shall be recognized as valid and binding in the Citizen Potawatomi Nation as of the date of the
marriage.
Section 13-1-106 is amended as follows:
Marriage is an institution recognized by legal authorities whereby two persons
join themselves into a special kind of social and legal dependence for the purpose of founding and
maintaining a family. The marriage relation shall only be entered into, maintained or abrogated as
provided by law.
Section 13-1-107 is amended as follows:
Any unmarried person of the age of eighteen (18) years or older is capable of contracting and
consenting to marriage with another person unless disqualified by consanguinity
as hereinafter defined.
Section 13-1-109 is stricken in its entirety
Section 13-1-110 is stricken in its entirety
Section 13-1-111 is stricken in its entirety
Section 13-1-112 is stricken in its entirety
Section 13-1-113 is stricken in its entirety
Section 13-1-114 is stricken in its entirety
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE CITIZEN POTAWATOMI NATION
that the above amendments be made to Title 13, Chapter 1, Family Relations, of the Citizen
Potawatomi Tribal Code and ARE HEREBY APPROVED.
EFFECTIVE DATE: This ordinance shall become effective upon adoption by the Legislature of the
Citizen Potawatomi Nation.
CERTIFICATION
In his capacity as Secretary-Treasurer of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, the undersigned hereby
certifies that the above and foregoing ordinance is a true and correct copy of Ordinance
#27-01-Or-T13, as approved on the 17th of September, 2026, with 14 voting for, 2 opposed
and 0 absent or abstaining.
D. Wayne Trousdale
Secretary-Treasurer
x Approved
Disapproved
John A. Barrett
Tribal Chairman