JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Supreme Court says a St. Louis County circuit court judge should not have dismissed a same-sex couple’s request for a divorce.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sent the divorce case back but didn’t rule on whether judges can grant divorces for same-sex marriages, which are banned in the state constitution.
The case centers on a man identified in court documents as M.S., who married his partner D.S. in Iowa in December 2012 and separated in August 2013.

A judge later denied M.S.’s petition for a divorce in January 2014, citing a statutory ban on same-sex marriages and a ban in the state constitution.
The Supreme Court doesn’t address whether that couple should be allowed to divorce, but says a judge should at least consider the case.