Gaylene Lamb died without a will in January, and now her partner of 13 years, Susan Martin, and her parents, Priscilla and Joe Lamb, are battling over who should inherit Gaylene’s estate. When Susan’s attorney, Jane Ross, points out that the fight over Gaylene’s assets would not be taking place had the couple been allowed to marry, Priscilla and Joe Lamb’s attorney, Brent Bryson, replies with “It is grossly inappropriate to make this a political case.”

A state law passed in 1996 bans same-sex marriages, and a challenge to the statute was turned away by the Arizona Supreme Court two years ago.

Meanwhile, a petition drive is under way in Arizona for an amendment to the Arizona Constitution that would define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The amendment also would ban civil unions.

Lamb died on Jan. 2. A week later her parents started the legal process to be placed in control of their daughter’s estate.

One of the first steps attorney Bryson took was to get a judge’s order forbidding Martin from using any funds from Lamb’s estate. The application for the temporary restraining order accuses Martin of having “raided” three bank accounts of Lamb’s and hiding the money.

Martin said she did so to pay off the medical bills that were accruing.

This battle could’ve been prevented if Lamb had a will, but Martin said the subject never came up.

“We were young,” Martin said. “We didn’t think we’d need one.”

Bryson declined to make the Lambs available for comment.