SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — An appeals court is being urged to throw out a lower court ruling that would force a woman doctor to split assets 50-50 with her former lesbian partner, just as a divorcing couple must.

Though Washington state doesn’t recognize same-sex marriage, Yakima County Superior Court Judge Heather Van Nuys had ruled that the 10-year relationship between physician Julia Robertson and nurse Linda Gormley was “sufficiently marriage-like to provide equitable relief” when the couple broke up in 1998.

Washington state’s “community property” law requires married couples getting a divorce to split assets gained during the marriage equally.

Van Nuys said the relationship between Robertson and Gormley had been an “intimate domestic partnership” that allowed both women the same community property rights given to a husband and wife in a divorce.

Robertson, who made significantly more money that her lover, appealed the ruling.

Robertson’s lawyer, Bryan Myre, argued before the three-judge appeals panel that Robertson and Gormley never signed an agreement to divide their assets equally.

Robertson, Myre argued, “contributed the majority of income and assets to this relationship.” He said Gormley “requested not what she put into the relationship, but one half of everything.”

Howard Schwartz, representing Gormley, said Van Nuys’ ruling was just, fair and equitable.

The appeals court is expected to rule on the case by the end of the year.

Gormley sued Robertson after the couple ended their relationship in 1998. She had been responsible for her share of debts owed on joint credit accounts but had no claim to the house purchased in Yakima in 1993 under Robertson’s name. When they broke up, Gormley was paid for a share of the house and other property was divided between them.

Gay marriage lacks full legal recognition in all 50 states. Vermont recognizes civil unions, which give gay and lesbian couples the benefits and responsibilities of marriage but are separate from legal marriages. A new California law, in effect in 2005, grants domestic partners many of the rights and responsibilities of marriage, including allowing them to seek alimony.

The Washington Supreme Court took up the issue of same-sex relationships in May, ruling that a Seattle man’s 30-year same-sex relationship was enough like a marriage to grant him a share of his deceased partner’s estate.