A Texas judge has refused Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's attempt to intervene in a gay divorce case, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Abbott filed a motion to block the divorce of Sabina Daly, 41, of San Antonio, and Angelique Naylor, 39, of Austin, on February 10, a day after Travis County District Judge Scott Jenkins had granted the couple a divorce.

The women married in Massachusetts in 2004.

At the time, Abbott said he was concerned that the divorce would force the state to recognize the existence of gay marriage.

“A divorce is an ending or a termination of a valid legal marriage,” Abbott said. “In this instance there was no valid legal marriage recognized by the state of Texas. Texas can't have a faulty precedent on the books that validates an illegal law.”

In rejecting Abbott's request, Jenkins said that while both parties had yet to sign off on the final degree, oral judgments are final in Travis County family court. Therefore, Abbott could not intervene in the case.

The attorney general has appealed the divorce of two men also married in Massachusetts.

In granting the couple – known only as J.B. and H.B. – a divorce, Texas District Judge Tena Callahan said the state's ban on gay marriage violates the U.S. Constitution.

A panel of the Texas 5th District Court of Appeals in Dallas is expected to hear arguments in the case on April 21.

Daly and Naylor said they needed to divorce to divide a home restoration and renovation business they built together, as well as to establish parental rights for a four-year-old adopted son.