In Boddie v. Connecticut (1971) 401 U.S. 371, the United States Supreme Court held indigents could not be forced to pay a state court filing fee in order to dissolve their marriage. Given the state's monopoly on granting divorce through a judicial proceeding, such a proceeding became "the only effective means of resolving the dispute at hand and denial of a defendant's full access to that process raises grave problems for its legitimacy." (Id. at p. 376.) The court went on to emphasize, however, that its conclusion regarding divorce was not a holding "that access for all individuals to the courts is a right that is, in all circumstances, guaranteed by" due process. (Id. at p. 382.) Rather, a divorce proceeding is uniquely "the exclusive precondition to the adjustment of a fundamental human relationship." (Id. at p. 383.)