Chp 2: Entering Marriage Flashcards
Which of the following is true of state marriage regulation?
The contemporary trend in marriage law is deregulation.
Exp: States have both loosened restrictions over entry into marriage, and liberalized divorce law to make marital exit easier.
Kathryn and Bradley recently rekindled a childhood romance. After corresponding for several months, Bradley went to visit Kathryn at the Correctional Institute for Women, where she was serving a long-term prison sentence. At their first in-person encounter, Bradly proposed marriage and Kathryn said yes. Bradley went to the County Clerk’s office to request a marriage license. The Clerk told Bradley that under state law, she could not issue a marriage license unless both parties were physically present. The state argues that this requirement helps to ensure both applicants are eligible to marry. Kathryn and Bradly have filed a claim in federal court, arguing that the state policy violates their fundamental right to marry.
How will the court most likely rule?
The court will find the law unconstitutional because it directly and substantially interferes with Kathryn and Bradley’s choice to marry.
Exp: The in-person requirement prevents Bradley and Kathryn from marrying, and cannot be upheld “unless it is supported by sufficiently important state interests and is closely tailored to effectuate only those interests.” Zablocki, 434 U.S. at 388. A court would likely find that the state could use other methods to vindicate its interest in ensuring applicants are eligible to marry. Jones, 215 F.Supp.3d at 572-73.
Which of the following quotes most accurately represents the Supreme Court’s holding in Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. (2015)?
“The right to marry is a fundamental right inherent in the person, and under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment couples of the same-sex may not be deprived of that right and that liberty.”
Exp: The Obergefell majority held that the state laws at issue violated the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses, and ruled that “the state laws challenged by Petitioners in these cases are now held invalid to the extent they exclude same-sex couples from civil marriage on the same terms and conditions as opposite-sex couples.” 135 S.Ct. at 2605.
The State of West has longstanding ban on plural marriage. In the wake of Obergefell, however, some of West’s legislators have become concerned about the continued viability of the polygamy ban. You are counsel to the West legislature’s Judiciary Committee. They’ve asked you for the strongest argument, under Obergefell, that polygamy bans remain constitutional.
Which of the following best supports the State of West’s position?
“[T]he right to marry is fundamental because it supports a two-person union unlike any other in its importance to the committed individuals.” Id. at 2599.
Exp: This quote would support upholding the polygamy ban. Obergefell’s explicit reference to marriage as a “two-person union unlike any other,” is the clearest basis for distinguishing a polygamy ban from a ban on same-sex marriage.
Sarah and Stella marry. A year later, they take genetic tests to learn about their ancestry, and the tests reveal that the two are genetic half siblings through a common sperm donor.
If a court were to annul their marriage or a prosecutor were to threaten prosecution as a result of the discovery, which reasons for the incest prohibition would be animating the legal response?
The taboo against intra-family sexual contact.
Exp: There is a long-standing taboo against intrafamily sexual relations, whether by genetic or adoptive relatives, and the incest prohibition is found in some form in almost all cultures.
Anu and Babu are first cousins. They live in a state that prohibits first cousin marriage, but they have many relatives who live in a state that allows first cousin marriage. On a lengthy stay with those relatives, Anu and Babu married.
When they return to their home state, what will most likely be the status of their marriage?
Their home state will most likely recognize their marriage as valid because it was legally contracted in another state as long as recognition does not offend a very strong public policy of their home state.
Exp: Marriages contracted in one state are generally recognized in a different state, even where they could not be contracted there, unless they contravene a strong public policy of the state deciding whether to recognize.
Prohibitions on incest are:
Sometimes a civil ban on a wider set of marriages than are prohibited in the criminal code.
Exp: All states prohibit both incestuous marriages as a civil matter and make sexual contact between defined relatives a crime, but some states enumerate a broader set of prohibited marriages than the set of prohibited sexual relationships in the criminal code pertaining to incest.
Jerry and Faith marry. Jerry is aware that he is impotent, meaning unable to engage in sexual relations. He does not share this information with Faith, who only learns of it after the marriage.
What consequences could Jerry’s deception have to the marriage?
Faith may seek an annulment of the marriage on the basis of Jerry’s known impotence, but if she does not, the marriage continues to be valid.
Exp: Faith may seek an annulment of the marriage on the basis of Jerry’s known impotence, because impotence can render a marriage voidable, but if she does not, the marriage is not automatically void. Her continued marriage to Jerry would constitute a ratification of the condition.
Rachel is 90 years old, and suffers from dementia. Annette, Rachel’s 60 year old caregiver, lives in Rachel’s apartment with her. Rachel and Annette are married through a justice of the peace who comes to the apartment to perform the ceremony, and with Annette’s siblings as witnesses. Two years later, Rachel dies of a stroke. Her children from an earlier marriage seek to deny Annette any rights of inheritance.
What is their strongest claim?
Rachel could not consent to the marriage because of her dementia, and therefore Annette and Rachel’s marriage is void ab initio.
Exp: A person must have the mental capacity to consent to a marriage, and a marriage contracted by a person without their consent is void ab initio even if the person lacking capacity to consent is deceased.
The difference between a void and a voidable marriage is:
A voidable marriage may be annulled at the request of one party, but a void marriage never existed, regardless of the wishes of the parties.
Exp: A void marriage never occurred in the eyes of the law, while a voidable marriage may be annulled at the request of one party.
Karinne meets Yusef online on a dating app. Yusef’s profile indicates that he is wealthy, and works as a mergers and acquisitions attorney at a NYC law firm. In fact, Yusef is a con man, who has no assets, and has creditors chasing him. He proposes to Karinne after 6 weeks of dating, in part because he realizes that she is both wealthy and well-connected. A few months into the marriage, Karinne discovers that Yusef is not going to work as an attorney, but instead is spending his days in coffee shops. He has no college or law school degree.
How will Karinne be able to end the marriage?
She can divorce Yusef.
Ginger and Red are out drinking one night in Las Vegas. They wake up the next morning and notice a signed wedding license and photos of themselves at the Elvis chapel getting married. Further investigation with the chapel confirms that they did in fact participate in a marriage ceremony the night before. Ginger is a billionaire, while Red has no assets.
Which of the following will Ginger likely claim:
The marriage should be annulled because both parties were too intoxicated to give consent to the marriage.
Exp: Intoxication can lead a court to conclude that the parties did not consent to the marriage, and lack of consent is a ground for granting an annulment.
Nina, age 15, becomes pregnant from a relationship with her neighbor, Sergio, age 26. Nina’s father Fredo is pressuring Nina and Sergio to marry. Sergio is not certain whether marrying Nina is a legal option.
Which of the following will make it harder for Sergio and Nina to get married?
None of the above.
Other Choices:
- Nina’s pregnancy.
- Nina’s father’s support and encouragement of the marriage.
- Sergio and Nina’s residence in a state where the marriage statute observes the common law minimum ages.
-Judicial review and approval of the marriage.
Exp: Sergio and 15 year old Nina’s marriage would be made easier, not harder, by her pregnancy, her father’s consent, living in a state that observes the low common law ages for marriage, and judicial approval.
Some states have raised the age of marriage out of concern for:
All of the above.
Other Choices:
- The ability of a minor to consent.
- The practice of forced marriages.
- The fact that girls who marry as minors are less likely to graduate from high school and college and more likely to suffer domestic abuse and to live in poverty.
- The persistent prevalence of marriages involving a minor in the United States.
Exp: Concerns about consent, forced marriage, the risks to educational completion, domestic violence, poverty, and the persistent prevalence of marriage of minors in the United States all motivate the movement to raise the marriage age.
Annulment is different from divorce in which of the following ways?
Annulment declares a marriage and its consequences void from the outset, while a divorce ends a marriage at the time of the divorce order.
