Final

Question 1

What are the requirements to get married?

Answer 1

Age requirements vary by state (generally 16-18). You must be mentally competent, meaning that they understand the nature and consequences of marriage. Both parties must freely consent to the marriage. If one party is not competent (involuntarily intoxicated, mentally ill) or if they are coerced, the marriage is invalid.

Question 2

What is the procedure for getting married?

Answer 2

First, the couple obtains a marriage license. After, most states impose a brief waiting period. Finally, the parties must solemnize their marriage through someone authorized by the law to do so (religious representative, or civil officials)

Question 3

What is a common law marriage?

Answer 3

These marriages technically meet none of the formal requirements described above. They are informal marriages which haven’t gone through the ceremony, but the state recognizes it as a marriage. Usually, they are implied after the fact by the courts.

The most common situation where common law marriage is sought to be proven is where one partner dies and the other seeks to claim a share of the estate.

some variables for determining a common law marriage:

1. They told the public they were husband and wife.
2. They cohabitated.
3. Filed joint tax returns.
4. Had a joint bank account.

Question 4

What is a covenant marriage?

Answer 4

If you have a covenant marriage, then it makes getting a divorce a little more difficult. The conditions are set by the state and you must wait a year or two to get a divorce, generally. This is an ‘opt-in’ marriage.

Question 5

What is a divorce?

Answer 5

Civil action where one party sues the other party for the end of a marriage. Historically speaking, the court required reason for a divorce, but in the 1960s the states began to adopt no-fault divorce.

Question 6

What is a no-fault divorce?

Answer 6

You don’t have to state a reason for the divorce, you just have to state “irreconcilable differences”.

Question 7

What is a legal separation?

Answer 7

Not a formalized divorce or a trial separation. Incredibly close to a divorce, due to the court separating marital property. Mostly covers issues like support, visitation. If you are legally separated, you cannot legally remarry.

Question 8

What is alimony?

Answer 8

Sometimes called “Spousal Support”. This is money paid by one spouse to the other for financial support pursuant to court order. Payment can be made in lump sum or in periodically. Generally, the death of the payer will end the obligation to pay.

Question 9

What are property settlements?

Answer 9

These try to achieve an equitable division of the *assets *of the marriage and typically divide those assets by way of lump-sum payments or specific awards of particular items of property to one or the other party.

Question 10

How is a property settlement determined?

Answer 10

Generally, courts seek to divide property equitably and have a wide discretion in determining which spouse gets what property.

Question 11

How is alimony determined?

Answer 11

There are certain considerations that a judge will take into account for spousal support:

1. Financial Resources of both parties
2. Respective earning potentials
3. Extent to which a spouse needs retraining or education
4. Standard of living established during the marriage
5. Duration of the marriage
6. Age and physical/emotional condition of the spouse seeking support

Question 12

What is a prenuptual agreement?

Answer 12

Agreement signed by both parties before entering a marriage which could affect property rights upon termination of a marriage. Generally, if you don’t have a prenuptual agreement, you are subject to the rules of the state.

Question 13

What is adoption and what is the procedure for it?

Answer 13

In adoptions, a child in essence gets a new parent or set of parents in place of their birth parent or parents. This can be voluntary or involuntary. Voluntary by the parents signing an agreement to put the child up for adoption, and involuntary by the court deeming the house unsafe for the child to grow up in.

Before you adopt a child, you must prove your ability to raise a child. You have to foster the child before you adopt, after a year you can go to a judge and have the adoption ceremony.

Question 14

What is legal custody of a child?

Answer 14

Relating to divorce, it is the right to make all decisions pertaining to the child’s upbringing.

Question 15

What are the factors in determining custody?

Answer 15

1. Demonstrated ability for the parent to care for the child personally
2. The nature of the relationship between the child and the competing parents as recealed by the past conduct
3. the desires of the parents for custody
4. maintenence of the stability of the childs current environment
5. desires of the child

Question 16

What are visitation rights?

Answer 16

The court will generally grant the non-custodial parent visitation rights in order to maintain as much stability in the child’s life as possible. In most cases the court will leave visitation open ended, but sometimes a strict schedule is needed when the two parties are hostile and unwillnig to work together.

Question 17

What is child support?

Answer 17

1. It usually lasts until the child is 18 years old.
2. It has nothing to do with marriage.
3. It is a financial obligation to provide to the child if they are not the custodial parent.
4. Child support orders can be modified, increased or decreased based on changes in circumstance.

Question 18

What is plea bargaining?

Answer 18

This is an agreement by which the defendant agrees to plead guilty in return for either a reduction in the charge or some kind of special dispensation regarding the sentence. The advantage from the defendant’s position is that it saves time and resources.

Question 19

What is the role of a judge in plea bargaining?

Answer 19

The judge is informed of the bargain ahead of time and agree, but does not usually become involved in the discussions and most often allows the prosecutor and defendant to reach whatever agreement that will dispose the case.

Question 20

What are some of the issues of plea bargaining?

Answer 20

1. Makes it too lenient on the criminal
2. Fear that it induces those who may be innocent or have a defense to the charge to plead guilty for fear that they might be convicted anyways
   3.

Question 21

What are the policies of talking to the police?

Answer 21

In general, a confession is voluntary is it is the product of an essentually free and unconstrained choice of its maker.

You are not obligated to talk to the police if you do not want to.

Question 22

What is detention?

Answer 22

You are not in custody and you don’t have to receive a miranda warning. You are under restraint out of suspicion of being involved in criminal activity.

Question 23

What are the stages in a prosecution?

Answer 23

1. First appearence - the defendant is informed of all the charges against him or her. They will be assigned a lawyer if they do not have one. The judge determines whether they will be released pending trial.
2. Bail - if the judge determines that the defendant can be released pending trial, they must pay bail which is a fine set by the judge in order to walk.
3. Preliminary hearing
4. Grand Jury Indictment
5. Arraignment - Basically is when the defendant says guilty, not guilty, or no contest.
6. Then there is a trial and if found guilty, sentencing.

Question 24

What is a preliminary hearing?

Answer 24

this is when a judge will examine a prosecutors evidence to ensure there is enough to make it to court.

Question 25

What is a grand jury indictment?

Answer 25

this is in all federal cases and in some states. Basically is a rubber stamp on a prosecution. The prosecutor must present the evidence to the grand jury which points to guild and the jury will decide if probably cause exists. If the prosecutor does not get an indictment, then they have to present the same evidence to the judge.

Question 26

What is double jeapordy?

Answer 26

Double jeapordy applies in two instances. First, when the prosecution is disappointed in an acquittal and seeks to try the defendant once again for the same crime, or (2) when the prosecution obtains a conviction, but is dissatisfied with the severity of that conviction or sentence and wishes higher or additional sentence. The 5th amendment protects citizens from both these scenarios.

Question 27

What is probably cause?

Answer 27

There is some evidence that someone has committed a crime. Most arrests are done on the spot when an officer believes that probable cause exists. Police dashcams are to show probably cause.

Question 28

What is a warrant and how is it obtained?

Answer 28

A warrant is a document that says that there is enough probable cause to search a home against the tenants will. In order to obtain a search warrant, an officer must contact a judge and explain the probably cause and the judge will sign off on the warrant.

Question 29

What are the terms in which one may search a residence without a warrant?

Answer 29

Exigent Circumstances - these are when there was an emergency where it was impractical to get a warrant. Any emergency will suffice.

Automobile Exception - when the police stop a car and suspect criminal activity in a car, they may search it without a warrant.

Question 30

What are the terms in which one may search without probable cause or a warrant?

Answer 30

Inventory searches - if the police impound a vehicle, they may search the car and inventory its contents.

Question 31

When is ‘reasonable suspicion’ relevant?

Answer 31

Used in a ‘stop and frisk’ scenario, which is a less invasive form of a ‘search’