Introduction Flashcards
Who may marry? (4)
- Both parties must be at least 18 y/o (or can be younger w/ parental or judicial consent)
- No outstanding undissolved marriages
- Both parties must have the capacity to consent (voluntary)
- Not too closely related
What are the procedural requirements for a marriage?
- License
2. Solemnization
What are the requirements of a CL marriage?
- Holding out as spouses
- Consent b/t the parties
- Cohabitation (no particular time req’d)
What are the req’s for an enforceable premarital contract?
- Both parties must make a full and fair disclosure of their net worth
- Voluntariness
- Must be in writing and signed by the party to be charged
- Economic provisions must be fair and reasonable
What are grounds for annulling a marriage, specifically void grounds?
- Bigamy or Polygamy
- Consanguinity
- Nonage (void or voidable, depending on state law)
What are grounds for annulling a marriage, specifically voidable?
- Incurable physical impotence
- Lack of assent
- Mental incompetence
- Duress
- Fraud involving the essentials of marriage…?
What are the requirements for a no-fault divorce?
- The marriage is irretrievably broken and
2. the parties have been living apart
What are typical fault grounds for divorce?
- Drug addiction or drunkness
- Adultery
- Extreme physical or emotional cruelty
- willful desertion
What are some traditional defenses to fault grounds?
- Collusion (agreement by spouses to not raise a valid defense)
- Recrimination (misconduct by other party)
- Condonation (forgiveness of misconduct w/ full knowledge that the misconduct occurred)
- Connivance (willing consent by one spouse to the other spouse’s misconduct)
What are the approaches to dividing property upon divorce?
- Community Property (all property acquired during the marriage is deemed to be owned 1/2 by each spouse, except property brought in thru gifts or bequests)
- Equitable division of all property whether acquired before or during the marriage
- Equitable division of marital property (MOST COMMON)
Marital property is:
A. All property acquired during the marriage EXCEPT:
- property acquired thru gift or bequest
- property exchanged for that property acquired through gift or bequest
- the income or appreciation in value of property that a spouse acquired before the marriage or through gift, bequest, etc.; unless the other spouse has somehow contributed to its increase in value
AND
B. Property that may have been seperate but has been treated to such an extent as marital property b/c it has become so intertwined (INTENDED to become marital property)
What factors might a court consider in awarding spousal support?
- the duration of the marriage and the standard of living
- the age and physical and emotional condition of the parties
- the financial resource of the parties
- Marital fault (in some states)
- Whether the spouse can pay support while attending to their own financial needs
- the time needed to get training to make the payments
- the contribution of each party to the marriage
What are the 4 types of spousal support?
- Permanent periodic spousal support - paid to a spouse who has neither the resources nor the training to be self-sustaining
- Rehabilative spousal support - paid until spouse attains the training to be self-supportive
- Lump sum payment - nonmodifiable, paid all at once or in fixed amounts
- Reimbursement spousal support – awarded to a spouse who supported the other spouse while they rec’d a licensure or degree
Between 2 states, what is the child custody statute that controls?
Uniform Child Custody and Jurisdiction Enforcement Act UCCJEA
According to the UCCJEA, what is the most important jurisdictional test?
the child’s home state, i.e. where the child lived for the six months immediately prior to the proceeding (brief periods of absence are disregarded)
