Legal Terms Chapter 38 - Marriage, Divorce, and Dissolution of Marriage

Question 1

Adultery

Answer 1

Voluntary sexual intercourse by a married person with someone other than a spouse or by an unmarried person with a married person.

Question 2

Age of consent

Answer 2

The age at which one may be married under state law.

Question 3

Alienation of affections

Answer 3

The willful and malicious interference with the marriage relation by a third party without justification or excuse.

Question 4

Alleged

Answer 4

Claimed, asserted, or charged.

Question 5

Annulment

Answer 5

A judicial declaration that no valid marriage ever existed.

Question 6

Banns of matrimony

Answer 6

Public notice of a marriage contract for a certain number of weeks before the wedding date; also called marriage bans.

Question 7

Breach of promise to marry

Answer 7

Breaking off an engagement to marry.

Question 8

Civil union

Answer 8

A relationship in which same-sex couples have the same rights and duties as married couples.

Question 9

Cohabit

Answer 9

To live together.

Question 10

Common law marriage

Answer 10

A marriage without a formal ceremony or issuance of a legal license; must cohabit for 7-10 years.

Question 11

Community property

Answer 11

Property other than a gift or inheritance, acquired by a husband or wife during marriage which belongs to both spouses equally without regard to who “earned” the property.

Question 12

Conjugal

Answer 12

Pertaining to the marriage relationship.

Question 13

Consortium

Answer 13

The fellowship between a husband and wife.

Question 14

Copulate

Answer 14

To engage in sexual intercourse.

Question 15

Co-respondent

Answer 15

The person charged with committing adultery with the defendant in a divorce action.

Question 16

Covenant marriage

Answer 16

A type of marriage in which the partners agree to go through counseling before the marriage and also during the marriage to resolve conflicts.

Question 18

Criminal conversion

Answer 18

A tort action brought by a husband or wife against a third party who committed adultery with the husband’s or wife’s spouse.

Question 19

Cruelty

Answer 19

In a divorce action, personal violence by one spouse that endangers the life, limb, or health of the other spouse.

Question 20

Defense of Marriage Act

Answer 20

Defined marriage as between a man and a woman and declared that if a given state recognizes gay marriage, no other state would have to recognize it as a valid marriage, subsequently struck down.

Question 21

Desertion

Answer 21

The voluntary separation of one spouse from the other, for the statutory period, without justification and without the intent of returning.

Question 22

Discretion

Answer 22

The power that a judge has to make a decision based on his or her judgment and conscience.

Question 23

Divorce

Answer 23

The act, by a court, of terminating a valid marriage; also called dissolution of marriage.

Question 24

Heart balm statutes

Answer 24

Laws passed in most states abolishing suits for loss of consortium, breach of promise to marry, and alienation of affections; also called heart balm acts.

Question 25

Impotency

Answer 25

The incapacity of either party to consummate a marriage by sexual intercourse because of some physical infirmity or disarrangement.

Question 26

Incompatibility

Answer 26

Conflicts in personalities and dispositions that are so deep as to be irreconcilable and irremediable and that render it impossible for the parties to continue to live together in a normal marital relationship; also called irreconcilable differences and irretrievable breakdown.

Question 27

Marriage

Answer 27

Historically, the laws of the federal government and most states, the union of one man and one woman; has been expanded to same sex marriage.

Question 28

No-fault divorce

Answer 28

A dissolution of marriage without regard to fault.

Question 29

Prenuptial agreement

Answer 29

A contract made in contemplation of marriage between prospective spouses setting forth, among other points, the rights that each spouse will have to property brought into the marriage; also called antenuptial agreement and premarital agreement.

Question 30

Proxy marriage

Answer 30

A ceremonial marriage in which one of the partners is absent, but is represented by an agent who stands in his or her place.

Question 31

Reconciliation

Answer 31

The renewal of amicable relations.

Question 32

Same-sex marriage

Answer 32

The union of two same-sex partners; also called gay marriage.

Question 33

Separation of spouses

Answer 33

The discontinuance of cohabitation by the spouses; also called divorce from bed and board and limited divorce.

Question 34

Solemnized

Answer 34

Performed in a ceremonial fashion with witnesses present.