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This course outline provides a comprehensive overview of family law principles, focusing on the legal definition of family, the importance of family status, and the complexities of marital property rights. It delves into landmark cases like hewitt v. Hewitt, braschi v. Stahl associates company, and mcguire v. Mcguire, illustrating the evolving legal landscape surrounding family relationships and property ownership. The outline also explores the historical development of marital property laws, including the married women's property acts, tenancy in the entirety, and community property systems. It examines the legal implications of cohabitation, the doctrine of necessaries, and the constitutional limits on gender-based classifications in family law.
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I. Marriage and Its Alternatives A. When are Adult Partners a Family? (Chapter 1)
(a) “Ladue’s zoning ordinance is rationally related to its expressed purposes and violates no provision of the Constitution of the United States.” (b) “Maintenance of a traditional family environment constitutes a reasonable basis for excluding uses that may impair the stability of that environment and erode the values associated with traditional family life.” (4) “A man and a woman living together, sharing pleasures and certain responsibilities, does not per se constitute a family in even the conceptual sense. To approximate a family relationship, there must exist a commitment to a permanent relationship and a perceived reciprocal obligation to support and to care for each other.” b) Moore v. City of East Cleveland (case within Ladue , 1977) [importance of family was reaffirmed] (1) Supreme Court was confronted with a housing ordinance that defined a “family” as only certain closely related individuals. (2) Consequently, a grandmother who lived with her son and her two grandsons was convicted of violating the ordinance b/c her two grandsons were first cousins rather than brothers. (3) The Court struck down the East Cleveland ordinance for violating the freedom of personal choice in matters of marriage and family life. (4) The Court distinguished Belle Terre by stating that the ordinance in that case allowed all individuals related by blood, marriage or adoption to live tighter; whereas East Cleveland, by restricting the number of related person who could live together, sought to “regulate the occupancy of its housing by slicing deeply into the family itself.”
(b) Why did the court interfere in Buckstaff , but not McGuire? B/c a third party, the creditor, was involved in Buckstaff. The court needs to protect the creditor, so who should be responsible? Certainly not Mrs. Buckstaff! (So, that leaves Mr. Buckstaff!) (c) Doctrine of necessaries: (i) H had a CL duty to provide necessaries to his W and children; designed to protect married women who surrendered their property to their Hs. (ii) 4 schemes for necessaries (a) CL: H liable for W, not vice versa (b) Wisconsin: H primarily liable, W secondarily liable (c) Joint and several liability (community property approach) (d) W primarily liable, H secondarily liable
primarily liable and W secondarily liable ( gendered assignment of responsibilities ) (4) Usually choose immediate scrutiny in these cases (usually say it’s unconstitutional to discriminate on the basis of sex, but not always) (a) Are the problem statutes constitutional? § probably isn’t b/c it doesn’t serve an important governmental interest and instead perpetuates gender stereotypes (b) Madden’s hornbook from 1931 supports statute §2 , but is that constitutional? Under the CL she abandoned him. There is a governmental interest to preserve family stability, but is this statute narrowly tailored to the statute? (i) While under the CL, it could be said that she abandoned the marital home, the question would be, where is this marital home? (a) A few options: (1) once domicile is established, joint consent is needed to change it; (2) either party can moveno marital domicile really exists; (3) husband determines domicile (this option is unconstitutional, though)
right to marrystate regs substantially burdening access to marriage will be subject to strict scrutiny; also noting the right to privacy under the 14th^ Amendment Due Process Clause, finding the statute not narrowly tailored to the gov’t interest (2) Loving v. Virginia (1967 Supreme Court, Virginia): Virginia’s miscegenation laws prevented an interracial couple from getting married; leading case saying that marriage is a fundamental right; both a Due Process and Equal Protection case b) Claifano v. Jobst (1977, Supreme Court) (1) Law that dependent child who marries someone not entitled to similar benefits loses his/her benefits; Court finds that he law restricts the ability to marry but does not prohibit it; Court applied rational-basis standard b/c ppl were deterred by the rule, but not limited in their access to marriage
(c) Three rationales for prohibiting same-sex marriage: (1) procreation (2) child rearing (3) preserving scarce State resources d) Age (1) In re Barbara Haven (1953, Pennsylvania) (a) 14 year old girl wants to marry 22 year old stepbrother; the law should not consent to the marriage of those under 16 except in the most compelling of circumstances (b) Youthful marriages correlate w/ lower income, higher unemployment, and lower satisfaction w/ financial condition
a) Spearman v. Spearman (1973, 5th^ Circuit) (1) Ed Spearman died, leaving a life insurance policy of $10K; the policy said if no beneficiary listed, the proceeds were to be paid to the “widow” of the insured; after the death, two women claimed to be his wife and to be entitled to the life insurance proceeds (2) GR: a 2nd^ marriage cannot be validly contracted if either spouse is then married (even for CL marriage) b) Putative Spouse Doctrine: one whose marriage is legally invalid but who has engaged in a marriage ceremony or solemnization , on the good faith belief in the validity of the marriage, can share in ½ proceeds of insurance upon death of spouse (1) Protects a spouse who believes in the validity of the marriage. A good-faith belief on the part of one or both spouses is required c) Burdens of proof (1) Presumption of validity of 2nd^ marriage; rebuttable by 1st^ W proving marriage and no divorce; rebuttable by 2nd^ W showing divorce C. Legal Alternatives to Marriage
b) Vermont [civil unions] (1) Created civil unions to deal w/ giving all citizens equal access to common marriage benefits (under the Vermont constitution) (a) Same sex couples only, duties same as married (b) Status created is same as marriage, parental rights (c) Divorce decree necessary c) California [domestic partnerships] (1) Domestic partnership legislation sneaks in under the radar post 9/11, also included recognition of parental status for second-parent adoption (issue of children’s rights instead of gay rights if got it passed) (a) Same sex couples or opposite sex over 62; co- residents (b) Same duties/benefits as marriage d) New Jersey [domestic partnerships] (1) Also liberal regarding recognition of unmarried parents; adopted legislation to deal w/ internal political issues (a) Same sex couples and therefore not able to marry, not related (b) Similar obligations, no mention of children IV. Property Division and Spousal Support A. Overview
(a) Pereira v. Pereira (1909, California) [primarily community assets] (i) A reasonable return on the separate investment is calculated and treated as separate property, the remainder of the increase in value is community property [community property- separate property (separate assets +appreciation); remainder split 50/50] (ii) Should be used when the appreciation in value is primarily attributed to community efforts (b) Van Camp v. Van Camp (1921, California) [primarily separate assets] (i) A fair salary for the labor of the spouse is calculated; if the spouse was paid less than this amount, the community receives enough of an increase to make up the difference, and the rest of the increase in value is separate property [separate property –uncompensated community contribution; remained goes entirely to the spouse] (ii) Should be used when the primary cause for appreciation was market factors and the like (c) For Exam: Two ways to proceed: (i) MOST IMPORTANT: decide if an asset is primarily community or primarily separate (ii) If primarily community, subtract out separate property (iii) If primarily separate, subtract out community property (iv) Any labor that is compensated for during the marriage is community property, but any uncompensated labor is separate property (value it), then need to take that value and reimburse the community (so ½ goes to W if H is making the $) (v) If both parties have to step in and make something that was once really separate property into a prosperous business again, it can be considered community property and so needs to be split 50/ (d)
treated as community property for purposes of property division at divorce.
(1) Shows what can happen w/ the residential parent’s income is substantially higher than that of the nonresidential parent (2) F sought to terminate child support now that he had primary care of children; court was very against terminating the F’s payment of child support, said the best interests of the child was the most important (3) Dissent, however, says this was just helping the M and that love, affection, was what the relationship between the kids and parents thrives on, not equal $ D. Modification, Termination, Enforcement and Tax & Bankruptcy
case H’s remarriage gave him support duties for his stepchild in addition to outstanding support duties from 1st^ marriage) E. Enforcement
(c) F/son relationship developed between child and grandparents that did not exist w/ real F (d) Custody given to grandparents (3) The psychological parent (a) An adult who through interaction, companionship, interplay, and mutuality, fulfills the child’s psychological as well as physical needs