family law

• Breach of promise to marry


  One party can recover damages if the other party breaks off the engagement
• Law: party seeking claim for breach of promise to marry


  Must provide either signed written evidence of the promise to marry or testimony of two disinterested witnesses to prove the agreement
• Campbell v robinson


  • Ashley claims that matthew ended the engagement and told her to keep the ring
• Law: A premarital agreement is invalid if


  (1) The person did not execute the agreement voluntarily, (2) The agreement was unconscionable when it was executed, and (3) Before the execution of the agreement the person was not provided a fair and reasonable disclosure of the property or financial obligations of the other spouse; and the person did not have, or reasonably could not have had an adequate knowledge of the property or financial obligations of the other spouse
• Law: Substantive due process


  Holding: the ban did not survive strict scrutiny and is unconstitutional as a violation of due process
• Holding: not a significant interference with right to marry, Reasoning - direct interference- no direct interference because there is not a legal obstacle to get married, Substantial interference - non substantial interference because loss of $20 per month did not significantly discourage marriage or preclude it
• Causes of actions stemming from alleged infringement of rights as protected by the constitution


  • Equal protection
  • Substantive Due process
• Equal protection


  Refers to the idea that governmental body must treat an individual in the same manner as others in similar conditions and circumstances (a group acting like him), The 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause requires states to practice Equal Protection
• Legal tests for equal protection claims


  • Racial and/or national origin - strict scrutiny
  • Sex based - intermediate scrutiny
  • All other types of classifications - rational basis review
• Steps for substantive due process claim


  • Identify whether the law infringes on the fundamental right
  • Identify whether the law targets a specific group
  • If yes to both = apply strict scrutiny, If not a fundamental right = apply rational basis review
• Turner v. Safely


  • Regulation required incarcerated persons to obtain permission from superintendent to marry and permission given only for compelling reasons, group of incarcerated individuals who want to marry file class action
• Holding: the restriction on marriage does not pass rational basis review and is unconstitutional as a violation of due process, Legitimate government purpose - state interest in security and rehabilitation imprisoned people, Rationally related to achieve government purpose - no because the law does not prevent the formation of love triangles that might affect security and it does not serve the goal of rehabilitation
• Substantive restrictions on states' regulation of marriage


  Same sex, Incestuous
• Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)


  Section 2 gave states the authority to refuse recognition to same sex marriages performed in other states, unless prohibited under the recognizing state's own public policy, Section 3 defined marriage for purposes of federal law as only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife and the word spouse referred only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband and wife
• Obergefell v Hodges


  • Same sex couple sought recognition of their marriage in their home state so that jim could be named on john's death certificate as his living spouse
• Holding: Section 2 of DOMA violates substantive due and equal protection, Reasoned on 4 principles - right to privacy, protected right of intimate association, marriage safeguards children and families, marriage is a keystone of our social order
• 303 Creative LLC


  • Wedding website planner worried/religious beliefs against same sex, Law used first amendment free speech clause, Held law violated 1st Amendment
• Restrictions on incestuous marriage


  All states regulate degrees of kinship that people may marry, Consanguinity - relationship based on blood, Affinity - relationships based on adoption and marriage
• In re adoption of M

  • Adopted daughter wants to marry her adoptive father and seeks to vacate judgment of adoption
• Holding: vacatur requirements were met, Reasoning: daughter is no longer a minor, Vacating the adoption would eradicate an impediment to their marriage and legitimize their child, The father would be relieved of his dual status as father and grandfather
• Void and voidable marriages


  Marriages may be void or voidable depending on the severity of the defect, Consanguinity/Affinity, The marriage can be contested in any proceeding by anybody at any time even after death - way to challenge inheritance
• Differences between annulment and divorce


  • Annulment ceases the end of marriage as if it never happened/existed while divorce is the dissolution of a legally recognized marriage
• Differences between void and voidable marriages


  • Void are invalid from the start (inception) and never existed and cannot be corrected; the couple can separate without formal divorce or annulment proceedings, Voidable are valid until a court declares it invalid through an annulment proceeding, Both spouses have to bring an annulment claim before death, after death invalid and cannot be challenged, Invalidity can be challenged only by a spouse and only during the marriage, Invalidity cannot be challenged in a related proceeding
• Bigamous and polygamous marriages


  All states have laws against entering into multiple marriages, A subsequent marriage contracted by a person during the life of his or her former spouse with a person other than the former spouse is illegal and void unless the former marriage has been dissolved or adjudged a nullity before the date of the subsequent marriage, or the former spouse is absent and not known to be living for 5 successive years immediately preceding the subsequent marriage or is generally reputed or believed by the person to be dead at the time the subsequent marriage was contracted
• Restrictions on marriage based on age


  All states regulate the age that people may marry
• Kirkpatrick v District Court


  • Age gap couple 15 and 48, mother consents, travel to another state, Father finds out, seeks annulment of marriage in Nevada
• Holding: Nevada statute is constitutional, State law strikes a reasonable balance between daughter's right to marry and parental rights
• Restrictions on marriage based on state of mind


  Marriages may be set aside for lack of consent
• Tests for fraud


  • Strict test - misrepresentation regarding the essentials (ability and willingness to engage in sexual relations and childbearing)
  • Materiality test- misrepresentation is material (important or vital)
  • In CA, fraud must relate to a matter which the state deems vital to the marriage relationship to justify an annulment
  • Causation/deal breaker test- determine whether an innocent spouse would have refused to marry the defendant but for the misrepresentation
• Blair v Blair


  • Annulment petition based on fraud inducement by misrepresentation, Law used causation/deal breaker test and finds out that husband would have married wife despite knowing that he wasn't child's father
• Requirements to establish fraud


  • Material misrepresentation
  • Knowledge of falsity of representation or ignorance of its truth
  • Representation be acted upon by innocent
  • Reliance on the truth of the representation
  • Rely on the representation
  • Sustained consequent and proximate injury
• Void (or void ab initio)


  Invalid from inception meaning a marriage never existed
• Void marriages in California


  • Incestuous marriages
  • Bigamous and polygamous marriages
• Voidable


  Valid until a court declares it invalid through annulment proceeding
• Grounds for nullity


  • Under 18 years of age
  • Former spouse absent and unknown for 5 years
  • Unsound mind, unless freely cohabited after
  • Consent obtained by fraud, unless freely cohabited after
  • Physically incapable of entering into the marriage state continuously and incurably
• Licensure


  All states require marriage certificates to be recorded and some impose criminal penalties for failure to do so
• Majority rule


  A violation of a procedural requirement (failure to obtain a license) does not invalidate a marriage
• Minority rule


  Statutory requirement that expressly makes a marriage invalid/void without a license
• Marriage license preparation and filing

  1. Appear together in person before the county clerk to obtain a marriage license

  2. The issued marriage license shall be presented to the person solemnizing the marriage

  3. The person solemnizing the marriage shall complete the solemnization sections

  4. The marriage license shall be returned by the person solemnizing the marriage to the county recorder within 10 days
• Solemnization of marriage


  All states authorize certain individuals to solemnize a marriage meaning marriage arose out of a civil contract solemnization by an authorized person such as a priest or judge