Unit 5 – Family Law What is a “family”? Catholic Church: A group of people who live together in sacramental marriage and/or with ties of blood or adoption Government: Any group of people who live together, except no more than two adults Goodridge v. Department of Health (2004)

Marriage About 50 percent of all marriages end in divorce, 40 percent of first time marriages end in divorce (some people run up the score, like Liz Taylor, Mickey Rooney, etc.) 67 percent of second marriages fail 74 percent of third marriages fail Only 2 percent of marriages where both parties attend church services weekly end in divorce

Requirements of Marriage Age of consent: Higher for women than men in most states Relationship: No close relations, usually means no first cousins or closer Terms: incest, Consanguinity Marriage license (for civil marriages only) Blood test (for STD Syphilis) Waiting period

Marriage, cont'd Common law marriage: a legal concept in 14 states that presume couples who have been living together for a period of time (usually five years or more) are legally married. There is no “common law marriage” in Massachusetts

Marriage, cont'd Privileged communication: Spouses cannot be compelled to testify against each other in court. This is similar to the confidentiality of a lawyer and his paying client and a priest and his confessor. Presumption of inheritance: Husbands and wives are presumed to be the heirs of any estate if one partner dies Medical visitation/decision: Spouses are presumed to be able to visit and make medical decisions for incapacitated partners. Polygamy: More than one spouse Bigamy: Two spouses

Marriage, cont'd

Unit 5 - Terms Will: A legal statement of how your property is to be disposed of after you die; a legal preference for the care of minors in your charge Estate: Everything you own at the time you die, sometimes qualifies as a legal “person”

Marriage, cont'd Property in Marriage Separate property: Property couples own individually, usually property they enter the marriage with. Joint property: The legal concept that the married couple jointly own the property – unless there is a court order to the contrary Community property: The legal concept in some states (not Mass.) that the married couple truly becomes one person with marriage for the purpose of owning property. All property is jointly owned, and presumed to be jointly owned without a court order to the contrary.

Divorce Divorce: Civil separation Annulment: Catholic Church's determination that a sacramental bond never occurred (says nothing morally about the bond that occurred earlier) Alimony: Support for one person in a divorce suit if the other person helped to support the household and allow the other to focus on career Child Support: Financial support of non- custodial parent for children after a divorce

Rights of Single People Cohabitation agreement: an agreement between people who live together about the disposal of community property in the event of a separation (especially necessary in common law marriage states) Palimony: The non-married equivalent of alimony. The debt owed to unmarried partners for supporting the career of the other partner. (not a common court ruling, but becoming more common)

Government Support for Families Sockdolager story about Davy Crockett Social Security: PLUSES: Guaranteed income by government (no variations) Four different benefit programs: Retirement, Survivors pay, Disability pay, Medicare Retirement income guaranteed after only 40 quarters (10 years) of work

Juvenile Family law Emancipation: The legal adulthood of a juvenile before reaching the age of majority (18). This is usually done with teen marriage, but can also be done by court order. Truancy:

Social Security MINUSES HUGE tax bite: 15.5 percent of income for as long as you work Retirement benefit is really low; you can't live on it You have to buy the program, you can't invest your money elsewhere Benefit diminishes benefits for 2-income families Benefit cut if you have a retirement income (such as a pension) Almost no death benefit (if you die at 64 & 3/4, you lose big time! You get only $255) There's no money to pay Social Security, the “trust fund” consists of IOUs, And the program will go into the red long before you retire.

Other “Welfare” programs “Welfare” is a term from the U.S. Constitution that has since the 1930s come to mean federal assistance plans to the poor, usually administered by the states. Supplemental Security Income (SSI): Provides living assistance for the disabled, blind, etc. as well as elderly indigent. Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC): Helps poor mothers and their children with housing and food money. Work requirement after 1996 welfare reform legislation.

Other “Welfare” programs, cont'd Food Stamps: Funds administered by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Housing assistance: Section 8 housing Medicaid: Medical care for the poor Health care reform (proposed)

Government programs and rights Rights: What are rights? Are rights limited to mere equality of opportunity? Does one have a “right” to food? Health care? If so, who should be forced to fulfill that right? Does one material right impose a kind of slavery – however limited – upon the person or persons who must fulfill that material right?

Unit 6 – Discrimination and Rights in the Workplace (Ch.43-44) Discrimination: a word that means making a distinction or differentiation. Legally, discrimination along the lines of religion, ethnicity, race (and usually sex and sexual orientation) is illegal. 14th amendment, 15th amendment Plessy v. Ferguson Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas

Discrimination and affirmative action Affirmative Action definition #1: originally, an idea that areas of traditional discrimination should involve reaching out to those discriminated against by, for example, advertising job openings in traditionally black media Affirmative Action definition #2: Racial quotas or incremental favoritism to overtake historical racism University of California v. Bakke (1978): Court rules favoritism in medical school admission unconstitutional.