Marriage/Divorce

The traditional definition of marriage was the union between a man and a woman. Nowadays, marriage can also be between people of the same-sex. This is being recognized as legal marriages in many states. Marriage has key economic, social and legal aspects within society. It grants people certain privileges and rights that are defined by law, including the ability to receive benefits as well as the ability to bequeath property. Divorce is the legal termination of a marriage. The law concerning divorces are state imposed and deal with issues such as division of property, caring for children and so on.

Brief Historical Background

The laws addressing marriage have changed quite a bit throughout American history. One significant change was the removal of the bans that were placed on inter-racial marriages. Prior to this change, marriage between people of different races were seen as unnatural and immoral. California was the fist state to declare that the ban on inter-racial marriages was unconstitutional.  The age of people getting married has also been modified over the years. In today’s marriage law, individuals must be of adult age in order to marry. In some states, younger people can get married provided they have the consent of their parents. Another change that has been quite recent is the enabling of same-sex partners getting married. This change has only affected some states; in others, it is still against the law for same-sex individuals to marry.

During the last fifty years, divorce has been on the rise. Unfortunately statistics show that currently many marriages end in divorce. In the year 2005, the rate of divorce was 4 times higher than that in 1955.

Precedent Setting Cases

A very recent precedent setting case in the law of marriage occurred very recently (2014) in Pennsylvania. In the case of Whitewood, et al.

v. Wolf, et al., 2013, the ban on same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania was struck down by a judge in a federal court. The finding was the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 was deemed unconstitutional. This ruling made Pennsylvania the 19th state that allows same-sex couples to marry and be recognized as married couples. Such marriages will be allowed the same benefits as traditional marriages.

Another area of precedent setting cases involve inter-racial marriages. One landmark case took place in 1967 and the decision was eventually finalized by the United States. In this case, a woman of color married a white man and they were both sentenced to prison for a term of one year. Their marriage was deemed to violate the state statute of anti-miscegenation and the Racial Integrity Act. The final decision overturned prior court decision and actually ended all of the race-based legal limitations of marriage in the US. This landmark decision caused a significant increase in inter-racial marriages and is often remembered as “Loving Day” on June 12. The ruling has also impacted the decisions by some states regarding the restrictions on same-sex marriage.

Defenses

The laws of marriage and divorce do not have “defenses” but rather grounds. Grounds for divorce are specific regulations that set out the circumstances under which people will be granted divorces. The regulations addressing the grounds of divorce is set forth by each state. When filing for divorce, people must state reasons for the divorce at the divorce trial and prove that these reasons are well-founded. Grounds for divorce are either no fault or fault. No fault grounds can include irreconcilable differences, irretrievable breakdown of marriage, and incompatibility. In many states, for a no fault divorce to be granted, there must be a period of separation. Grounds for divorce based on fault may include: cruelty, mental illness, abandonment, adultery, criminal conviction and so on. Some states have other grounds that are acceptable including issues such as religion, impotency and drug abuse.