Family Law

Define coverture and facets

Wife’s legal and economic existence suspended and subsumed by husband’s.

• No contracts w/o H’s consent

• Property became H’s

• W’s earnings and labor automatically H’s property

• No litigation w/o consent of H

• Right to physically abuse W, decide where family lived

• Marital rape exception until 70s/80s

• Right to decided spiritual beliefs

Protecting Marriage Under CL

• Heartbalm Claims

  • $$$ awarded to P, now abolished in maj of Jxs

• Alienation of Affection

  • H damages for loss of affection/companionship (suing person who trespassed on W)

  • Elements

    • Valid marriage, wrongful conduct of D, loss of consortium, causal connection b/w D’s conduct and H’s loss

  • Defenses

    • Parents privileged to alienate affections of child’s spouse in good faith effort to protect child’s welfare

• Criminal Conversation

  • H must show

    • Valid marriage

    • Adulterous relationship b/w D and W

    • Sexual intercourse b/w D and W during coverture

State v. Federal Bounds of Family Law

FL is providence of the State (Rose v. Rose)

Federal law has power to protect individual rights (right to marry), and may legislate to protect individual rights and establish floor for those rights

Maynard v. Hill (1888)

Marriage contracts can only be altered by gov’t action

Full Faith and Credit Clause and Family Law

Article IV, section 1 of USSC

• requires states to recognize as valid marriages that were legally entered into in another state

• even if that type of marriage is not recognized in that jurisdiction

• unless repugnant to state law and policy

• typically comes into play when a couple who is common law married in a jurisdiction that recognizes common law marriage moves to another jurisdiction that does not recognize common law marriage.