Professor Glesner Fines

Family Law

2006

Review Problems on Marriage

ESTABLISHING FAMILIES QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

1. Assume Butch and Candy are half-brother and sister; they have the same mother, but different fathers. Candy is given up at birth by her natural mother. Three years later, Candy’s natural mother died while giving birth to Butch. As adults, they meet and marry. They are married in good faith and both believe there is no impediment to the relationship. Five years of married life goes by before they discover that they have the same biological mother. Butch is just completing medical school when the discovery is made and Candy is a grade school teacher who has provided all of the funds to meet their bills during their relationship including Butch’s graduate and undergraduate tuition. Butch has fallen in love with a nurse and tells Candy it is all over. See R.S. Mo. § 451.020. What possible marital-type rights, if any, does Candy have in this relationship?

2. Assume that Larry and Linda meet at a beach party in Nevada where they are both attending college. They are age 19 and they drink alcoholic beverages steadily for several hours. During their drinking they are amazed to discover they have a great deal in common, and they drive to Reno, Nevada, where the next morning they are married at a time when both agree they were quite intoxicated. Two days later and after consummating the relationship, they decide it is not a good idea to remain married. Larry immediately returns to Iowa where he discusses the matter with his mother. Larry’s mother advises him to seek an annulment. What is the most probable outcome?

3. Assume Bill and Mary marry and that Mary is 14 and Bill is 18. They lie about Mary’s age saying that she is 18 and they secretly marry. See R.S. Mo. § 451.090 Mary’s parents discover that the two are secretly married. If Mary’s parents seek to annul the relationship, will they succeed? What if it is Bill’s parents who seek the annulment?

4. Mr. Loving is finding himself in the midst of legal struggles over marriage.  This time the law is not saying he can’t marry – it’s saying that he must marry -- at least if he wants to live with his children and their mother in single-family housing.  The community of Black Jack, Missouri, outside of St. Louis, voted to maintain its zoning restrictions that prohibit more than three people from living together in single-family housing unless they are related by "blood, marriage or adoption."   On the basis of this law, Black Jack Missouri has denied occupancy permits to unmarried residents.  Among them, Olivia Shelltrack and her partner of 13 years, Fondray Loving. The couple have three children, one from Shelltrack's previous relationship, and moved into their five-bedroom, three-bath home in January. Assume Ms. Shelltrack and Mr. Loving challenge the denial of their occupancy permit. What argument would you expect? What outcome? (This problem is based on a true story. See this article from Black America Web to read more about it).