Unit 4. Family law

TASK 1. Study the text below, making sure you fully comprehend it. Where appropriate, consult English-Russian dictionaries and/or other reference & source books on law.

Family Law

Family Law, specialized area of legal practice dealing with rights and duties among husbands, wives, and children. Family Law covers such aspects as

• getting married and Breach of Promise

• rights of married partners, separation • ending a marriage, divorce • rights and duties of parents to their children and of children to their parents,

• adoption, foster care, and guardianship, orphanage • abusive family relationships • family law for same sex partners

M arriage, socially recognized and approved union between individuals, who commit to one another with the expectation of a stable and lasting intimate relationship. It begins with a ceremony known as a wedding, which formally unites the marriage partners. A marital relationship usually involves some kind of contract, either written or specified by tradition, which defines the partners’ rights and obligations to each other, to any children they may have, and to their relatives. In most contemporary industrialized societies, marriage is certified by the government.

Marriage is commonly defined as a partnership between two members of opposite sex known as husband and wife. However, scholars who study human culture and society disagree on whether marriage can be universally defined. The usual roles and responsibilities of the husband and wife include living together, having sexual relations only with one another, sharing economic resources, and being recognized as the parents of their children. However, unconventional forms of marriage that do not include these elements do exist. For example, scholars have studied several cultural groups in Africa and India in which husbands and wives do not live together. Instead, each spouse remains in his or her original home, and the husband is a “visitor” with sexual rights. Committed relationships between homosexuals (individuals with a sexual orientation toward people of the same sex) also challenge conventional definitions of marriage.

Legal Aspect

Under the federal system of government in the United States, the individual states regulate marriage. Virtually all states require that individuals must be 18 years of age before they can marry. Persons below that age must obtain parental permission. To obtain a marriage license, most states require individuals to undergo a blood test for rubella and syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease. Many states also require a waiting period of one to five days between the issuing of the license and the wedding ceremony. The marriage must be formalized before a qualified official in either a religious ceremony or a civil wedding. The couple must register a marriage certificate with the government after the wedding ceremony.

Virtually all states ban marriages between certain blood relatives, such as between parent and child or brother and sister. All states prohibit bigamy—that is, a marriage in which either partner is already married.

Several countries have passed legislation to recognize homosexual unions. Such legislation generally refers to homosexual unions as civil unions or registered partnerships rather than as marriages. These unions usually do not entail the full array of rights to which heterosexual married couples are entitled. Four countries currently legalize gay marriage. They are Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, and Spain.

Answer the following questions:

1. What does family law deal with?

2. What is marriage?

3. What does marital relationship involve?

4. What are unconventional forms of marriage?

5. What is marriage age in the USA?

6. What is necessary for a person to obtain a marriage license?

7. What kinds of marriages are banned in the USA?

TASK 2. Render the following text into English

Брак - регулируемая обществом постоянная связь как правило между мужчиной и женщиной, как правило, основанная на личных чувствах и сексуальных отношениях, преследующая цель создания семьи.

Люди, состоящие в браке, называются супругами или супружеской парой. В браке реализуется естественная потребность людей в продолжении рода. Именно этим объясняется запрет на браки, существующий практически во всём мире, — он связан с большой вероятностью получения детьми в таком браке наследственных болезней. Хотя, с другой стороны, браки, в которых детей не может быть ввиду бесплодия одного или обоих супругов, а также браки между мужчинами и женщинами, вышедшими из репродуктивного возраста, не запрещены, что указывает на более широкую функцию брака, далеко выходящую за рамки продолжения рода.

Как правило, брак подразумевает ведение супругами совместного хозяйства и наличие общего имущества, передаваемого по наследству, а также воспитание ими детей. Брак пользуется охраной и покровительством законов лишь при совершении его с соблюдением установленных в законах условий; влечет за собой известные юридические последствия в области личных и имущественных прав и обязанностей супругов по отношению друг к другу и к детям.

Ballou

DEBATE

Give your own ideas on the following problems:

• What do you think about positive and negative aspects of civil marriage?

• How does legislation of different countries refer to homosexual unions?

TASK 3. Study the text below, making sure you fully comprehend it. Where appropriate, consult English-Russian dictionaries and/or other reference & source books on law.

D ivorce, or dissolution, as it is increasingly becoming known, a legislatively created, judicially administered process that legally terminates a marriage no longer considered viable by one or both of the spouses and that permits both to remarry.

Aforetime because of the traditional fault-based view of divorce, almost every state divorce law required the plaintiff to prove one of a number of legislatively recognized grounds. Typical grounds had included adultery (almost universally); desertion; habitual drunkenness; conviction of a felony; and, most commonly used by divorcing parties, cruel and inhuman treatment. Because the state’s interest in maintaining stable marriages was assumed, divorce suits could not be treated like other litigation. One spouse, the plaintiff, had to prove grounds even when both spouses wanted the divorce. Thus, divorce trials were filled with charges and countercharges and generally omitted investigation of the actual viability of the marriage.

By the mid-20th century, most state legislatures had recognized one or more no-fault grounds for divorce, usually consisting of a substantial period (from one to five years) during which the spouses had lived “separate and apart”; sometimes insanity or incompatibility were acceptable grounds.

The grounds for divorce differed from one state to another; thus, for example, before 1967 the only grounds for divorce in New York State was adultery. The difficulty of obtaining a divorce in several of the more populous eastern states, such as New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, eventually led to a substantial amount of “migratory divorce” in so-called divorce havens.

The system of migratory divorces was considered by many as discriminatory against the poor, who could not afford to take up residence in another state or travel to a foreign country in order to get a divorce.

In the mid-1980s, approximately one in three marriages ended in divorce. A growing number of expert observers conclude that this high divorce rate is due to a number of social changes. Among these changes are greater societal acceptance of divorce; greater financial and emotional independence of women; and, paradoxically, a greater belief in the emotional value of marriage, which more readily disposes disappointed spouses to divorce so as to seek a happier subsequent marriage.

In a divorce action, one spouse, usually the wife, may be granted alimony or maintenance payments generally for a limited period of time. The custody of any children may be awarded to either spouse, with equitable regulations made for visiting rights and support of the children. At present, joint-custody arrangements are being worked out more and more frequently by divorcing parents.

Answer the following questions:

1. What is divorce?

2. What was the tradition of divorce aforetime?

3. What did the USA do to maintain stable marriages?

4. What was the procedure for divorce in the mid-20^th century?

5. What were the reasons for “migratory divorce”?

6. What are the reasons of growing number of divorces in modern times?

7. What kinds of problems can a divorce entail?

8. What should be done to make marriage more stable?

TASK 4. Render the following text into English:

Развод — формальное окончание (расторжение) брака, кроме случаев, когда брак прекращается в случае кончины одного из супругов. От развода следует отличать признание брака недействительным в судебном порядке.

В современной России в соответствии c Семейным кодексом РФ развод (расторжение брака) может быть произведён по заявлению одного или обоих супругов. Важно заметить, что в современном законодательстве термин «развод» заменен термином «расторжение брака».

Развод через суд производится в двух случаях: при наличии общих несовершеннолетних детей или в случае отсутствия согласия на расторжение брака второй стороны.

Расторжение брака производится в органах ЗАГС (registry office) в случае взаимного согласия супругов, не имеющих общих несовершеннолетних детей. После подачи совместного заявления, заполняемого обоими супругами, назначается дата развода (не раньше чем через месяц со дня подачи заявления). Брак может быть расторгнут в ЗАГСе независимо от наличия общих несовершеннолетних детей в случае, если один из супругов признан судом безвестно отсутствующим; признан судом недееспособным; осуждён за совершение преступления к лишению свободы на срок свыше трёх лет.

Согласно исследованиям некоторых социологов, во время периодических спадов и кризисов в экономике той или иной страны число разводов обычно уменьшается. Это объясняется тем, что совместное ведение хозяйства позволяет супругам сэкономить финансовые ресурсы и, таким образом, в какой-то степени сохранить материальное благополучие. Так, например, в Испании, число разводов в 2008 году уменьшилось на 12 процентов по сравнению с предыдущим годом, что, по мнению социологов, объясняется влиянием мирового экономического кризиса 2008—2009 годов.

TASK 5. Study the text below, making sure you fully comprehend it. Where appropriate, consult English-Russian dictionaries and/or other reference & source books on law.