An uncommon love affair
The notion of "common law marriage" is common enough in Australia but unknown before most courts of America.
"Mr Loving, 33, and Ms Shelltrack, 31, have lived together for 13 years. They have two children and also live with Ms Shelltrack's daughter, who calls Mr Loving her father. They bought their Black Jack [Missouri, USA] home this year. "We're just like anybody else," Ms Shelltrack said. "It's not like we're purple with polka dots or something. I just really feel like this shouldn't be anybody's business."
"They could face fines of up to $US500 ($662) a day because of a local regulation banning unmarried couples with more than one child from living there.
"The character and stability of a city is not an accident, it is the result of years of hard work by the residents," said Norman McCourt, the Mayor of Black Jack, in a statement after the city council rejected a proposal to abolish the regulation. Mr Loving and Ms Shelltrack now plan to fight the ban in court, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union. And the Department of Housing, in Washington, has begun an investigation to determine whether Black Jack's ban is illegal.
"I find it curious at best that housing laws are being used to define the relationships that count," said Frank Alexander, of Emory University law school in Georgia, who has researched the phenomenon. "It seems a dangerous way to do indirectly what we may not be willing to confront directly, which is social control over the definition of family"."
In New Hampshire, common law marriages are only recognized at death. N.H. RSA. 457:39 (1983)
What does Common law marriage mean? Nothing. It is a myth. There are currently over four million people living with their partner in England and Wales, and many think they have rights that they don’t have. Sadly people usually only find out what rights they really have when it’s too late to do much about it.
"Mr Loving, 33, and Ms Shelltrack, 31, have lived together for 13 years. They have two children and also live with Ms Shelltrack's daughter, who calls Mr Loving her father. They bought their Black Jack [Missouri, USA] home this year. "We're just like anybody else," Ms Shelltrack said. "It's not like we're purple with polka dots or something. I just really feel like this shouldn't be anybody's business."
"They could face fines of up to $US500 ($662) a day because of a local regulation banning unmarried couples with more than one child from living there.
"The character and stability of a city is not an accident, it is the result of years of hard work by the residents," said Norman McCourt, the Mayor of Black Jack, in a statement after the city council rejected a proposal to abolish the regulation. Mr Loving and Ms Shelltrack now plan to fight the ban in court, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union. And the Department of Housing, in Washington, has begun an investigation to determine whether Black Jack's ban is illegal.
"I find it curious at best that housing laws are being used to define the relationships that count," said Frank Alexander, of Emory University law school in Georgia, who has researched the phenomenon. "It seems a dangerous way to do indirectly what we may not be willing to confront directly, which is social control over the definition of family"."
In New Hampshire, common law marriages are only recognized at death. N.H. RSA. 457:39 (1983)
What does Common law marriage mean? Nothing. It is a myth. There are currently over four million people living with their partner in England and Wales, and many think they have rights that they don’t have. Sadly people usually only find out what rights they really have when it’s too late to do much about it.
posted by Guambat Stew at Saturday, May 27, 2006
2 Comments:
dude ... are ANY of the images on your site actually yours????
or did you rip off ALL of them?
uncool
As someone who is licensed to help rip marriages apart in several of the United States, I must tell you that common law marriage does still exist in several of those states and if created in any one of those states that common law marriage will be recognized in the remainder of those states. Sadly, most people who have used the services of one who is duly licensed to solemnize (notice the close relationship to sodomize) a marriage also find that they don't have the rights they think they would have, either.
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