Skiing the Slippery Slope

[tlatchaw]

Interesting position, Sleuth. I was thinking about this the other day. How about if my wife and I stay married in the eyes of the church, stay happily cohabitating and yet file a "civil divorce?"

Think about it, I'd get stuck with a bunch of alimony and child support to pay (so? I already commit all of the money I earn to the family anyway!). She can file her taxes as an unemployed single mother and probably get a hefty earned income tax credit.

She and I are very much in love and have no intention of splitting up, but the idea of civil divorce could be a real boon to our family!

As for Hessian:

Stick to your guns. You represent a politically incorrect point that insists that there are standards in this society that need to be kept.

The more I learn about the fall of the Roman empire, the more that I expect to see Nero showing up with his fiddle in DC sometime soon.

 

[Hessian]

Nero?

More like Achmed playing an Oud.

 

[ylexot]

Originally posted by tlatchaw
Interesting position, Sleuth. I was thinking about this the other day. How about if my wife and I stay married in the eyes of the church, stay happily cohabitating and yet file a "civil divorce?"

Think about it, I'd get stuck with a bunch of alimony and child support to pay (so? I already commit all of the money I earn to the family anyway!). She can file her taxes as an unemployed single mother and probably get a hefty earned income tax credit.

She and I are very much in love and have no intention of splitting up, but the idea of civil divorce could be a real boon to our family!

That is a pretty wiley loophole! I'll have to remember that if I get married. There's probably some more legal wrangling that you would need to do regarding next of kin, etc. that legal marriage automatically creates, but it could be worth it. Know any sleazy lawyers that could help you pull it off? Wait, that's redundant...know any lawyers that could help you pull it off?

 

[sleuth]

Originally posted by tlatchaw
Interesting position, Sleuth. I was thinking about this the other day. How about if my wife and I stay married in the eyes of the church, stay happily cohabitating and yet file a "civil divorce?"

Think about it, I'd get stuck with a bunch of alimony and child support to pay (so? I already commit all of the money I earn to the family anyway!). She can file her taxes as an unemployed single mother and probably get a hefty earned income tax credit.

She and I are very much in love and have no intention of splitting up, but the idea of civil divorce could be a real boon to our family!

Would you have to get a divorce every couple years due to common law marriage?

 

[Ken King]

Originally posted by sleuth
Would you have to get a divorce every couple years due to common law marriage?

Not in Maryland, there are no "common law" marriages established in Maryland, but they recognize those established in other states.

 

[soul4sale]

Originally posted by Hessian
That is the only tepid response? A selfish Liberal refusing to address the facts because "it doesn't affect me," *snip*
With every right comes a responsibility...any other rights you want to give up??

Piney Point has something in the water, folks. It bred a perfectly normal friend of mine into a dirty, vegan, train-jumping hippy, and it seems to have flipped this guy's switch in the opposite direction.

*sigh*

The "facts" are that more than half of all legal, hetero marriages end in divorce. Pop reality television has made millions of hetero advertising dollars by making a mockery of the institution. And, oh yeah, this country has a little legal tradition of keeping the government out of private life. I'm just a little confused as to why anyone would fight for the right to be married. As the great Baltimorean John Waters put it, "I always thought being gay meant that you didn't have to get married."

http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp05162004.shtml

 

[soul4sale]

Originally posted by sleuth
I just think the government should get out of the business of marriage all-together. It's a religious institution that has been made a legal one by the government.

Yes and no. The marriage vows and ceremony are definitely religious in nature, but the marriage license is a binding legal document that is one of the cornerstones of property law. A marriage license is a legal merging of fortunes. It ensures that any dissolution of the union must be subject to a legal arbitration of ownership claims. It's the document that allows my wife to sign checks in my name, use my credit card and claim me as a tax break. And it is also the law that - ideally - ensures that neither one of us can dump and run without legal consequences. Very important.

I am in favor of gay civil unions, because I think they would clear up the mirky legal issues of gay cohabitation. It would force more accountability from gay partners and allow partners to excerise necessary legal domestic rights, such as power of attorney and, well, hospital visits. As for gay "marriage," I have less sympathy. That's a religious issue, and I think the church's 2,000 years of doctrinal ossification has left little room for such a right.