Stuart v board of supervisors of elections o Habit confused with legal requirement Social tradition wife takes H surname at time of marriage Sues Board when they take away her right to vote Women sues that it may be the custom to take the last name of their husband there s no law in the state of Maryland that requires her to do so It s her decision and as long as she s not using that name to avoid fraud etc she s entitled to do so The court agrees with her It was wrong to deny her voter registration Henne v Wright State of Nebraska denies right for them to name their children Not every state will let you decide the name of their child Adolf Hitler H No constitutional right to name children Dissent what about 1st amendment of free speech 1 Married woman wants to name child after boyfriend 2 Woman wants to name child after other 2 children McKenzie Mcguire v Mcguire Wife receives insurance from husband in which she is provided necessities for life What is a necessity Woman marries husband who dies husband leaves wife the farm Left with two daughters hard to support them and care for farm Looks for a new husband Marries neighbor who is notoriously cheap had plenty of money but refused to provide all necessities outhouse instead of indoor plumbing Woman sues to ask for him to be required to pay money ISSUE did her husband provide sufficient necessities Holding the court won t get involved State v Clark Mrs Clark charged with possession of controlled substance given a public defender due to her inadequate income to afford her own She has not money yet her husband does is doctrine of necessities still in place Does it include keeping her out of jail Court states that family has enough money to pay for lawyer doctrine includes receiving a lawyer even when the appeal relates to a pre nuptial crime ISSUE is a husband obligated to pay for his wife s criminal defense attorney HOLDING yes women is no longer indigent because of the marriage necessities include providing a lawyer for your wife Warren v State ISSUE Can a H be guilty of raping his wife when she does not consent HOLDING No marital exception in criminal statue and thus H may be charged with rape and sodomy of W There was a Common Law spousal exclusion but the statue omits any reference to it thus denying its applicability Cladd v State easier because W and H were estranged Because they are estranged court said it was easy to find husband responsible for theft of property Trammel v US Testimonial privilege ISSUE Can a husband bar his wife s testimony against him in a criminal trial when wife is willing to testify M and W validly married M charged with importing heroin Prosecutor wants to call W to testify against H but H assert marital privilege Integrity of marriage But wife willing to testify because government offer her immunity HOLDING No Wife s willingness to testify is criminal proceeding demonstrates marriage is in disrepair Since the purpose of privilege is to keep the marriage intact and that is now gone no reason to prevent testimony Williams v Marsh Man and woman married living separately and having problems Woman wants protective order against husband who was a former boxer he has beaten her before requiring hospitalizations Restraining order He must stay away from her Grants custody of small child to her He must grants her money Court states its okay to grant these temp restraining requirements he will have a chance to say his share at the final restraining order date ISSUE Are protective orders unconstitutional violations of due process HOLDING Constitution s due process is flexible concept need to balance private interest against public interest and the risk of erroneous decisions final hearing will be held in a reasonable amount of time JUST IS DELAYED BUT NOT DENIED TRO Temp restraining order o Possibility of final restraining order 2 step process Terri Schaivo purposely vegetative state absence of voluntary action and inability to communicate Collapses first calls mother then the medics brief moment without oxygen to the brain caused traumatic brain injuries went into cardiac arrest Schiavo 1 Husband brings up a petition to have the feeding tube removed and also sued the doctors who didn t treat her eating disorders sooner in vegetative state courts said they should remove the tubes and that her husband should be the primary guardian wants to pull the plug Brady v Brady Issue is the duration of the marriage a significant factor to be considered in determining whether conduct is cruel and inhuman to grant divorce Facts 30 year marriage wife does not want to have sex with husband husband says wife has stabbed him and tried to choke him and berates him husband files for divorce Court denied it because the longer the marriage the more extreme the behavior court was also not accepting of that fact that a wife was abusing the husband Sometimes we have to look at length of marriage when granting divorce Kazin v Kazin Issue Should husband get to claim a voidable marriage when his wife s prior divorce was invalid but he helped her get it M W validly married in US and went to Mexico and sought a divorce from her first husband with the assistance of her now husband of 7 years W wants a divorce and alimony H2 argues marriages null and void because prior marriage was still in effect since Mexican divorce was not valid Holding No In modern divorces equitable principles are emphasized estoppel prevents him from attacking a divorce that he had a role in obtaining Sinha v Sinha FACT Indian native came to US after 2 years of marriage as student after 3 years filed for divorce ISSUE did he meet PA 3 year separation period HOLDING No court says no because you need to tell your wife that you are divorcing her Obrien v Obrien Husband goes to medical school and they relocate to new country go home to take exam and then he files for divorce fight over assets and they question if medical degree can be split can she get future assets because she helped him through school She gets awarded an equitable share from the increased earnings of her husband No it is not an asset to get a degree but some states allow it and in that case you need to figure out the value and split it up Man works in toy store and begins to date a woman then marries her for 9 years he does not work she divorces him Wife has to give alimony to man gender roles come into play Purpose of alimony is to give boost to start to be independent Also show alimony gender