On behalf of Stange Law Firm, PC posted in Family Law on Monday, May 13, 2013.
Marriage as an institution has become quite tricky. While the idea is that two people who love each other very much take vows to honor and respect each other, and spend the rest of their lives together, going by the high divorce rate one has to be realistic when speaking of marriage. In addition, outside of the fact that many marriages just do not work out as intended for any number of reasons, there are also those marriages where one has to question the motives behind the marriage in the first place.
A recent article in the ABA Journal brought up some of the suspicious reasons for marriage. For example, there are certainly those who get married in order to obtain U.S. citizenship, but there are also those who get married for legal advantages, such as spousal privilege in a pending criminal case.
In one ongoing case, the mayor of a small-town came under suspicion for a number illegal manuevers, including bid-rigging and campaign finance violations. In 2012 the city hall secretary went before a grand jury that was considering pressing charges against the small-town mayor. However, later on this same year the news broke that the mayor and city hall secretary had gotten married. This immediately brought up speculation surrounding the real reason behind their marriage. Was it so the city hall secretary could invoke spousal privilege? Would this take away most of the evidence against the mayor?
Of course, this is all speculation. But it brings up the idea that there are people who get married for reasons outside of true love. In some cases, a spouse wants children and a guaranteed way to receive financial support. There are those too who will marry for money, hoping that a divorce would net them half of the assets.
There are plenty of those too who do get married for love, but the marriage just does not work out.
However, whatever the situation is, divorce is not something any Missouri spouse should take lightly as the implications of a divorce settlement are ones that can affect the rest of a person’s life. This is why legal advice should be sought out right from the very beginning.
Source: ABA Journal, “Marriage as a loophole — what’s love got to do with it?” Brian Sullivan, May 1, 2013
