- Apr 20, 2005
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Today a federal amendment was passed to the Constitution. It was sort of a surprise, but it was quickly ratified by all fifty states within a few hours.
The amendment is long and involved and I can't tell you what it said because I'd have to copy and paste it into a few different posts, however, I can tell you what it did.
The first thing it did was dissolve the marriages of all Christians performed in churches. If you had a civil ceremony, that's fine, but if your marriage license was signed by a priest, minister or preacher then you will have to get a new one from a judge. No new marriage licenses will be issued to anyone. You can still tell people that you're married because of the First Amendment but people will know that's just a religious belief that you have. This may cause some small changes in your lives:
Hospitals will no longer let you visit your sick wife/husband unless you have expensive legal contracts drawn up that give you power-of-attorney in medical cases. This can cost a few thousand dollars (lawyers are expensive) and they aren't guaranteed to work in all 50 states. Some places will require you to actually present a copy of the paperwork to the hospital before allowing you access, so you'd better carry them at all times.
If you have kids, they are now automatically given into custody of the mother. If the father wants custody, he'll have to formally adopt them, which usually takes a few years. So he'd better be on his best behavior and I hope he can manage the further legal costs. The state doesn't particularly like it when single people co-adopt, so expect some hassle there. Especially if you live in Florida.
Be careful to learn your new tax status. Filing together may lead to tax evasion charges, and you wouldn't want to be like Al Capone, would you?
Oh, and if it comes to that, former "spouses" have to testify against each other now. Keep that in mind.
Then there's inheritance. You won't automatically inherit from your former "spouse" any more. Again, to have a will drawn up is going to cost more money and they're rarely "ironclad." Since this amendment passed, the bulk of your former "spouse's" property is probably going to go to any real family that he or she has left, like their parent, guardian, or siblings.
If your ex-husband or ex-wife leaves you money and it actually gets to you, you're going to have to pay inheritance taxes on it. No matter what. So if you are both on the mortgage and he dies, you'll probably owe thousands and thousands of dollars of taxes on the house in which you live trying to transfer it into your name.
Again, there isn't much that you can do about this. It just comes with the legal limbo that you've chosen to live in. Why couldn't you just learn to play by society's rules?
If you had a spouse that died before this amendment was passed, be aware that any benefits that they left to you are ending. Social Security, medicare, disability, that sort of thing. Those are restricted to real family members.
Don't even think of trying to sue for those benefits either. I mean, yeah, you might have lived with that person, but are we going to let roommates sue for benefits? I don't think so. That's ridiculous. You no longer have standing to sue for wrongful death and stuff like that.
Speaking of which, insurance benefits are probably going to go away for most former married people. This should be a big boon to the insurance companies. Also, family leave and bereavement time is now probably a thing of the past for you. That person that you were married to isn't family anymore. They don't matter. So show up to work or get fired.
Whew. That's a lot of stuff, and that only covers a few pages of this new amendment. I hope that no one that got married in a Christian ceremony minds this. After all, it's only fair, right?
The amendment is long and involved and I can't tell you what it said because I'd have to copy and paste it into a few different posts, however, I can tell you what it did.
The first thing it did was dissolve the marriages of all Christians performed in churches. If you had a civil ceremony, that's fine, but if your marriage license was signed by a priest, minister or preacher then you will have to get a new one from a judge. No new marriage licenses will be issued to anyone. You can still tell people that you're married because of the First Amendment but people will know that's just a religious belief that you have. This may cause some small changes in your lives:
Hospitals will no longer let you visit your sick wife/husband unless you have expensive legal contracts drawn up that give you power-of-attorney in medical cases. This can cost a few thousand dollars (lawyers are expensive) and they aren't guaranteed to work in all 50 states. Some places will require you to actually present a copy of the paperwork to the hospital before allowing you access, so you'd better carry them at all times.
If you have kids, they are now automatically given into custody of the mother. If the father wants custody, he'll have to formally adopt them, which usually takes a few years. So he'd better be on his best behavior and I hope he can manage the further legal costs. The state doesn't particularly like it when single people co-adopt, so expect some hassle there. Especially if you live in Florida.
Be careful to learn your new tax status. Filing together may lead to tax evasion charges, and you wouldn't want to be like Al Capone, would you?
Oh, and if it comes to that, former "spouses" have to testify against each other now. Keep that in mind.
Then there's inheritance. You won't automatically inherit from your former "spouse" any more. Again, to have a will drawn up is going to cost more money and they're rarely "ironclad." Since this amendment passed, the bulk of your former "spouse's" property is probably going to go to any real family that he or she has left, like their parent, guardian, or siblings.
If your ex-husband or ex-wife leaves you money and it actually gets to you, you're going to have to pay inheritance taxes on it. No matter what. So if you are both on the mortgage and he dies, you'll probably owe thousands and thousands of dollars of taxes on the house in which you live trying to transfer it into your name.
Again, there isn't much that you can do about this. It just comes with the legal limbo that you've chosen to live in. Why couldn't you just learn to play by society's rules?
If you had a spouse that died before this amendment was passed, be aware that any benefits that they left to you are ending. Social Security, medicare, disability, that sort of thing. Those are restricted to real family members.
Don't even think of trying to sue for those benefits either. I mean, yeah, you might have lived with that person, but are we going to let roommates sue for benefits? I don't think so. That's ridiculous. You no longer have standing to sue for wrongful death and stuff like that.
Speaking of which, insurance benefits are probably going to go away for most former married people. This should be a big boon to the insurance companies. Also, family leave and bereavement time is now probably a thing of the past for you. That person that you were married to isn't family anymore. They don't matter. So show up to work or get fired.
Whew. That's a lot of stuff, and that only covers a few pages of this new amendment. I hope that no one that got married in a Christian ceremony minds this. After all, it's only fair, right?
