Tony Perry reports at LATimes.com that "Three Marines in San Diego Ousted For Sham Marriages".
To which I ask, what exactly is a sham marriage?
But back to my question – what is a sham marriage? How can the motivations be judged? People get married for many different reasons, right? We are told that families come in many different types.
Why would cohabitation be necessary? More an more homes are being built with two "master" bedrooms. If a man married a woman and she birthed children, and the man always lived in another bedroom or even in a house three doors down (never filing for separation), wouldn't the courts in states with "husband is the father of her children" laws still assign him legal paternity? If they were to file for divorce, wouldn't the court still recognize that they had been married and divide the assets and assign alimony accordingly?
Surely, we can no longer rely on consummation through "PIV" intercourse as indication of the marriage being genuine. 1) Such intercourse is legal outside of marriage and does not assign marital recognition. 2) Some bride+groom couples are unable to engage in this activity for whatever reason, including age, but are still recognized as married. 3) This is not possible when there isn't both a "P" and a "V", and in some states such brideless or groomless couples are considered married under state law.
How much longer will military and immigration law be allowed to declare marriages as shams with consistency to marriage law in general?
To which I ask, what exactly is a sham marriage?
Three Marine corporals have been given bad-conduct discharges after pleading guilty to sham marriages meant to allow a lesbian couple to receive housing allowances, the Marine Corps said Monday.How does that make this a sham marriage? We hear all of the time that same-sex couples need marriage licenses for the sake of monetary benefits and hospital visitation.
The Marines -- two men and a woman -- were assigned to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing and based at Camp Pendleton. The fourth person in the sham marriages is a civilian and thus untouchable by military law, officials said.
Cpl. Ashley Vice and her partner, civilian Jaime Murphy, said they needed the housing allowances so they could afford to live together in an off-base apartment "like a normal couple."
Vice and Murphy each found a male Marine willing to marry them so that they could get the $1,200 a month housing allowance meant for married Marines, officials said.
Even with the end of the ''don't ask/don't tell" policy banning gays and lesbians from serving openly, same-sex couples will not be eligible for married housing allowances because federal law defines marriage as between a man and woman.I fully understand same-sex couples who think they should be provided the same things as bride+groom couples, but even if the federal law wasn't prohibitive, the fact is that the pairing of two women or two men is not the same thing as the joining of the sexes.
Unmarried couples -- gay or straight -- are not allowed to live together in base housing.
But back to my question – what is a sham marriage? How can the motivations be judged? People get married for many different reasons, right? We are told that families come in many different types.
Why would cohabitation be necessary? More an more homes are being built with two "master" bedrooms. If a man married a woman and she birthed children, and the man always lived in another bedroom or even in a house three doors down (never filing for separation), wouldn't the courts in states with "husband is the father of her children" laws still assign him legal paternity? If they were to file for divorce, wouldn't the court still recognize that they had been married and divide the assets and assign alimony accordingly?
Surely, we can no longer rely on consummation through "PIV" intercourse as indication of the marriage being genuine. 1) Such intercourse is legal outside of marriage and does not assign marital recognition. 2) Some bride+groom couples are unable to engage in this activity for whatever reason, including age, but are still recognized as married. 3) This is not possible when there isn't both a "P" and a "V", and in some states such brideless or groomless couples are considered married under state law.
How much longer will military and immigration law be allowed to declare marriages as shams with consistency to marriage law in general?
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