Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage: Valuing All Families under the Law
by Nancy D. Polikoff
from Beacon Press
Part of the Queer Ideas series, edited by Michael Bronski
QUEER IDEAS—a new series of LGBT hardcovers that address important intellectual questions facing the movement.
The debate over marriage equality for same-sex couples rages across the country. Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage boldly moves the discussion forward by focusing on the larger, more fundamental issue of marriage and the law. The root problem, asserts law professor and LGBT rights activist Nancy Polikoff, is that marriage is a bright dividing line between those relationships that legally matter and those that don't. A woman married to a man for nine months is entitled to Social Security survivor's benefits when he dies; a woman living for nineteen years with a man or woman to whom she is not married receives nothing.
Polikoff reframes the debate by arguing that all family relationships and households need the economic stability and emotional peace of mind that now extend only to married couples. Unmarried couples of any sexual orientation, single-parent households, extended family units, and myriad other familial configurations need recognition and protection to meet the concerns they all share: building and sustaining economic and emotional interdependence, and nurturing the next generation.
Couples should have the choice to marry based on the spiritual, cultural, or religious meaning of marriage in their lives, asserts Polikoff. While marriage equality for same-sex couples is a civil rights victory, she contends that no one should have to marry in order to reap specific and unique legal results.
A persuasive argument that married couples should not receive special rights denied to other families, Polikoff shows how the law can value all families, and why it must.
"A much-needed intervention in the contemporary debate about marriage and family. Polikoff's argument is provocative, illuminating, and original."
—John D'Emilio, author of Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin
"Polikoff mobilizes an impressive array of legal history and contemporary court cases to show how marriage, whether same-sex or heterosexual, has ceased to be the only place where people incur long-term obligations. She argues vigorously that our society needs to find new ways of determining when legally-enforceable responsibilities and entitlements have accrued in interpersonal relationships."
—Stephanie Coontz, author, Marriage, A History: How Love Conquered Marriage
"This book really matters. It is brilliant and thoughtful, not simply about a set of laws, but as a manifesto to transform the way we understand, recognize and respect the reality of our diverse and complex family compositions. Polikoff grounds her arguments in the 35 year history of social change activism in this country to construct a passionate and nuanced argument for expanding our same sex marriage activism to include all of the ways people love, form families and build community."
—Amber Hollibaugh, Senior Strategist, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and author of My Dangerous Desires: A Queer Girl Dreaming her Way Home
"Passionate but completely grounded in reality, Polikoff challenges LGBT rights advocates to see beyond gay equality arguments and question the fundamental fairness of limiting family recognition based on marriage, gay or straight. It is a powerful call for social justice."
—Nan D. Hunter, founder of the American Civil Liberties Union Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project and Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School
"A provocative and perspicuous intervention in one of the most devilish recent debates in U.S. law and politics…In a principled yet pragmatic analysis, Polikoff mounts a compelling case against the continued grip of 'conjugalism' on our family law and policy. Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage challenges us to imagine and build a political consensus that respects the realities of contemporary American kinship and family life, in all its complexity."
—Kendall Thomas, Nash Professor of Law, Columbia University
Fiance & Marriage Visas: A Couple's Guide to U.S. Immigration
by Ilona M. Bray
from NOLO
Fiance & Marriage Visas makes obtaining a visa and green card as painless as possible for spouses and fiances Easy to understand, this one-of-a-kind book:demystifies the immigration process, guides readers through the bureaucracy, and provides intensive instructions for each step.
You're engaged or married to a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, and all you want is the right to be together in the U.S. Should be easy, right? It's not. Information can be hard to find, the government bureaucracy isn't helpful, delays are inevitable. Worst of all, there wasn't an easy-to-use guide through the process -- until now.
Fiancé & Marriage Visas makes obtaining a visa and green card as painless as possible. It helps you decide the fastest and best application strategy for you, whether you are married or unmarried, living in the U.S. or overseas.
With this friendly, comprehensive book, you can:
Plus, Fiancé & Marriage Visas gives you helpful advice on protecting and renewing your green-card status.It also provides sample forms, and shows you how to find the forms you need online.
The 4th edition is completely updated throughout, and provides new procedures for submitting "adjustment of status" applications and getting work permits. It also discusses a new policy for allowing some people to continue with their green-card applications sooner than before.
"You're engaged or married to a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, and all you want is the right to be together in the U.S. Should be easy, right? It's not. Information can be hard to find, the government bureaucracy isn't helpful, delays are inevitable. Worst of all, there wasn't an easy-to-use guide through the process -- until now. Fiancé & Marriage Visas makes obtaining a visa and green card as painless as possible. It helps you decide the fastest and best application strategy for you, whether you are married or unmarried, living in the U.S. or overseas. With this friendly, comprehensive book, you can: understand the immigration process make your way through the bureaucracy prepare for meetings with U.S. officials learn how to prove your marriage is real deal with the two-year testing period Plus, Fiancé & Marriage Visas gives you helpful advice on protecting and renewing your green-card status.It also provides sample forms, and shows you how to find the forms you need online. The 3rd edition is completely updated throughout, and provides new procedures for submitting ""adjustment of status"" applications and getting work permits. It also discusses a new policy for allowing some people to continue with their green-card applications sooner than before. "
The Mormon Question: Polygamy and Constitutional Conflict in Nineteenth-Century America
by Sarah Barringer Gordon
from The University of North Carolina Press
From the Mormon Church's public announcement of its sanction of polygamy in 1852 until its formal decision to abandon the practice in 1890, people on both sides of the "Mormon question" debated central questions of constitutional law. Did principles of religious freedom and local self-government protect Mormons' claim to a distinct, religiously based legal order? Or was polygamy, as its opponents claimed, a new form of slavery--this time for white women in Utah? And did constitutional principles dictate that democracy and true liberty were founded on separation of church and state?
As Sarah Barringer Gordon shows, the answers to these questions finally yielded an apparent victory for antipolygamists in the late nineteenth century, but only after decades of argument, litigation, and open conflict. Victory came at a price; as attention and national resources poured into Utah in the late 1870s and 1880s, antipolygamists turned more and more to coercion and punishment in the name of freedom. They also left a legacy in constitutional law and political theory that still governs our treatment of religious life: Americans are free to believe, but they may well not be free to act on their beliefs.
Prenuptial Agreements: How to Write a Fair and Lasting Contract. Book with CD-Rom (Second Edition)
by Katherine E. Stoner
from NOLO
Everything you need to enter your marriage with eyes wide open.
Marriage is one of the few personal contracts in which your state dictates the terms -- unless you create your own customized premarital agreement.
Combining Nolo's legal expertise and plain-English writing, Prenuptial Agreements makes a potentially touchy subject easy to deal with while explaining how to create a valid contract. The book covers:
Prenuptial Agreements provides worksheets as tear-outs and on CD-ROM, as well as clauses for preparing an agreement that suits your needs. The 2nd edition is updated with the latest laws of your state.
Florida Divorce Handbook 5th ed. (Florida Divorce Handbook: A Comprehensive Source of Legal Information & Practical Advice)
by Gerald B. Keane
from Pineapple Pr
Updated edition. Overview of the Florida divorce process, basic vocabulary, and legal concepts.
Just Marriage (New Democracy Forum/Boston Review)
by Mary Lyndon Shanley
from Oxford University Press, USA
From the ground breaking legal decisions on gay marriage to the promotion of marriage for low-income families, the "sacred institution" of marriage has turned into a public battleground. Who should be allowed to marry and is marriage a public or private act? Should marriage be abandoned completely? Or should marriage be redefined as a civil institution that promotes sexual and racial equality?
As the fierce national debate over same-sex marriage and civil unions continues, Mary Lyndon Shanley argues that while the state should continue to play a role in regulating personal relations, the law must be fundamentally reformed if marriage is to become a more just institution. Fourteen prominent writers and thinkers respond, including Nancy F. Cott, William N. Eskridge, Jr., Amitai Etzioni, Martha Albertson Fineman, and Cass R. Sunstein.
Legal Essentials for California Couples: Why Every Couple Should Have a Written Agreement that Will Enhance (and Possibly Save) Your Relationship (Legal Essentials for California Couples)
by Ed Sherman
from Nolo Press Occidental
Complete Prenuptial Agreement Kit (Book & CD-ROM) (Write Your Own Prenuptial Agreement)
by Edward Haman
from Sphinx Publishing
Strengthen Your Relationship by Opening the Doors of Communication
A prenuptial agreement is an integral part to starting your marriage off right. It can help open the doors of communication to direct your marriage toward greater understanding and financial success. And when the unexpected happens, a prenuptial agreement can go hand-in-hand with your other estate planning documents to protect you and to make sure you and your future spouse-not the government-control your property.
The Complete Prenuptial Agreement Kit is your guide to constructing the agreement and relationship that you want for the rest of your life.
Protect Your Assets
Ensure that you get to make your own decisions about distribution and division of your property.
Find the Law for Your State
Each state’s laws are listed, providing you with the most current information for your state.
Start Your Marriage
with Openness
Begin your marriage with a greater understanding of each other’s financial
situation and a smaller chance of ending your relationship in a divorce.
Provide for Your Children
Guarantee that children from a previous marriage will be taken care of if you are no longer able to care for them yourself.
Strengthen Your Relationship
As your relationship grows, you can adapt your agreement to reflect your changing lifestyle.
Write a Prenup that’s Right for You
Find everything you need to create and complete your own prenuptial agreement, with step-by-step instructions and samples in the text.
Whether you are about to get married, or already are, use The Complete Prenuptial Agreement Kit to protect yourself, your assets and your loved ones.
Same-sex Marriage: The Moral And Legal Debate (Contemporary Issues (Prometheus))
from Prometheus Books
Every Single Girl's Guide to Her Future Husband's Last Divorce
by Adryenn Ashley
from ChickLit
Unabashed author Adryenn Ashley's sassy style combined with her expansive knowledge of legal and practical steps to protecting yourself and your hard earned assets, make wise readers of her book series on financial advice for women. Bringing humor and attitude to an otherwise touchy, challenging subject, Ashley makes the information totally digestible and relatable. Ashley's qualifications as a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst, Certified Asset Protection Specialist, and Forensic Accountant bring rock-solid credibility to the valuable advice in her writings. Her Sex and the City meets Suze Orman approach is sure to make the savvy, modern, single girls loyal followers.
So brides-to-be, put down your Modern Bride Magazine for just a moment, and lay your "what-ifs" to rest. The first installment of Adryenn Ashley s series of financial advice books for women, "Every Single Girl's Guide to Her Future Husband's Last Divorce," is a must read for the girl marrying the divorced guy.
Independent Publishers Book Award, Bronze Medal - Relationships/Sexuality, 2008
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