The Marriage between Henry and Wanda - Essay Example

? Family Law Case Scenario The marriage between Henry and Wanda has lasted for the last ten years with the prior arrangement of staying together for three years. They have three children Aliya, Lina and Darius who range from thirteen to three years. Wanda decided to abandon her career and support her husband Henry in building themselves financially through the successful businesses that he has practiced, a fact that he attributes to Wanda for her support especially in working for him at no amount of money in his veterinary practice. It is evident that this family is financially stable particularly because Henry has gotten an inheritance from the mother’s art collection valued at a substantial amount of money. Henry has managed to buy a number of private investments and pensions. Moreover, Wanda was meant to receive certain amount of money from her uncle, but the issue is now becoming complicated as the second wife to her uncle who is in the process of contesting the will.1 Unfortunately, her marriage to Henry is at the verged of breaking. He has decided to divorce Wanda, a decision that has seems to be influenced by his business Mandrake who does not like children. Moreover, he has told Wanda that she will not get any financial help for him and should instead manage the inheritance that is ought to receive from her uncle until she gets back on her feet. Never the less, Henry is willing to pay $ 3000 per year for the upkeep of the three children for duration of three years. Wanda, on the other hand, has found new love from the Doctor who treats one of their children, though she is not willing to get married again. Family Law Family law is thus used to resolve all the issues that revolve are different families. According to the given scenario, Wanda must consult the family law in order to have issues solved (Cracknell 2008). In essence, she has to face her former spouse and the second wife to her late Uncle in court in relation to the inheritance given to her by her uncle especially now that her aunt was determined to challenge in court, the decision made by the her late husband. Additionally, Wanda has to contest with the decision that has been made by her divorced husband because it is insufficient for her and the children. In this regard, a number of factors will be put into consideration for her to be guaranteed financial orders by the courts.2 Domestic Contracts According to the family law act, two persons who are married to each other through an agreement must respect the rights, and obligation under the marriage, which include ownership or division of property, and support of obligations.3 Moreover, they have the right to direct education and moral training of their children and any other matter that entails the settlement of their affairs (Cretney 2003). However, they are not in a position to put into custody children. This means that if Wanda and Henry’s marriage was recognizable by the law, then Wanda has the freedom to be in possession of property ad be in a position be allocated the material wealth that they have acquired with Henry during their marriage life. In essence, all the property that Henry has acquired in the last ten years of their marriage will be considered in the ruling when the divorce process begins. Ownership of Property According to the family law Act, the court should put into consideration the ownership of property in all parties (Knight 2008). This simply means that the court should be in a position to advise on the type of properties that are present (Fortin 2003). Those common and applicable to this scenario are personal ownership of property and joint ownership of property. Henry has an inheritance from his late mother‘s art collection, which qualifies to be called personal property especially now that it has no contesting issues.4 Contrary to this, Wanda has an inheritance, which could also be termed as personal property but it is been contested by the second wife of her late uncle. The rest of the properties that Wanda and Henry had acquired during the marriage life would be rated with reference to contribution, participation and property registration that was done to each one of them (Herring 2012). Of importance to note is that, although these properties may seem to be owned by Henry, the law dictates that if the marriage was legal, they belong to both parties. In the case where Wanda’s inheritance had been contested by the second wife of her late uncle, the court must be issued with sufficient evidence from the contester to show that the said inheritance does not qualify to be granted to Wanda.5 If the contested does not do so, the court will consider the allegation void and Wanda will be in a position to have a personal property as the divorce proceeds. Needless to mention, this inheritance is the only financial support that she anticipated to secure in order to support herself and the three children. She has further been advised by her former spouse, Henry to manage the inheritance before she is able to fed for herself and the children again (Martin 2000). Support Obligations According to family law Act every parent has an obligation to his or her extent to provide support for his or her child who is unmarried and is under the age of eighteen years. Additionally, the parent may also have an extension of support to the child if he or she happens to be enrolled in an education program that is full time, one who is ill, disabled or any other cause, withdrawal from parental charge or better still to obtain basic necessities (Minguez, M., 2012).6 Hence, the three children from the broken marriage of Wanda and Henry are entitled to support for both of the parents at all cost until they have attained the age of sixteen and above and have withdrawn from parental supremacy. Both Wanda and Henry have the obligation to give support to Lina who is five years, Darius who is three years and Aliya who is thirteen years of age. This is another factor that should be into consideration when the court is making a ruling.7 Financial Position According to family law Act, the court shall require financial statements from both parties during the proceedings. These financial statements should be verified by oath in the manner and forms that are set by the law courts (Parker and Dewar 2003). If any member of the parties is not willing to show their financial statement, the court is in a position to give cost to the concerned party. 8 In this scenario, Wanda and Henry will be expected by the court to give out their financial statement during divorce proceedings. Henry’s financial statement will automatically be higher than that of Wanda. In fact, he is estimated to have an annual income of an average ?250,000. Cleary, this is a situation that might compel him to support the family fully and for a long time thus contrasting to his decision of having to support the children for at least three years with ?1000 per year for each of the children. Power of the court After a thorough scrutiny of factors such as domestic contract, ownership of property, support obligations and financial positions and ranging them in reference to the case presented in the divorce proceedings, the court will put its verdict in relation to its power (Robinson 1993). 9Basically, the court will have to determine the financial benefit that will be given to Wanda in reference to her being in custody of the three children. It is evident that Wanda abandoned her career in honour of her now divorcing husband success in his career. She has greatly contributed to the financial wellbeing of her husband and their entire family. In reference to this, the court may order inspection of financial information for both spouses. This gives the court the power to determine the financial obligations within the family; a situation that assists in resolving the financial problem that is involved. The court further considers the presence of children in the marriage and their well being in terms of the basic necessities of life (Walsh et al 2009). Hence, financial support is crucial to the children from parents especially one who is financially stable.10 The court is also in a position to carry out investigation on the properties that are owned by both spouses. This will assist in determining how property will be divided by both parties either through partitioning or better still selling of properties and giving the financial gain to the concerned party. In kind, the court will give financial orders to both Wanda and Henry. This is because both of them have a considerable financial status. Never the less, Henry will be having a high amount of financial orders because he is more stable financially as compared to Wanda. Thus, he might be obliged to cater for the children’s upkeep especially education and health. The court ruling is likely to favour, Wanda as per the financial orders. Bibliography; Cracknell, D., 2008.Family Law 2008-2009. London. Taylor & Francis. Cretney, S., 2003.Family law in the twentieth century: a history. Oxford [u.a.]: Oxford Univ. Press. Fortin, J., 2003.Children’s Rights and the Developing Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Herring, J., 2012. Family Law. Devon: Routledge. Knight, J., 2008.Wills, probate & inheritance tax for dummies. Chichester: Wiley; Chichester: John Wiley [distributor]. Martin, F., 2000.The politics of children's rights. Cork: Cork University Press. Minguez, M., 2012.Family Well-Being: European Perspectives. Dordrecht: Springer. Parker, S. and Dewar, J., 2003.Family law: processes, practices and pressures; proceedings of the tenth world conference of the International Society of Family Law, July 2000, Brisbane, Australia. Oxford [u.a.]: Hart. Robinson, M., 1993.Family Transformation through Divorce and Remarriage: A Systemic Approach. Edition reprint. Routledge. Walsh, E. et al., 2009.Divorce for dummies. Chichester: John Wiley. Read More