9 Discuss the following topics:

1. Common-law marriage. Consider all the pros and cons.

2. Separation or divorce? Which is the lesser of the two evils?

3. Compare the procedure of obtaining a divorce in the US and Russia.

4. A marriage is more than just a contract. Why?

5. The divorce procedure. Should it be more complicated?

6. The contractual nature of marriage.

7. Incompatibility or break-down of the marriage.

10 Write your own opinion on the following:

1. The most essential grounds for divorce. Arrange them in the order of their importance.

2. Types of marriages.

3. Prohibited degrees of marriage.

4. Miscegenation and incestuous laws.

5. The "foreign" divorce.

6. Duties and responsibilities of spouses.

7. The irretrievable breakdown of marriage.

11 Vocabulary: Find a match

1 irretrievable a degree

2 to grant breakdown

3 life obligations

4 mutual imprisonment

5 legal for divorce

6 to support commitments

7 grounds a family

8 to get of proof

9 a question prosecution

10 criminal married

Test your professional English

Family Law

Below are the main areas that Family Law covers. The text gives excerpts from those areas. Write one area above each text

Adoption

Child Custody Children's Rights Divorce

Estate Planning Estates and Trusts Insurance

Marriage

1 Adoption

The process by which a legal parent-child relationship is created between individuals not biologically parent and child.

2 _______________

The parents of a child born within a marriage are joint guardians of that child and the rights of both parents are equal.

3 _______________

Children are generally afforded the basic rights embodied by the constitution.

4 _______________

As a result of this both parties' status becomes single again.

5 ______________

The process by which an individual or family arranges the transfer of assets in anticipation of death.

6 ______________

Generally, a trust is a right in property (real or personal) which is held in a fiduciary relationship by one party for the benefit of another. The trustee is the one who holds title to the trust property, and the beneficiary is the person who receives the benefits of the trust.

7 _______________

While types vary widely, their primary goal is to allocate the risk;of a loss from the individual to a great number of people.

8 _______________

A contract based upon a voluntary private agreement by a man and a woman to become husband and wife.

Family law is the body of law which regulates family relationships, including marriage and divorce, the treatment of children, and money issues.

Newspapers write Newspapers write Newspapers write

I. Before you read discuss these questions.

1. How should the assets of the couple be divided in case of divorce?

2. Should the judges consider mutual reproaches of the spouses as the truth about a broken marriage?

3. Does divorce always cause frustration or can it sometimes be beneficial and fortunate?

Understanding main points.

After reading the article answer the questions

1. Should the court penalise a wife/husband if she/he suddenly leaves her/his rich husband/wife?

2. What did the House of Lords rule in 2000 concerning the division of the assets?

3. What was their first case?

4. In what case should the judges take the parties’ conduct into account?

5. What assets should be taken into account in America and most European countries? What about England and Wales?

6. What were the details of Kenneth and Julia McFarlane’s case and how did it end?