Reliance Interest in Marriage and Divorce

Authors

Margaret F. Brinig, Notre Dame Law SchoolFollow
June CarboneFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1988

Publication Information

62 Tul. L. Rev. 855 (1987-1988)

Abstract

The first part of this article examines the changing nature of reliance on marriage as the relationship between the spouses and the role of the family has changed. The second section defines the ‘reliance interest,’ as that term has been used to describe contract damages, discusses its application to marriage, and examines the implications for the role of ‘fault’ in the financial allocations to be made upon divorce. The third section describes the varying state reactions to the adoption of no fault divorce and assesses the ability of existing law to protect the reliance interest in marriage. Finally, this article concludes that the changing nature of the reliance interest—from one involving lost opportunities to marry to one more concerned with lost career opportunities—frames, but does not ultimately determine, the policy choices concerning the nature of marriage and the interests to be protected upon divorce.

Comments

Reprinted: in Community Property Law in California, Grace Blumberg

Recommended Citation

Margaret F. Brinig & June Carbone, Reliance Interest in Marriage and Divorce, 62 Tul. L. Rev. 855 (1987-1988).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/468