Can co-parents-in-law marry? For example, a husband&#39;s father and a wife&#39;s mother Edit: Wait...can step-siblings marry actually? In the The Simpsons episode, Lady Bouvier's Lover, Marge's mom dates Homer's dad. Here, Homer and Marge are characters who are married. If he marries your mother, Marge, we'll be brother and sister! And then our kids, they'll be horrible freaks... with pink skin, no overbites and five fingers on each hand! In the How I Met Your Mother, The Over-Correction, Lily's dad dates Marshall's mom. Here, Marshall and Lily also are characters who are married. So, we, um we just wanted to say that we're sorry for the way that we acted when we found out about you two. Your happiness is what is most important, so, if you two want to date, it's okay by us. Who said anything about dating? This is just about sex. We're family with benefits. 2 questions Generally, co-siblings-in-law can marry, so Homer's brother could marry Marge's sister. But generally, could co-parents-in-law marry? This question might be specific to a location, so if need be I choose the US. If I need to be more specific, I choose New York, the setting of How I Met Your Mother. The thing is, if this were legal, that is step brothers and step sisters cannot marry but co-parents-in-law can marry even if it would make their respective married children step-siblings, then I think there seems to be a loophole: If A and B are widows and dating each other and their respective children C and D are dating, then it's allowed for C and D to first be married and then for A and B to be married, BUT the reverse order isn't allowed? What logic. Let me clarify: The spirit of the law I believe is for C and D to not be both step-siblings and married. The letter of the law prevents marriage if they are already step-siblings but does not prevent them becoming step-siblings by their widowed parents' marriage if C and D are first married. There's no issue here if the spirit of law is actually to prevent &quot;step-sibling then married&quot; and doesn't really care about &quot;married and step-sibling&quot;, that is, doesn't care about &quot;married then step-sibling&quot;. I guess such a marriage of A and B would be something like not incestuous by itself but would imply an incestuous marriage namely of C and D. So an indirectly incestuous marriage is I believe a loophole based on my belief of the spirit of certain marriage laws. I could not seem to find any question like this online except this. What are the keywords here? I think something about consanguinity? I don't believe this is location-specific.
The question is definitely specific to a jurisdiction. I think this is legal in the jurisdiction you specify. Wikipedia shows incest in New York defined as: Persons known to be related to him or her, whether through marriage or not, as an ancestor, descendant, brother or sister of either the whole or the half blood, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece. I don't think "our children have married" means the couple is related "as brother and sister through marriage". In England and Wales, this would definitely be legal. Wikipedia lists the relationships that cannot marry, and co-parents-in-law are not on the list. (The table is probably out of date, in that the "for men" and "for women" column should almost certainly be merged.)
I think it is not possible to answer the question as is, but this document from the Indian courts lays out the relevant legal variables. A major split is between Sharers and Residuaries: a Sharers are all related by blood. A secondary split relates to testate vs. intestate succession (was there a will?). There are also special rules for West Bengal, Chennai and Bombay. A widow is generally entitled to a share of her husband's property, but if the husband dies before his father, the husband does not have his father's property. But then, if a Muslim marries under the Special Marriage Act, 1954, they are not treated legally as Muslim for purposes of inheritance. All told, it is most likely that the widow has no legal claim on the property, but still a person should engage an attorney who can assess the particulars of the case.
In New Mexico, where Better Call Saul is set, N.M. R. Prof'l. Cond. 16-505 prohibits an attorney from employing a suspended or disbarred attorney as a law clerk or paralegal only if there is an order from the New Mexico Supreme Court or its disciplinary board prohibiting that appointment. I don't believe the show ever indicates there was such an order. Other states have different rules. Some prohibit this type of activity altogether, while others permit an attorney to continue as a paralegal while suspended, but not after being disbarred. I believe some states merely require that the attorney disclose that she is using the services of an attorney who is under discipline.
tl;dr Spouse before adult child. Patient’s designated surrogate, and court appointed guardian, before both. Assuming your mom does not have an advanced directive or has not designated a proxy, then her husband would come before you. He can ask whoever he wants and in fact he should get the information he can to determine what she would want. The standard is what the decision maker believes the patient would want, not necessarily what the decision maker wants. For example, if the patient has for as long as anyone can remember said repeatedly “I’m not dying hooked up to machines- when the time comes, let me go.” And the next of kin is of the “try whatever is possible to try” mindset, they should still go with what they believe the patient wants. This can be very hard in real life. In Florida, the decision to withhold (e.g. DNR) or withdraw must be with evidence that that is what the patient would want or is in her best interests. You may recall this coming up in the Terry Schiavo case- husband (who was also court appointed guardian) takes precedence over parents, but parents challenged his decision in court. Florida law laws out the order: 765.401 The proxy.— (1) If an incapacitated or developmentally disabled patient has not executed an advance directive, or designated a surrogate to execute an advance directive, or the designated or alternate surrogate is no longer available to make health care decisions, health care decisions may be made for the patient by any of the following individuals, in the following order of priority, if no individual in a prior class is reasonably available, willing, or competent to act: (a) The judicially appointed guardian of the patient or the guardian advocate of the person having a developmental disability as defined in s. 393.063, who has been authorized to consent to medical treatment, if such guardian has previously been appointed; however, this paragraph shall not be construed to require such appointment before a treatment decision can be made under this subsection; (b) The patient’s spouse; (c) An adult child of the patient, or if the patient has more than one adult child, a majority of the adult children who are reasonably available for consultation; (d) A parent of the patient; (e) The adult sibling of the patient or, if the patient has more than one sibling, a majority of the adult siblings who are reasonably available for consultation; (f) An adult relative of the patient who has exhibited special care and concern for the patient and who has maintained regular contact with the patient and who is familiar with the patient’s activities, health, and religious or moral beliefs; or (g) A close friend of the patient. (h) A clinical social worker licensed pursuant to chapter 491, or who is a graduate of a court-approved guardianship program. Such a proxy must be selected by the provider’s bioethics committee and must not be employed by the provider. If the provider does not have a bioethics committee, then such a proxy may be chosen through an arrangement with the bioethics committee of another provider. The proxy will be notified that, upon request, the provider shall make available a second physician, not involved in the patient’s care to assist the proxy in evaluating treatment. Decisions to withhold or withdraw life-prolonging procedures will be reviewed by the facility’s bioethics committee. Documentation of efforts to locate proxies from prior classes must be recorded in the patient record. (2) Any health care decision made under this part must be based on the proxy’s informed consent and on the decision the proxy reasonably believes the patient would have made under the circumstances. If there is no indication of what the patient would have chosen, the proxy may consider the patient’s best interest in deciding that proposed treatments are to be withheld or that treatments currently in effect are to be withdrawn. (3) Before exercising the incapacitated patient’s rights to select or decline health care, the proxy must comply with the provisions of ss. 765.205 and 765.305, except that a proxy’s decision to withhold or withdraw life-prolonging procedures must be supported by clear and convincing evidence that the decision would have been the one the patient would have chosen had the patient been competent or, if there is no indication of what the patient would have chosen, that the decision is in the patient’s best interest.
Was/is it permissible for judges in the US to talk ex-parte like that? No. Ex parte interactions of that sort are not allowed. See, for instance, Disciplinary Counsel v. Bachman, 2020-Ohio-732 (Dec. 18, 2020) and Maze v. Judicial Conduct Commission, 2019-SC-0691-RR (Dec. 17, 2020). An example of less recent decision but with a reporter citation number is Comm'n on Judicial Performance v. Bozeman, 302 So.3d 1217 (2020). For situations of imminent risk of irreparable harm, procedural law provides for ex parte motions and ex parte petitions, such as this granted petition for Personal Protection Order. See M[ichigan]CR 3.7003(G). But the scenarios you depict fall short of the necessity for which ex parte provisions are intended. do the above scenes in the movies essentially portray judicial misconduct? Yes. A judge's house is inappropriate for communicating, let alone ex parte, his ruling (I am not knowledgeable of the films but my understanding of your description is that that judge made the ruling on the application). As for The Untouchables, any evidence of jurors' &amp; judges' conflict of interest and likely bias has to be filed in court and comply with procedural law so that all parties have an opportunity to litigate the matter.
Attorneys are normal officials (Beamte), so the laws about officials apply to them. So e.g. for North Rhine-Westphalia (there are similar laws in the other states) § 47 Gesetz über die Beamtinnen und Beamten des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen (Law about officials of the state North Rhine-Westphalia): (1) Beamtinnen und Beamte sind von Amtshandlungen zu befreien, die sich gegen sie selbst oder Angehörige richten würden, zu deren Gunsten ihnen wegen familienrechtlicher Beziehungen im Strafverfahren das Zeugnisverweigerungsrecht zusteht. (1) Officials are to excuse of official actions, that are against them or their relatives, if they have the right to refuse to testify against them in criminal proceedings. (my bad translation) These relatives are according to § 52 Strafprozessordnung (Code of criminal procedure): fiancée, spouse (even ex-spouse) and any "person who is or was lineally related or related by marriage, collaterally related to the third degree or related by marriage to the second degree." So attorneys do not have to prosecute their relatives. In some (but not all) German states this is not only a right of the attorney, but they are forbidden to perform official actions in processes against their relatives. So e.g. in Saxony-Anhalt, § 14 I n. 2, 3 Ausführungsgesetz des Landes Sachsen-Anhalt zum Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz (Law of the state Saxony-Anhalt to implement the Courts Constitution Act) Ein Beamter, der das Amt der Staatsanwaltschaft ausübt, darf keine Amtshandlungen vornehmen, wenn er [...] Ehegatte oder Eingetragener Lebenspartner, Vormund oder Betreuer des Beschuldigten oder Verletzten oder einer Partei ist oder gewesen ist; mit dem Beschuldigten, dem Verletzten oder einer Partei in gerader Linie verwandt oder verschwägert, in der Seitenlinie bis zum dritten Grade verwandt oder bis zum zweiten Grade verschwägert ist oder war; [...] An official, who exercises the office of a prosecutor, is not allowed to perform official actions, if he is or was [...] the spouse or registered life partner, guardian or legal curator of the accused or of the injured or of a party; lineally related or related by marriage, collaterally related to the third degree or related by marriage to the second degree to the accused or to the injured or to a party; [...] (my bad translation)
The details depend on the state, of course. The common law thing you are looking for is a writ of mandamus -- a court order to a public official to do something (or not do something) that they are required to do under the law. Writs of mandamus were traditionally only applicable to ministerial tasks (i.e. things that are basically paper-shuffling where there is little to no discretion); marriage licenses are typically considered ministerial. With discretionary actions, things are much more complicated because the government official is supposed to have significant ability to decide what should and shouldn't be allowed; mandamus doesn't apply unless there's a right to the action requested. In some cases, mandamus has been replaced with other forms of judicial review, but in Alabama it is definitely still mandamus that's involved (source: mandamus is what's previously been used to stop issuance of licenses). For federal review, which is more likely to get somewhere, the approach to use is the exact same thing that led to DeBoer (the case bundled into Obergefell that was about granting licenses), and Perry, and many of the other gay marriage cases: a lawsuit seeking an injunction or declaratory relief under 42 USC 1983, which allows actions in law and equity whenever anyone denies civil rights to a US citizen (or someone in the jurisdiction of the US) under color of law. The ultimate result of this kind of suit is a federal court order to issue a marriage license, or a declaration that it's illegal to not issue the license (and so anyone who doesn't will be subject to a court order). Violating this order, like any court order, is contempt of court.
After you are married, your husband will have to petition the US government for you to immigrate to the US. He can also petition for your children to accompany you because they are younger than 21 years. See https://my.uscis.gov/exploremyoptions/petition_for_spouse for more information: A U.S. citizen can file a petition for his or her foreign-born spouse and, under certain situations, the children of the spouse. The U.S. citizen will have to establish the family relationship with the spouse by filing a Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative. The U.S. citizen may also file a separate Form I-130 for a child of his or her foreign-born spouse if the child is unmarried and under 21 years old. When the petition is submitted, the U.S. citizen petitioner is required to provide evidence to prove his/her relationship to the foreign-born relative. If the petitions are approved, you and your sons will then be able to apply for immigrant visas (if you are outside the US) or for adjustment of status (if you are in the US).