Bride NO. 26 - a record for MR. Wolfe

a. She also complained that there were piles of hardcore, bricks and old cars in the garden. And, when she attempted to clear up a space, her husband would fill it with more rubbish.

b. The judge, sitting in the High Court Family Division said Mr. White, a ‘moody, aggressive and difficult’ man, took on too many jobs in the home. He accepted the complaints of Mrs. White, a ‘highly-strung’ woman, that for many years her kitchen was left ‘in disarray’ and she found it difficult to work in.

c. THE ways of a handyman husband who started jobs, but seldom finished them, finally became too much for his wife.

d. Yesterday Mr. Justice EWBANK ruled that she need not put up with her home in disarray and a garden full of builder’s materials any longer..... He awarded Mrs. LUCY WHITE, 40, a decree nisi because of the unreasonable behaviour of her husband PAUL, 41.

e. AMERICA’S most married man has broken his own record by marrying wife No. 26.

f. ‘I just don’t know, but I feel good about this one’. ‘Anyway, getting married is better than living; in adultery. Everyone should get married instead of living together, ’ he insisted.

g. As he left the wedding chapel in Las Vegas 75-year-old Glynn Wolfe confessed: ‘Marriage is the greatest adventure in the world, next to death. It’s fun.’ He said he had always been married. ‘The faces just change.’

h. Tools were left all over the house, except for the bathroom.’ Apparently the husband did not leave them there because they would get rusty.

i. Followed wife Mr. Justice Ewbank said Mr. White was also moody, sometimes for weeks at a time and jealous. At one stage he took to following his wife when she went out.

j. The couple married in 1966 and have two daughters, aged 12 and 10.

k. Christine refused to comment as her new husband criticized her eating habits. The latest Mrs. Wolfe, a divorcee with a grown-up daughter, has known her husband for 10 years. The couple do not plan to have a family.

l. Mr. Wolfe, father of 40, admitted that he did not know how long his latest bride would last. His longest marriage was four years, his shortest only 19 days.

m. He also complained about her visiting a woman neighbour, saying all she did there was to ‘yacketty yak’ and the proper place for her was at home with him and the family.

n. He had a word of warning for his 38-year-old wife, Christine. ‘The only thing I don’t like is that she eats sunflower seeds in bed. ‘

o. Mr. Wolfe’s other brides were aged from 17 to 72. Four of his marriages involved two women whom he married, divorced, and remarried.

(Standard 30 January 1984 and Daily telegraph 2 November 1984)

Reading THE $1, 100, 000 LOTTERY JACKPOT.

Read this case about a divorce.

Herman and Viola Alston separated in 1985. Two years later, in 1987, Viola Alston filed for divorce. In her divorce petition (request), Mrs. Alston did not seek alimony or a share of the couple’s property. At that time, Mrs. Alston was a clerk with the federal government and Mr. Alston was a prison guard with the District of Columbia.

A few days after Mrs. Alston filed the papers for a divorce, Mr. Alston had the winning ticket for the Lotto. In fact, the jackpot that he won was over a million dollars: $1, 1 million. Under the term of the lottery prize, he receives $44, 000 a year after taxes in lottery payments. Mrs. Alston thought that part of this money should go to her, so she refilled her divorce papers and demanded alimony. (In other words, when Mr. Alston won the lottery, the couple was still married. Mrs. Alston had filed the divorce papers, but Mr. Alston won the lottery before the divorce was final.)

Writing. If you were the judge, what would you do? Does Mr. Alston have to pay half of his prize money (or any part of his prize money) to Mrs. Alston? Write two or three reasons for your answer.

Ex. 13. Match the vocabulary items in the left column with their definitions in the right column.

Reading 7: PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AND THE SCOPE OF PARENTAL RIGHTS AND DUTIES

In general, the welfare of children is the biggest concern of family law. Virtually all societies, and certainly all legal systems, treat children differently from adults. There are special courts to deal with young people who commit crimes. In economically developed countries, there are limits on the type and amount of work a child is allowed to do. There are age limits on the rights and duties of citizens; however, these vary from country to country. A Japanese may not vote until he is twenty, but a German may vote at eighteen. A Briton may marry at sixteen with his parents' consent, or at eighteen without it; a French girl may marry at fourteen, but a boy must wait until he is sixteen. In some parts of the United States you may drive a car at fifteen, but in others, not until eighteen. It is interesting that in many places a person may be sentenced to death at an age when he is not allowed to vote. Parents have a duty to make decisions, for example those concerning education, on behalf of their children. When parents are dead or absent, a legal guardian is appointed to make these decisions. Sometimes this is an adoptive parent- a person who legally adopts the child as his or her own and has all the rights and duties of a natural parent. Sometimes, it is a local authority, as in the case of children who have been taken into care because their parents are ill, in prison or unable to take care of them.