Yeshiva University, Cardozo School of Law LARC @ Cardozo Law Articles Faculty 2020 How U.S. Family Law Might Deal with Spousal Relationships of Three (or More) People Edward D. Stein Cardozo School of Law,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/faculty-articles Part of the Family Law Commons Recommended Citation Edward D. Stein, How U.S. Family Law Might Deal with Spousal Relationships of Three (or More) People, 51 Arizona State Law Journal 1395 (2020). Available at: https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/faculty-articles/433 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty at LARC @ Cardozo Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Articles by an authorized administrator of LARC @ Cardozo Law. For more information, please contact
[email protected],
[email protected]. How U.S. Family Law Might Deal with Spousal Relationships of Three (or More) People Edward Stein* ABSTRACT For much of this nation’s history, the vast majority of people have believed that being married to more than one person at the same time is deeply problematic. Further, polygamous marriage has never been legal in the United States. Despite this, some people have been in plural or group relationships and some of these people have wished to gain legal recognition for these relationships. The arguments for recognizing such relationships are persuasive, but the prospects for legalization of polygamous marriage seem slim in the near future. This Article offers a suggestion of how the law of domestic relations might deal with such relationships, focusing on same-sex “triads.” The proposal is that domestic partnership or civil union laws, which remain on the books in some jurisdictions, but are now rarely used, could be repurposed and adapted to recognize and protect triads and perhaps other group and plural relationships.