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Legal Paths to Protect Non-Normative Families

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Legal Paths to Protect Non-Normative Families Corso di Dottorato in Studi Giuridici Comparati ed Europei XXXI ciclo Tesi di Dottorato Marital status discrimination in the allocation of rights, obligations, and benefits: Legal paths to protect non-normative families Relatore Dottoranda Prof. Roberto Toniatti Nausica Palazzo anno accademico 2017/18 Candidato: Nausica Palazzo Marital status discrimination in the allocation of rights, obligations, and benefits: Legal paths to protect non-normative families Relatore Prof. Roberto Toniatti Anno Accademico 2017/18 Indirizzo specialistico in scienze pubblicistiche XXXI ciclo Esame finale: 29 marzo 2019, ore 10.00 Commissione esaminatrice: Prof.ssa Luisa Antoniolli, Università di Trento Prof.ssa Elena Ioriatti, Università di Trento Prof. Francesco Palermo, Università di Verona To each and every person I met throughout this journey CONTENTS ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................... 7 PREFACE ........................................................................................................ 9 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY Introduction ...................................................................................................... 11 1. Why a dissertation in comparative (public) family law? ............................. 22 2. Comparative method and family law: a functionalist-plus approach .......... 28 3. Definitional section: what is “family”? ........................................................ 39 PART I: GENERAL PART WHAT IS THE PROBLEM? WHAT THE POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS? CHAPTER II THE INVISIBILITY OF NEW FAMILIES: A PRAGMATIC, FINANCIALLY-DRIVEN APPROACH Introduction ...................................................................................................... 49 1. Methodology ................................................................................................ 50 2. A journey into the world of material benefits for the family ....................... 55 2.1 Evidentiary privileges .............................................................................. 55 2.2. Workers’ death compensation benefits ................................................... 57 CONTENTS 2.3. Wrongful death statutes .......................................................................... 59 2.4. Tax law and the family ............................................................................ 61 2.4.1. Income tax: Filing status and personal exemptions ...................... 61 2.4.2. Estate tax definitions ...................................................................... 65 2.4.3. Other tax benefits ........................................................................... 66 2.4.4. Summary ......................................................................................... 66 2.5. Social benefits and the family ................................................................. 67 2.5.1. Social Security benefits and welfare benefits at the federal level .. 68 2.5.2. Benefits for federal employees ....................................................... 73 2.5.3. Summary ........................................................................................ 74 2.6. Negligent infliction of emotional distress ............................................... 75 3. “Other” benefits and conclusion .................................................................. 76 CHAPTER III MODELS TO PROTECT NEW FAMILIES Introduction ...................................................................................................... 79 1. Anticipating criticisms to recognition .......................................................... 80 1.1. The assimilation conundrum ................................................................... 80 1.2. The adverse-selection problem ............................................................... 82 1.3. The “child’s best interest” ...................................................................... 83 2. Contractual model ........................................................................................ 85 3. Ascription ..................................................................................................... 90 3.1. Purely ascriptive recognition .................................................................. 92 3.2. Partially ascriptive recognition .............................................................. 94 4. Registration .................................................................................................. 97 4.1. Registration by default ............................................................................ 98 4.2. Registration by design ............................................................................. 100 4.3. A tertium genus? ..................................................................................... 103 5. Mixed systems ............................................................................................. 104 2 CONTENTS PART II: SPECIAL PART THE WAY FORWARD: BUILDING ARGUMENTS TO RECOGNIZE NEW FAMILIES CHAPTER IV UNITED STATES Introduction ...................................................................................................... 109 1. Legal remedies ............................................................................................. 112 1.1. Non-intervention ..................................................................................... 112 1.2. The unsuitability of marriage as an option ............................................. 117 1.3. The “privatization” approach ................................................................ 121 1.4 Extending protections to new families (through an area-specific 124 approach) ......................................................................................................... 2. A weak constitutional argument .................................................................. 125 3. Policy arguments .......................................................................................... 130 3.1. Recent developments in marriage as a legal regime .............................. 131 3.2. Recent developments in family legal pluralism: Laws that recognize new 133 families (other than same-sex couples or de facto couples) ............................ 3.2.1. Comprehensive schemes .................................................................. 134 3.2.1.1. Colorado Designated Beneficiary Act .................................... 137 3.2.1.2. Hawaii Reciprocal beneficiary scheme .................................. 139 3.2.1.3. Domestic partnerships in Maryland, Maine, and D.C. ........... 141 3.2.1.4. Vermont reciprocal beneficiary scheme ................................. 142 3.2.1.5. Summary ................................................................................. 144 3.2.2. Area-specific reforms ..................................................................... 144 3.3. Overinclusiveness and underinclusiveness of marriage ......................... 148 3.3.1. Purpose of the program .................................................................. 149 3.3.2. Does the purpose warrant an extension of eligibility requirements? 151 3.4. Summary ................................................................................................ 153 Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 154 3 CONTENTS CHAPTER V CANADA Introduction ...................................................................................................... 157 1. A primer on the legal landscape ................................................................... 161 2. Remedies ...................................................................................................... 165 2.1. Marriage as an unsuitable option ........................................................... 165 2.2. Extending the protections through a registration scheme ...................... 168 2.3. Area-specific approach ........................................................................... 170 3. Charter v. human rights codes: a comparison .............................................. 171 4. Constitutional arguments ............................................................................. 175 4.1. An introduction to the evolution of the constitutional model of review 175 vis-à-vis discrimination .................................................................................... 4.2. Marital status discrimination .................................................................. 185 4.3. Constitutional arguments ........................................................................ 187 4.3.1 Distinction ....................................................................................... 187 4.3.2. Discrimination ............................................................................... 191 4.3.3. The s. 1 analysis ............................................................................. 193 4.4. Summary ................................................................................................. 195 5. Human Rights Codes ................................................................................... 196 5.1. Building an argument ............................................................................. 198 5.1.1. Family/marital status ..................................................................... 198 5.1.2.Poverty/social condition ................................................................
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