2.

07

Marriage in Kansas
o Must apply for a wedding license at any in-state county clerk office (marriage
license or marriage license bureau
Usually located in county probate court or circuit court
Outlines the requirements you need to get a valid marriage license that can
be used statewide
License cost roughly $59-$85, depends on the county
Dont have to be a current or previous resident of Kansas
o Waiting period
Mandatory 3 day waiting period before license is issued to you
Does not include Saturday, Sunday, or federal holidays
Can marry immediately after your marriage license is issued
Expires 6 months later
Must be 18 years or older to marry without parental consent, must have
birth certificate to verify age
Can be under 18, but has to have a parental consent form signed and a
copy of birth certificate
No blood or physical tests are required
If you have been married before, you have to provide the date of divorce
or date of spouses death
o Proxy marriage
When one or both partners are unable to physically attend the ceremony
Missing person will have a stand in to serve as their proxy
One of only 5 states that allow marriage by proxy to be legally formed
o Common law marriage
Informal marriage, based of cohabitation and a mutual understanding by
both partners
Not allowed in Kansas
o Extra
No cousin marriages allowed
Kansas has 96 offices where a marriage license can be acquired
Closest one is in independence or Emporia
Dissolution of Marriage
o Divorce
o Process by which a couple can end their marriage permanently
o In a few states, a dissolution of marriage isnt the same as divorce
Does not permanently terminate marital status or can only be used in
certain cases
Couple agrees to the dissolution and agrees on how everything will
be resolved (alimony or property)
o No fault divorce fault

Doesnt accuse the other spouse of bad behavior

irreconcilable differences- they dont get along together and wont get
back together
Easier and quicker to obtain
Spouses may be required to live apart for a certain amount of time, it
depends on the laws of the state where the divorce is actioned
o Fault Divorce
Spouse requests to end the marriage based on a claim that the other spouse
engaged in a specific type of misconduct
Adultery, physical/ emotional abuse, abandonment, drug or alcohol
addiction
More contentious and stressful
Cost more in attorney fees because of time spent trying to prove
allegations of bad behavior
It used to be a common way to dissolve a marriage, but most states have
abandoned fault grounds or added no-fault options
o Overall
Can be challenging (involved potentially complex and emotionally
charged issues (child custody, alimony, division of property and debts)

2.02

Tort Claims
o Legal claim made in response to being subjected to a wrongful act that did not
involve a breach of contract
o Five categories
Intentional
Must be able to prove three elements
o Intent, a volitional act, and causation
Arises when a person/entity intends to bring mental/physical harm
to another person and that the other person experienced
mental/physical harm as a result of the accuseds actions
Ex: false imprisonment-results from intentional confinement or
restraint without justification
Negligence
Person didnt intent to cause harm, but their unreasonable act or
unreasonable failure to act causes injury to another person
Has to be able to show damages that resulted from the negligent
act
Ex: healthcare- didnt follow the scope of practice and care, forgot
to report something
Strict Liability

A person might be held liable for the plaintiffs (a person who sues
another person or accuses another person of a crime in the court of
law) injury without having committed a wrongful act
The defendant had a duty to make something safe and they
breached that duty, which resulted in the plaintiff or the plaintiffs
property to be injured
Can happen when a defendant was engaged in ultra-hazardous or
abnormally dangerous activities, defendants animal caused harm to
the plaintiff, or when the defendants product has harmed the
plaintiff
Simple terms: legal responsibility for damages or injury even if the
person found strictly liable was not at fault, plaintiff has to prove
that the defendant was responsible for the act or omission, neither
good faith nor the fact that they took all possible precautions are
valid defenses
Product Liability
Liability of any or all parties along the chain of manufacture of any
product for damage caused by that product (includes manufacturer
of component parts, assembling manufacturer, wholesaler, retail
store owner)
o Basically you can sue anyone who was involved in the
manufacturing or sale of that particular product because
they didnt catch the defect/ whatever caused the injury
Includes tangible personal property (products), intangibles (gas),
naturals (pets), real estate (house), and writings (navigational
charts)
As long as the product is proved defective, then the manufacturer
is held liable for the harm resulting from the defect
Three types of product defects that incur liability in manufacturers
and suppliers
o Design defect
Exist before the product is manufactured
o Manufacturing Defects
Occur during the construction or production of the
item
Only a few out of many products of the same type
are flawed in this case
o Marketing deal defect
Improper instructions and failure to warn consumers
of latent or hidden dangers in the product
Miscellaneous
Ex: McDonalds vs. Leibeck

The defendant is a 79 yr old who suffered severe third-degree

burns to her groin, thighs, and buttocks which required multiple
surgical skin grafts and a seven day hospital stay, her medical bills
were almost $200,000
Wasnt going to file a lawsuit by McDonalds wouldnt give her any
money to help pay for medical bills
McDonalds had over 700 coffee burn claims filed before this claim
and has already paid out over $500,000 due to prior burn injuries
McDonalds intentionally heats their coffee to 190, capable of
burning off your skin and causing muscle and bone damage in 2
seconds
McDonalds said that Mrs. Liebeck was to blame because she didnt
take her pants off fast enough and that due to her age, her skin was
thinner
McDonalds was found liable and the jurors rendered a punitive
damage award of 2.7 million dollars
The judge lowered the award to $480,000

o o Probate
o
Legal process that takes place after someone dies
Has to prove that deceased person's will is valid
Inventorying their property and appraising it
Paying debts and taxes
Distributing the remaining property as the will directs
State law distributes it if there is no will
o Process
Executor (person named in the will a.k.a. beneficiary)
Executor has to prove the validity of the will and presents the court with
lists of your property, debt, and who inherits what
Relatives and creditors are then officially notified of death
Executor must find, secure, and manage your assets during the probate
process (takes a few months to a year)
May have to sell some property if they have any outstanding debts or you
leave money to people that you dont have
Not all property goes through probate, some states let you pass $100,000
of free probate
o Child Custody
Sole Custody
One parent has both legal and physical custody of the child
Other parent may have limited visitation
Likely determined to be an unfit parent (drugs, alcohol, etc.)
Joint Custody
Shared legal custody, even if one parent has physical custody

Legal Custody
Both parents are granted legal custody of their children in the
majority of child custody cases, unless one parent is incapable of
making such decisions
Parent with legal custody has the court-granted right to make
important, long-term life decisions on behalf of the child
Schools, religious education, health care, discipline, etc
Physical Custody
Normally, one parent gets sole physical custody of a child, while
the other parent has visitation rights
The child lives with you
Joint physical custody doesnt normally happen
Leaves children with disruptions
o Visitation
Worked out between two parent
Involves detailed logistics and last-minute changes/ occasional trade offs
Usually spends every other weekend, holidays, and summer vacations
with their child
o How custody is choses
Informal negotiations
If bother parents are willing , then they can work out custody w/ or
w/o attorneys
End result is normally a written agreement
Known as "settlement agreement"
o ADR (alternative dispute resolution)and child custody
Process that involves mediation and collaborative law

Less adversarial and more casual than traditional court setting

Get the opportunity to have an active role in resolving key decisions
related to custody and visitation, instead of the judge or jury
Neutral third-party makes decision after hearing both side's evidence and
arguments
Not necessarily the final choice

Tort Remedies
o Legal remedies (damages)
Monetary payments made by the defendant to compensate the victim for
their injures, losses, and pain/suffering
Calculated based on the victims losses
Claimants that win a judgment in court are awarded pain/suffering
damages
o Restitutionary Remedies- meant to restore the plaintiff to a position of wholeness

Restitutionary damages: calculated based on the defendants gain then the

plaintiffs losses
Replevin: allows the victim to recover personal property that they may
have lost due to the tort (stolen property)
Ejectment: court can eject a person who is wrongfully staying on real
property owned by the plaintiff (trespassing)
Property lien: if defendant cant afford to pay damages, then a judge may
place a lien on their real property, sell the property, or forward the
proceeds to the tort victims
o Equitable Remedies: only available when monetary damages will not adequately
restore the victim to wholeness
Temporary restraining order: victims of physical harm or harassment

Works Cited

"Anderson County District Court." Kansas Marriage License Requirements. N.p., n.d. Web. 20
Oct. 2016.
Authored by Adam Vukovic, LegalMatch Legal Writer. "Child Custody and Child Visitation
Rights." Find a Lawyer. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2016
"California Health Insurance Quotes and Blog." RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2016."What Is a
Dissolution of Marriage? | DivorceNet.com." DivorceNet.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2016.
Legal, Inc. US. "USLegal." Torts. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2016
"Tort Claims | National Archives." National Archives and Records Administration. National
Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2016.
"What Is a Tort Claim?" WiseGEEK. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2016.
Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2016.
"The Famous McDonalds Coffee Product Liability Case." The Famous McDonald's Coffee
Product Liability Case. Higher Legal, n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2016.
"How Gravity Payments Could Set New Minimum Wage Norm." N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2016.