marriage rights
Spousal legal protections
Marriage rights are the legal entitlements that come with civil marriage—typically including tax benefits, inheritance, hospital visitation, medical decision-making, and spousal immigration status.
The term gained prominence during debates over same-sex marriage: The court ruled that denying marriage rights to same-sex couples was unconstitutional.
Marriage rights may also refer to rights within marriage, such as property ownership or the right to divorce.
- civil unionsLegal status for couples
- arranged marriagesUnions planned by families
- family lawJurisprudence of households
- joint custodyDivided parental legal responsibility
- equalitySame status for all
queer activism · domestic partnerships · annulment · anti-discrimination laws · inheritance laws · tax benefits · marital property · Obergefell v. Hodges · right to marry · prenuptial agreements · divorce law · license · societal norms · wedding traditions · wedding cake · alimony payments · interfaith marriages · protest
- rightscivil liberties, right, immunity, liberty, constitutional guarantees
- LGBTQ+ rightscivil unions, gay pride, civil partnerships, pride festival, rainbow flag
- women's rightssuffrage movement, women's suffrage, gender equality, feminism, women's vote
- legal rightsright to silence, right to counsel, habeas corpus, right to vote, jury trial
- Roman LawRoman law, Corpus Juris Civilis, Justinian Code, Twelve Tables, Digest
- Islamic slaveryconcubine, manumission, slave markets, domestic slave, captives