Koppelman v. Duncan debate

[Joseph Brossart]

An alternative method of providing a longevity element and thus reducing the
financial burden would be to require a waiting period of a certain number of
years (seven, ten?) after a designation of a person with whom one would file
a joint tax return is made before it can be changed, or a waiting period of
a certain number of years after one is revoked before another can be
elected.

Assuming the often repeated statistic of half of all marriages ending in
divorce to be true, the financial impact might be closer to a wash or a gain
for the government.  At the same time you would be creating an incentive to
stable relationships.  (I understand that divorce rates are sensitive to
economic pressures, marriages and divorces go up in times of economic growth
and down in times of recession).  Toss in an exemption for victims of
domestic violence, but not perpetrators, and you’ve got some serious social
engineering.

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-- Michael McConnell (U of Utah) Wrote:


...I haven't offered specifics on this point, but I actually did *not*have
this in mind. I am inclined to agree with Alan Brownstein (if I am
remembering correctly) that this would be a fiscal impossibility. The moral
hazard of allowing people to designate whomever they wish for all types of
benefit would be very costly. Maybe this sort of arrangement would be
possible for some benefits, but not all. I was assuming that the registered
partnership would be limited to people assuming all or most of the legal
incidents of marriage, including mutual legal liability, support
obligations, etc., and who are committed to a life-long union. ...

Gregory Sisk Drake University Law School Replied:


.... Yes, there could be significant financial consequences, but those could
be mitigated in part both by insisting upon the two adults being in the same
residence and by some longevity requirement (a demonstration that they had
been living together, say, for at least a couple of years). ...

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Joseph Brossart
Law Clerk

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