English for Lawyers I.3
Family Law
Revision: Running a business
 What forms of business do you know?
 What forms of companies do you know under
the Czech law?
 Registry x registrar x register
 What are articles of association (US: bylaws)?
 Explain activities ultra vires.
 Describe the forms in which a limited liability
company may be dissolved.
Homework
 Company law
Lexis revision
 a form of business ownership in which one individual
owns a business
 the tax to be paid by the company because of its
profits
 the kind of legal responsibility the sole proprietor has
 primary purpose of business corporations for their
existence
 a corporate structure consists of
 the process by which a company is formed is called
 the rights and liabilities of a company are referred to
as
 a company is formed when it obtains
Lexis revision
 the persons who developed the idea of forming a corporation
are
 právní subjekt
 právnická osoba
 právní subjektivita
 an official who issues certificates and is responsible for safe
custody of documents, etc.
 a document made by the solicitor engaged in the formation of
a company
 the state or condition of a person (natural or legal) who is
unable to pay the debts as they are, or become due
 various types of proceedings that are initiated either by an
insolvent individual or business or by creditors
Lexis revision
 the condition of a person or business that
is insolvent
 any proceedings intended to liquidate or
rehabilitate the estate of the person
involved
 a person appointed for the protection of
the debtor´s property
Powell: Group work
 4 groups
Tasks:
 Skim the whole text
 Answer the questions
 Discuss within the group
 15 mins
Powell U12: Find the equivalent
Czech English
předpoklad assumption
tělesně trestat punish physically
právo na finanční podporu right to financial support
domácí násilí domestic violence
žádat o rozvod seek a divorce
prohlásit manželství za neplatné nullify a marriage
žadatel o rozvod petitioner
péče o děti custody of children
cizoložství adultery
zdědit inherit
zůstavitel, dědic testator, heir
pořídit závěť make a will
zemřít bez dědiců ze závěti die intestate
Family
What is a family?
„Family is a group of people connected by a
close relationship.“
 Blood relatives?
 Spouses?
 Cohabitees?
 Only immediate family or also extended
family?
What is a family?
„Family is a group of persons related by
blood, affinity or by law.“
„A basic social unit consisting of parents and
their children, considered as a group,
whether dwelling together or not.“
„A group of individuals living under one roof
and usually under one head.“
What does Family Law deal
with?
 marriage
 divorce
 adoption
 child custody
 …
Civil or Pubilc Law?
 Civil law
 Public law
 e.g. Criminal law
 bigamy
 incest
Marriage
 What do the parties need to enter into a
valid marriage?
 capacity to marry
 and must comply with certain formalities, laid
down by the law
 Types
 civilní
 civil marriage
 církevní
 religious marriage
Capacity to marry
Parties to a marriage have the capacity if
they:
1. nejsou v zakázaném příbuzenském stupni
 are not within the prohibited degrees of relationship
2. je jim více jak 16 let
 are over the age of 16
3. nejsou ještě ženatí/vdané
 are not already married
4. jsou muž a žena
 are respectively male and female
Formalities
 All marriages must be registered.
 Preliminary legal formalities.
 Why are the formalities of marriage
important?
Grounds rendering marriage
voidable (MCA 1973)
A. non-consummation of the marriage due to incapacity of
either party
B. non-consummation of the marriage due to the
respondent‘s willful refusal
C. lack of valid consent to the marriage by either party
D. either party was (continuously or intermittently)
suffering from mental disorder
E. at the time of the marriage the respondent was
suffering from venereal disease in a communicable
form
F. at the time of marriage the respondent was pregnant
by some person other than the petitioner
Marry
 oženit se / vdát se
 get married
 vzít si Jane
 marry Jane
 vdaná za Toma
 married to Tom
Marital status
 married
 widowed
 divorced or separated
 never married or single
Common law marriage
 may exist where persons live together as
husband and wife
 common law wife
 družka
 common law husband
 druh
 cohabitee
Property
 Community property
 all property acquired by the husband and wife
during marriage other than by gift or
inheritance
 Separate property
 real or personal property either brought into
the marriage by one spouse or acquired by
one spouse during gift or inheritance
Function of a family
 Original function
 to reproduce, i.e. conceive and bring up
children
 legitimate child
 a child conceived in wedlock
 x illegitimate child
 consequences in the area of custody,
maintenance and succession rights
Legitimation
A (8)..................born (1)................ becomes legitimate if his parents
subsequently (7) .................. By the Legitimacy Act, 1926, an illegitimate
person is legitimated by the (2) .................. of his parents provided that at
the date of the marriage (i) the illegitimate person is alive and (ii) the (9)
........................ is domiciled in England and Wales.
The Legitimacy Act, 1959, further (6) ................... that it shall be no
bar to legitimation that either of the parents was married to a third party at the
time of the birth of the (3) ................. For example, A and B are married. B
conceives a child by Z. A then divorces B, who thereupon marries Z. The child
will be legitimated from the date of the subsequent marriage of B and Z.
The (5) .................. effect is that the (10) ........................ child is
treated in nearly all respects as though he were legitimate or a lawful child.
Should the parents die intestate, the legitimated child will succeed to their
property. Moreover, he will have the same rights of (4) ..................... by
parents as a lawful child.
Illegitimacy
A (8) ................... born during wedlock is prima facie legitimate. Similarly a
child born within the normal time after the termination of a (2) .................... by the
death of the husband or by divorce is presumed legitimate.
A child will only be (1) ......................... when the mother does not marry the
father. If the mother does, however, (7) ..................... the father following the birth of
the child, the child may be (10) .......................... .
If the mother marries some other person, the mother and the husband may in
such a case jointly adopt the mother´s illegitimate child, although her husband will be
bound to maintain the (3) ................... and can claim custody as a child of the family.
Custody and (4)....................... . An illegitimate child is in the custody of his
mother and the mother is bound to maintain him until the age of 16. The putative father,
as he is generally called, is under no (5) .................... obligation to (6) ................... for
the child except when the affiliation order has been made against him by a magistrates´
court. If so ordered, the putative (9) .................. is liable to maintain the child until the
age of 16, although it may be extended beyond 16 if the child needs further education or
training.
Answers
1. illegitimate
2. marriage
3. child
4. maintenance
5. legal
6. provide(s)
7. marry
8. child
9. father
10. legitimated
Surrogacy
 Who is a surrogate mother?
 a woman who agrees, usually by contract and
za úplatu, to bear a child for a couple who
are bezdětný because the wife is infertile or
physically neschopný of carrying a
developing fetus.
Adoption
 to ADOPT
 „= to take into one's family through legal
means and raise as one's own child“
 Adopted child
 Adoptive parents, families, and homes
 Definitions?
Adoption
 legitimate child
 consent of both parents needed
 illegitimate child
 the mother alone can consent to the adoption
Adoption
 birth records are changed
 new family name
 relationship between child and adopting
parents
 legally the same as that between natural
parents and child
All marriages terminate at some
point…
 How can a marriage be dissolved?
 by death
 decree of divorce
 decree of dissolution
 judgment of nullity
Divorce
 uncontested divorce
 divorce where the spouses can reach a
decision as to the terms of the divorce
without going to trial
 contested divorce
Custody of minor children
 both parents must decide on custody of
minor children under the age of 18
 well-being of children
Joint physical custody
 each of the parents bude mít significant
periods of physical custody, i.e. more or
less continuing contact with the children
 střídavá péče
Joint legal custody
 both parents share the right and the
responsibility to make decisions
vztahující se k the health, education,
and welfare of the children
 společná péče
Sole physical and legal custody
 the children shall zůstat with and under
the supervision of one parent
 one parent shall have the right and the
responsibility to make health, vzdělání
and welfare of the children, subject of
course to the visitation rights of the
other parent
 výlučná péče
Visitation rights
 A parent who does not have a child in his
or her custody, possesses visitation
rights.
 = contact with the child
 reasonable visitation
Last Will and Testament
 law of probate
 probate = soudní potvrzení závěti
 law of succession
 die intestate
 zemřít bez zanechání závěti
 forced heir
 neopomenutelný dědic
 contest a will
No will shall be valid unless:
a. it is in writing, and signed by the testator or some
other person in his presence and by his direction; and
b. it appears that the testator intended by his signature to
give effect to the will; and
c. the signature is made or acknowledged by the testator
in the presence of two or more witnesses present at
the same time; and
d. either witness either
i. attests and signs the will
ii. acknowledges his signature in the presence of the testator (but
not necessarily in the presence of any other witness), but no
form of attestation shall be necessary
Last Will and Testament
Guardianship / Crossword
Translate (CZEN)
1. Prohlásit manželství za
neplatné
2. Žádat o rozvod
3. Odpůrce
4. Péče o děti
5. Opatrovnictví
6. Poručník
7. Soudní potvrzení závěti
8. Dědit
9. Závěť
10. Zůstavitel
11. Majetek
12. Zemřít bez zanechání závěti
13. Dědické právo
14. Částečné odkázání majetku
1. to nullify a marriage
2. petition for divorce
3. respondent
4. custody of children
5. custodianship
6. guardian
7. probate
8. inherit
9. will
10. testator
11. estate
12. die intestate
13. laws of succession
14. partial intestacy
Revision: Running a business,
Family law
 20 mins
References
 www.dictionary.reference.com
 www.google.com
 http://www.thefreedictionary.com
 Powell, R. Law Today. Longman Group UK
Limited, 1993. 128p
 Chromá, M. New Introduction to Legal
English Volume I. Praha : Nakladatelství
Karolinum, 2003.562 p.
Have a great day!