Lesson3: Rights and Responsibilities of a Married Couple

Rights and Obligations of Married People
When people marry, they create a brand new legal relationship with
each other. Their marriage is a legally binding contract and, like any
legal contract, it involves obligations on the one hand and rights on
the other. Couples approaching marriage often have a difficult time
staying focused on this fact. The excitement of the "big day"; the time
and energy involved in arranging a wedding (especially a big wedding); the
anticipation of ending one way of life and beginning a new one (a life
together), often make it very hard to take a sober look at the
legal aspects of the new life that is about to begin. However, this makes it
all the more important to understand just what rights and obligations a
marriage entails.
A marriage is a contract, and the courts will enforce it. What follows is a closer look at the rights and obligations married people owe each other.