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  • Spousal privelege

    From micky@21:1/5 to All on Thu May 16 07:09:16 2024
    When I gooogle can testify against spouse
    I get conflicting replies.

    One says that one can if one wants to, and the other that either party
    can object to it. That is, one can't even if one wants to if the
    spouse says no. Does it vary by state, or are some replies wrong?

    What is the typical rule?


    Interestingly, Amazon has started using ai to summarize customer
    reviews, and I find the ai summary rather worthless. I'd much rather
    read even a small sample of the actual reviews.
    AND I just heard on the news today that Google will start using ai and
    sure enough, it starts the search I refer to at the top line in this
    post with "AI overview" which says that "testimonial privlege prevents a
    spouse from tesifying unless they** choose to do so". Communications previeleges requires consent from both. --- This doesn't seem supported
    by half of the actual replies. Is AI, the thing that wrote briefs with non-existent citations, screwing up some more?

    **The antecedent is spouse but the pronoun is "they". This is confusing.
    I think any ai ought to be smart enough to not compose confusing
    sentences. All it has to say is "he or she", is that so hard? ]


    P.S. sorry I haven't been able to reply in threads I started. I hope to
    do so.

    --
    I think you can tell, but just to be sure:
    I am not a lawyer.

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  • From Stuart O. Bronstein@21:1/5 to micky on Thu May 16 07:54:28 2024
    micky <[email protected]> wrote:

    When I gooogle can testify against spouse
    I get conflicting replies.

    One says that one can if one wants to, and the other that either party
    can object to it. That is, one can't even if one wants to if the
    spouse says no. Does it vary by state, or are some replies wrong?

    What is the typical rule?

    The traditional rule is that one spouse can be prevented from testifying against the other. The reason is that forcing one spouse to testify could
    have a damaging impact on the marital relationship.

    More recently (say the last 50 years) many states have changed that, so
    that instead of a broad prohibition, now it's that one spouse isn't
    required to testify against the other. The thought is that, if one spouse
    is willing to testify, the marital relationship is already on the rocks,
    and preventing the spouse from testifying won't help the relationship.

    --
    Stu
    http://DownToEarthLawyer.com

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  • From Barry Gold@21:1/5 to micky on Fri May 17 09:50:30 2024
    On 5/16/2024 7:09 AM, micky wrote:
    When I gooogle can testify against spouse
    I get conflicting replies.

    One says that one can if one wants to, and the other that either party
    can object to it. That is, one can't even if one wants to if the
    spouse says no. Does it vary by state, or are some replies wrong?

    What is the typical rule?

    It varies from state to state, and there are two kinds of privilege:
    1. Communication Privilege
    2. Testimonial Privilege

    Communication privilege relates to what one spouse tells the other. The
    law considers it good that people should be able to talk freely to their
    spouse and not have to worry about what might come out in court years later.

    In most states, either spouse can invoke testimonial privilege. That is,
    if I tell my wife something that I don't want coming out, she can refuse
    to testify, but I can also keep her from testifying about that.

    Testimonial privilege: A person can refuse to testify against his/her
    spouse. This is supposed to protect marital harmony. In some states, a
    person can prevent his/her spouse from testifying against him/her.
    Also, there are exceptions. You might want to read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spousal_privilege

    General (but not legal) advice: WIYF.

    Also, with regard to "they", see
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they
    again, WIYF.
    --
    I do so have a memory. It's backed up on DVD... somewhere...

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