What do you think about these requirement before marriage?

Question

My sociology instructor came up with these mandatory requirements before getting married. I wanted to know anyones thoughts about these requirements my instuctor came up with.

-STD testing of both partners
-extensive background check
-credit check
-mental health check
-expiration date on marriage license

No my professor is not a man hater or anything like that. She wanted to know what we thought about this topic THATS ALL. The course sociology(marriage and family). Its just hypothetical.

Answer 1

Why not? Most people have secrets to hide, and despite what everyone says, it is better for all couples (in the vast majority of situations, some times (rarely) it is better to keep something a secret) to know and understand each others past, viewpoints, and feelings about key items. The above does that, and forces people to do that.

An expiration date on marriage license is a bit too strict, remember that while divorce rate is 50% of the population, only 20% of first marriage couples get divorced, which means the other 30% of the divorces are caused by people who get married multiple times. Since the vast majority of people stay together in their first marriage - why have an expiration date?

Finally, I would add a couple of things to the above:
1. Mandatory financial counseling prior to marriage;
2. Mandatory mediation agreement prior to marriage (in order to help prevent divorce);
3. Mandatory answering of questionnaire so that everybody knows everything about each other.

Answer 2

STD testing of both partners - Given that they used to do the blood tests, and decided to stop doing those, that wouldn't fly.

Extensive background check - That's nice! Some people don't even know the person they are marrying. It would be a hassle and costly, though. This would give even more reasons to shack-up and not get married.

Credit check - This is a good one. And its not costly either. You could find out the motivation behind the marriage and if you needed to get a prenup or not.

Mental health check - Given that your spouse can not access your health records without your permission, this wouldn't go that far. Plus, almost everybody has something wrong with them mentally.

Expiration date on marriage license - This isn't a valid requirement given that some states has that requirement already. Most states has it, if you are a resident, you get anywhere for 30 - not no expiration. If you are visiting, you have 30 days before it expires.

Answer 3

STD test -- OK
Extensive background check -- Unnecessary and expensive, this is what dating is for anyway.
Credit Check -- tells almost nothing about the person, especially so since most people's credit reports contain glaring errors.
Mental Health check -- too vague. What are you testing for? (i.e. Myers-Briggs personality indicator, potential towards violence, sociopathic tendencies, intelligence, etc)
Expiration date on marriage licenses--if you mean that you don't GET married within a certain time and the license expires OK. I believe some states have this already. If you mean that you cease being married after a certain period, what you now have is no longer a "marriage license". Such a "license" would be more of a "sex easement" legally.

How about this for a requirement, NOTHING? Since marriage is in fact primarily a religious institution the first amendment prohibits regulation of marriage. Mandating monogamy prohibits Muslims and some Mormons from practicing their religion. Prohibitions against adultery prohibit some Hindus and Pagans from practicing their religion. Etc. food for thought...

Answer 4

That is all your sociology teacher could come up with? What about premarital counseling? Mental health check, two people who are going to get married, should have gotten to know eachother enough to know if they are marrying someone who is mentally unstable. The background check should only check for anything criminal, and the std testing is a good idea. I thought marriage licenses were only good for one year.

Answer 5

An expiration date on a marriage license is idiotic and completely contrary to the idea of marriage. STD testing is pointless since most people are having sex before marriage anyway. An extensive backgound check means that we are now the same person we were. We're not.

Answer 6

that's bs. who would get married knowing its going to expire? i'm a little iffy on the credit check, background check and mental health check too although i see that it could be a benefit in many ways that a huge invasion of privacy for them to force upon you and i like to think that if you're marrying that person they know your history anyways! and just because someone has a bad history doesn't mean that's who they are so it's not really fair to people

Answer 7

Wow, what a great checklist for an arrangement. Is this your requirements list for a marriage though? What about the intangibles such as:
Must love each other
Must trust each other
Must support each other's ideals and dreams...
The list goes on....

But if you want a list like yours instead, consider adding the following:
prenup agreement
list of roles and responsibilities
measures of accountability
separate bank accounts
complete inventory of what is "yours" and what is "hers"

Answer 8

LOL..... if youve already slept with someone what does the STD check accomplish?.....I knew my wife had bed credit, married her anyway..... Let me guess your sociology professor is a really nerdy guy thats never been married,

Answer 9

Sounds sane by today's standards. Can't go wrong, believe me. Also check for existing marriages in other states.

Answer 10

Sounds like good information to have before getting married.