"This is the proposed legislation that will be brought to the State Legislator by the State Supreme Court. The Advised and Adjudicated Marriages Bill. " The Honorable Justice Ettienne Benadi said to Greg and Veronica.
It had been a busy three months since the Battle of The Country Club, as it was now known. It had been widely discussed, the developments in the BDSM community and in mainstream society openly harkened back to that fight between Angelica and Gwendolyn. The judge was the third member of the panel to adjudicate Greg and Veronica's proposed marriage.
Even the judge was surprised at the Supreme Court's response to Gwendolyn's appeal for legal opinion on Greg's ideas. The judges found that under certain conditions there was no legal reason an individual could not cede civil and individual rights to another. The consensus was that Greg and Veronica had come up with a few very good ideas. He had been appointed by the judges to look into this in more detail and to take an active part in the precedent.
He was a judge with a conservative decision base but also had a D/s relationship with his wife of twenty two years. She was a sociologist and fascinated by the idea and how it would affect the society. She was sitting in as observer. She had studied the processes happening in the BDSM community in regard to this with interest and followed Angelica's channels closely.
"This bill allows for several marriage models. From out of community of property with and without accrual of profits, to voluntary transfer of assets and rights."
Everybody in the room was stunned. Nobody had thought that Greg's romantic idea would be entertained let alone sustained. Angelica considered this in terms of BDSM D/s relationships, it was the basic intention of every such relationship.
Gwendolyn sat back and thought about the more fundamentalist church groups she had traction in and what this meant for her support in the upcoming election cycle. Her polling numbers had soared since the fight, and right now she was way ahead of the incumbent state governor. Her party was endorsing her to run for the governor's post. She was obviously going to be for this bill. She considered Greg and Veronica and how much of the election would depend on them.
Veronica felt terrible at the news. This would put her in the spotlight. She wanted to avoid that at all costs. She had spent the time since the battle in awe of Greg and his ability to improvise. She had seen the vast impact his decisions had, not only at the golf club but also with his income sources. Roughly seven thousand families lived on his financial decisions; that was just his family's businesses in Britain and did not include the brewery. His personal income was three times bigger without his art or royalties from his books. She couldn't even handle the royalties that got paid directly to an account she had sole control over.
Greg was surprised, and worried. He knew Veronica was unhappy, he knew that he and she would immediately be in the spotlight when this marriage model came out. He didn't like being in the spotlight, neither did Veronica, this was going to be bad. They had started it, and they would be scrutinized intensely by a lot more than a panel of people adept at keeping confidences.
"Now in the Voluntary Transfer of Assets and Right marriage; the transfer needs to be a court order. Nothing else, in the state's constitution or the US constitution, could be accepted. Thus such a marriage becomes a trial and evidence becomes crucial. The marriage partners must prove that they are already in a de facto relationship of what can best be described as owner and slave. The owner needs to prove ability to sustain the slave without the slave's assets from the start of the relationship moving into that of owner and slave. The owner must prove the ability to manage the slave and the slave's assets, and the slave's liabilities. from the day of moving in an owner and slave relationship the owning spouse becomes the first respondent in any legal matter concerning the owned or prospectively owned spouse. To this end the start of such a relationship needs to be firm and witnessed by parties other than family."
the judge looked up at Veronica and spoke to her more than Greg.
"The opinion about this clause is moving to the idea of the community being made aware. That means it will need to be witnessed in a by a church congregation, a social club, a workplace and must have a documentary trail."
Veronica went pale at that measure. there would be no hiding it away. the judge looked down and resumed reading.
"There must be full disclosure of their past by both owner and slave to be investigated. this is for the protection of both parties, should either party be in a position of suspected or accused in any criminal matter no progress can be made until the criminal matter is resolved. The said court order, all actions of the slave become the culpability of the owner. As such the owner can be prosecuted for something the slave does. On the other as the slave becomes property the owner who cannot be prosecuted for murder if the owned puts the slave to death. Those are the important parts. There is more like what happens if the owning spouse dies first. health care falls away and becomes the sole responsibility of the owning spouse. There are protocols for endorsements on driver's licenses identity documents, how the population registry will be adapted, the transfer of voting right on a precedent of a power of attorney. the important parts are here, and you will need a provision in your will to transfer ownership of your spouse, should that not be in pace he may well become property of the state."
There was complete silence as the judge finished reading from the paper on top of all the files in front of him. Everybody knew that if this case went to court now the court order would not be granted. Angelica doubted very much that it would ever be granted between Veronica and Greg. He loved her and was trying, but she was never going to be able to handle him.
Both Angelica and Gwendolyn had discussed this at length, Veronica had been right at the club after the fight; she loved the idea of him. The reality of Greg was very different. He wasn't just a loose cannon, he was a nuclear power station and the cooling system gave trouble. What Greg was going to do when Veronica broke up was what kept both Gwendolyn and Angelica awake at night.
"Nothing in the legislation proposed prevents an unadvised marriage becoming an advised and adjudicated marriage. However the voluntary transfer marriage has no divorce protocol. If you are owned by your spouse you are stuck. Your spouse can give you to another spouse, with some conditions being met. We will not permit a trade in owned spouses for instance. There are some occupations not permitted for owned spouses. These include law enforcement officers, emergency medical practitioners, disaster management service, financial management, or of course business proprietors." The judge said next.
Veronica and Greg both heard the unspoken suggestion that they not go for this. But rather just get married. The trouble was that Greg was not going to go for that now; Veronica knew that. Greg knew that Veronica would not go for anything else too, the trouble was that he knew she could not do it with him because the last thing they had discussed was that he managed the money. The amounts and impacts frightened her.
"I can't do this now!" Veronica said and ran out bursting into tears as she ran.
"STAY GREG!" Gwendolyn shouted surprising herself.
Greg sat down after a few heartbeats of half standing. There was not point going after Veronica now, they heard the car start and rush away.
"Bummer, we came to Raleigh together." Greg said mildly.
"You're that cool about her running out?" The judge asked.
"No your honor, I'm not." Greg replied just as mildly as before.
Angelina had a look at Greg, he was far from cool. Veronica had managed one thing with him, he was accessing his emotions. She could tell he was furious. His shoulders were stiff, and he was tapping the chair arm with his fingers. That was new.
"Can you convince her to come back and work from here?" The judge's wife asked.
"Yes I could. But would it be her or me through her? The uncomfortable self-examination now is whether I manipulated her or not. Did my desire to belong drive her to agree to this idea? Did I harm her? I am very, very good Mrs. Benade." Greg assured her.
"Greg... before you try to salvage anything, talk to me. Please?" Angelica asked.
