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"Remember, minor girls are by default in the legal custody of their mothers, not their fathers." Just finished re-reading Komarr, and with Ekatarin's potential legal troubles with Nikki I had the impression all children would be in the legal custody of their father. I don't recall this being addressed in any of the other books, does anyone remember what I'm missing?
No, this is mentioned several times throughout the books - remember in Gentleman Jole Cordelia specifically has girls so she'll automatically have custody, to avoid any kind of legal or political weirdness. Nikki is a boy, so he automatically belongs to his father or his father's next--of-kin.
As a tangent, when Jole has boys they automatically belong to him (and since he didn't publicize who the other parent was he sidestepped potential problems), but I bet Barrayaran law is going to have a bit of trouble figuring out who boys with two fathers belong to.
Hm. You mentioned "books" but only cited one, unfortunately the only Vorkosigan book that I've only read once and that part apparently didn't quite stick. I'll get back to Gentleman Jole eventually. Thanks for pointing that out.
Well, I didn't have the time to go do actual (if pleasant) research, so I gave you the first example that came to mind. *shrug* As another example that comes to my memory without undue effort on my part, there's the discussion about Vormuir and his army of little girls. Ekaterin mentions that they ought to belong to their mothers, but Miles didn't pursue that argument, thinking that the unknowing mothers would be upset and not appreciate having a daughter dumped on them.
(Another tangent - I wasn't really happy about those women with the stolen eggs having their claims dismissed without a hearing, but I can at least imagine that in the background of the story they'd have a chance to find out they had surprise daughters and maybe do something about it.)
Thanks Lara! I finally had a chance to go back and reread that section, and you're entirely right - I'd remembered the dowries but forgotten about the legal side of things. Thanks for pointing that out!
By the way, about Vormuir's plot: (view spoiler)
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Derek
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Jun 21, 2022 07:34PM
"Remember, minor girls are by default in the legal custody of their mothers, not their fathers." Just finished re-reading Komarr, and with Ekatarin's potential legal troubles with Nikki I had the impression all children would be in the legal custody of their father. I don't recall this being addressed in any of the other books, does anyone remember what I'm missing?
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No, this is mentioned several times throughout the books - remember in Gentleman Jole Cordelia specifically has girls so she'll automatically have custody, to avoid any kind of legal or political weirdness. Nikki is a boy, so he automatically belongs to his father or his father's next--of-kin.As a tangent, when Jole has boys they automatically belong to him (and since he didn't publicize who the other parent was he sidestepped potential problems), but I bet Barrayaran law is going to have a bit of trouble figuring out who boys with two fathers belong to.
Hm. You mentioned "books" but only cited one, unfortunately the only Vorkosigan book that I've only read once and that part apparently didn't quite stick. I'll get back to Gentleman Jole eventually. Thanks for pointing that out.
Well, I didn't have the time to go do actual (if pleasant) research, so I gave you the first example that came to mind. *shrug* As another example that comes to my memory without undue effort on my part, there's the discussion about Vormuir and his army of little girls. Ekaterin mentions that they ought to belong to their mothers, but Miles didn't pursue that argument, thinking that the unknowing mothers would be upset and not appreciate having a daughter dumped on them. (Another tangent - I wasn't really happy about those women with the stolen eggs having their claims dismissed without a hearing, but I can at least imagine that in the background of the story they'd have a chance to find out they had surprise daughters and maybe do something about it.)
Thanks Lara! I finally had a chance to go back and reread that section, and you're entirely right - I'd remembered the dowries but forgotten about the legal side of things. Thanks for pointing that out!By the way, about Vormuir's plot: (view spoiler)
