Also known as: substantial hardships
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A severe economic or personal burden that would result from enforcing a term or rule.
Simone Sanders signed a premarital agreement waiving spousal support, believing she could always earn a modest income. Years later she developed a disabling autoimmune disease that left her unable to work while her spouse's business income surged. In the divorce proceeding the court refuses to enforce the waiver because applying it now would leave Simone without any means of support.
Samuel Soto's spouse executed a mortgage on community property under an old statute that gave husbands sole control. A later court decision invalidating the statute on equal-protection grounds would upset countless existing mortgages if applied retroactively. The court limits the ruling to prospective effect only, citing the substantial hardship that full retroactivity would impose on property rights throughout the state.
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Sierra Santos, a female civil-service applicant, challenges a state statute that awards absolute hiring preference to veterans, nearly all of whom are male. She argues the preference imposes substantial hardship on women seeking public employment. The court evaluates whether the preference can survive equal-protection scrutiny given the breadth of the burden it places on a historically disadvantaged class.
A court may refuse enforcement when a material, unforeseen change after signing leaves one spouse unable to meet basic needs. Severe illness that destroys earning capacity, combined with an unexpected windfall to the other spouse, satisfies the standard. The inquiry focuses on the agreement taken as a whole and is decided as a matter of law.
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No. The exception balances the client's need for the particular lawyer against the cost and timing of replacement and the potential harm to the opposing party. Courts weigh these factors rather than requiring a showing that substitute counsel is impossible to obtain.
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When compliance would force a party to incur irreversible costs or risk forfeiture of property, the hardship element of ripeness is satisfied. Courts permit review before actual enforcement if the burden of waiting is concrete and nonrecoverable.
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…system. Craig v. Boren , supra , at 202-203. See Orr v. Orr , supra , at 281. Where a particular statutory scheme visits substantial hardship on a class long subject to discrimination, the legislation cannot be sustained unless " carefully tuned to alternative considerations.'" Trimble v. Gordon , supra , at 772. See Caban v.…