Inexplicável silêncio ante a situação do cônjuge inocente

A respeito do problema do “cônjuge inocente abandonado”, observa-se um inexplicável silêncio, seja da parte do Magistério da Igreja, seja da parte dos teólogos e estudiosos. Durante as seções do Concílio Vaticano II e do Sínodo dos Bispos sobre a Família (1980), houve alguns convites para ocupar-se com esta questão. O Concílio de Trento condenou com “anátema” a quem negasse que o adultério desfaz o vínculo conjugal, mesmo em caso de cônjuge inocente. Não obstante os limites que este “anátema” comporta, parece que a doutrina da Igreja se estratificou. Hoje, a reflexão teológica coloca perspectivas que permitem que se vá ao encontro deste problema em função de uma solução pastoral. Abstract: Regarding the issue of the “innocent spouse abandoned”, we notice there is an inexplicable silence either on the part of the Church’s Magisterium or on the part of theologians and scholars. During the sessions of the Second Vatican Council and the Synod of Bishops on the Family (1980), there have been some suggestions that we should deal with this question. The Council of Trent condemned as “anathema” those who denied that adultery dissolves the marriage bond, even in the case of an innocent spouse. Notwithstanding the limits that this “anathema” holds, it seems that the doctrine of the Church became stratified. Today, theological reflection points to perspectives that allow us to meet this problem in terms of a pastoral solution.Keywords: Innocent spouse. Spouse abandoned. Magisterium of the church. Vatican Council II. Council of Trent.

A Legal and Exploratory Empirical Analysis of Changes to Innocent Spouse Law

ABSTRACT This paper studies recent changes to innocent spouse law instituted by Rev. Proc. 2013-34. This rule change explicitly addresses issues with innocent spouse rulings, while also making innocent spouse law more flexible. I use legal and empirical methodologies to study 81 innocent spouse cases, and find that the recent rule changes have significantly modified the impact of various factors. Changes to some factors were stated objectives of the rule change; for example, abuse now has an increased impact on innocent spouse rulings. However, some changes appear to be side effects of the revised law's increased flexibility. Specifically, the health factor was unchanged by Rev. Proc. 2013-34, but appears to have gained prominence due to greater flexibility in innocent spouse law. Overall, my findings show that judges can now decide a case based on various criteria, rather than being bound primarily by taxpayer knowledge—as was the case pre-Rev. Proc. 2013-34.

Ethical Reasoning and Equitable Relief

Professional manager perceptions were investigated in this study using a survey containing two equitable relief situational vignettes to investigate empirically two of the four steps from Rest's (1986) ethical reasoning process. Business societal perceptions of the equitable relief subset of the innocent spouse rules were also investigated, focusing on the knowledge of evasion and abuse factors. The results indicated that the ethical reasoning process was significantly related to ethical decision making and Rest's (1986) model. Furthermore, decision makers were more likely to judge that relief be granted in an equitable relief scenario involving abuse than to one not involving abuse. The knowledge of evasion factor contained in both scenarios appeared to influence indirectly respondents' judgments to deny equitable relief, while the presence of emotional abuse strengthened relief judgments. Finally, the study presents a general framework involving the interrelationship of Congressional intent with societal perceptions regarding subjective equitable relief tax-law provisions that are associated within a societal context.