BONNIE BRUNO

This bill reframes marriage as a private contract while removing the public protections that exist because intimate relationships are not equal-power arrangements. On the surface, HB 1615-FN sells itself as expanding freedom and choice: • Autonomy — “Consenting adults” choosing their own terms • Freedom from government — No licenses, no family court • Equality — “Equal recognition and protection” • Modernization — Marriage treated as a contract rather than a public institution But what this bill actually does is privatize marriage while stripping away the safeguards that exist precisely because marriage is not a business deal. Family law exists to address real-world power imbalances. Contract law does not. By barring courts from modifying contract terms, this bill places stay-at-home spouses, people who paused careers, and those experiencing emotional or financial coercion at serious risk. With no ability for courts to intervene, there is no safety valve. The removal of family court jurisdiction is not neutral—it is ideological. The bill explicitly states: “Disputes will be governed exclusively by civil courts, with family courts having no jurisdiction.” That is not efficiency. It is hostility to the very systems designed to account for human relationships. Family courts: • consider power imbalance • recognize caregiving labor • account for long-term dependency • evaluate the lived reality of relationships Civil courts do not. They enforce terms. Period. One of the most concerning provisions is the conversion clause, which allows licensed marriages to be converted into contract marriages. This opens the door to: • retroactive rewriting of marital obligations • pressure within existing marriages to “opt out” of protections • erosion of long-standing marital expectations And again—no court modification is allowed. This is how protections disappear without repeal. Children are referenced, but only narrowly. Yes, the bill preserves child support obligations—but that is a fig leaf. What about: • custody decisions? • valuation of caregiving labor? • the economic fallout for the caregiving parent? These are exactly the areas family courts exist to protect, and they are weakened by this bill. This is why HB 1615-FN should be a red flag—even for those who value personal freedom. It does not expand marriage. It dismantles marriage as a public institution and replaces it with: • private contracts • minimal oversight • no relational equity framework That aligns with broader efforts to weaken public protections by reframing their removal as “choice.” This bill does not modernize marriage—it privatizes it, stripping away protections that exist because intimate relationships are not equal-power contracts. For those interested in understanding how this approach fits into a broader *political agenda* of the Free State/Liberty Alliance in New Hampshire, additional context can be found at: https://granitestatematters.org/