Goku and Chici technically not married?

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Attitudefan
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Goku and Chici technically not married?

Post by Attitudefan » Sun Apr 08, 2018 1:51 am

After Goku and Chichi's marriage, a few years later Goku is killed. By technicality, are Goku and Chichi married [by law] still? As the promise for marriage tends to have the line "til death do us part." So, by death, Goku is not married to Chichi anymore?

If it were the real world, and say they had to pay taxes or in some way be accountable for their property by law, Goku beng dead for a year would make things complicated once he is revived. If Chichi wanted, she could leave Goku with little repercussions at all.
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Pantalones
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Re: Goku and Chici technically not married?

Post by Pantalones » Sun Apr 08, 2018 2:56 am

Chi-Chi and Goku live out in the middle of nowhere, so it's entirely possible that nobody outside the family and friends ever really found out about the whole dead-Goku thing. Especially since they knew he was going to be wished back in a year. There aren't really many people out there to notice Goku wasn't around to begin with, and it's even less likely that they'd go to the authorities to report him missing or something. There've been people in real life who've spent pretty long spans of time dead before anyone noticed, and that's with a dead body stinking up the house and drawing flies and such. With Goku, the body isn't just hanging around somewhere, so there's even less chance that anyone who doesn't already know would find out he was dead.

As far as taxes and other expenses go... Goku doesn't pay for stuff, he doesn't seem to ever have a real job until WAY past beginning-of-Z. They're just coasting along on the Ox King's money. So Goku's absence has no effect on anything along those lines.

Now, Goku staying dead for seven years after the Cell Games would be a lot trickier to explain!

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Attitudefan
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Re: Goku and Chici technically not married?

Post by Attitudefan » Sun Apr 08, 2018 3:04 am

Pantalones wrote: Now, Goku staying dead for seven years after the Cell Games would be a lot trickier to explain!
So is it wholly possible that Chichi is a widowed woman even after Goku is revived? Are they even really together still?
My favourite art style (and animation) outside Toriyama who worked on Dragon Ball: Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, Masaki Satō, Minoru Maeda, Takeo Ide, Hisashi Eguchi, Katsumi Aoshima, Tomekichi Takeuchi, Masahiro Shimanuki, Kazuya Hisada

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Re: Goku and Chici technically not married?

Post by dbgtFO » Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:31 am

I doubt their marriage is registered anywhere other than in the minds of friends, family and 23rd TB spectators, so that wouldn't be a problem.

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Pantalones
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Re: Goku and Chici technically not married?

Post by Pantalones » Sun Apr 08, 2018 1:17 pm

So is it wholly possible that Chichi is a widowed woman even after Goku is revived? Are they even really together still?
Legally? If Earth in Dragonball considers a marriage to be over when somebody's known to be dead, and their marriage was "official" in the first place, then she is probably "officially" widowed now. Nobody was really expecting Goku to come back after the Cell Games, not even Goku himself -- and even when he did come back, he figured it would just be to visit for one day. He wasn't expecting the old Kaioshin to donate his remaining lifespan when his one day on Earth ran out, he just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

I wonder if the laws on Dragonball's Earth have a way of accounting for people coming back to life, though. What with Cell eating HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of people and all of them being wished back, and this happening after all the news reports of people vanishing leaving nothing but their clothes behind, it's basically impossible to deny that stuff like that happens now (no matter how much Mr. Satan in the Cell/early Buu saga would want you to think it's "just a trick.") Is there an official "whoops, he's not dead anymore" form she can fill out to get their marriage renewed? XD

They're still together as long as they're together, though -- "marriage" is just a piece of paper, a contract making the relationship official in the eyes of the government. A relationship can exist before that, and continue to exist without that.

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ulisa
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Re: Goku and Chici technically not married?

Post by ulisa » Sun Apr 08, 2018 6:42 pm

Well, I'd imagine Goku and ChiChi were officially married, given that she opted to give her kids his surname, which if I recall correctly is rare in the Dragonball, and that she was able to be with him in the hospital without any issues. Plus, I just don't imagine why they wouldn't especially when ChiChi was so gung-ho on marriage. So, for all intents and purposes, I'd imagine they were legally wed in whatever government agency needed documentation.

Now, regarding Goku's death in the Cell Games, ChiChi could have not told the government at which case, nothing would need to be done but for the sake of argument, let's say she did report him as deceased. As for what story she gave them, I'm not sure since there was no body but given there was no body, it could be a case of declared death in absentia. If ChiChi could not produce a body, they likely would have a time period they would need to wait. It tends to vary, general acceptance is 7 years before it can be made official. In that case, Goku might come back just before it's made official and thus, all that legal mess is avoided.

Last case scenario, an actual death certificate was issued. In this case, again, I think the fact that there was no body could serve in their favor. A death certificate can be amended when information is inaccurate (though there is a process to it) so I'd imagine it can also be voided for a similar reason. Again, since there was no body, ChiChi could always do the "he vanished and I thought he was dead but he's home again" reasoning. Given Goku was treated in a hospital after the Saiyans arrived, they likely have his blood samples on some type on record. While they usually only keep records 6 years, I'd surmise they likely found Goku's case a special situation, given the injuries and his odd composition so I'd be surprised if they dismissed those records. All they'd need to do is do a confirmation and that's that.

It wouldn't surprise me if ChiChi wanted them to renew their vows though...
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