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Full-Text Articles in Law
Does Parental Autonomy Require Equal Custody At Divorce?, Margaret F. Brinig
Does Parental Autonomy Require Equal Custody At Divorce?, Margaret F. Brinig
Margaret F Brinig
This paper considers the affect of amendments to state divorce laws that strengthen their joint custody preference. It does so in the context of suits by noncustodial parents challenging substantive custody standards not requiring equal custody at divorce. The complaint is that most custody laws, by using a best interests standard rather than equally dividing custodial time, violate substantive due process. Further, two states, Iowa and Maine, have recently amended their custody legislation to strongly presume joint physical custody.
After setting out the constitutional problem and describing the legislation in some detail, this paper tests the effects of the change …
The Other Side Of The Rabbit Hole: Reconciling Recent Supreme Court Personal Jurisdiction Jurisprudence With Jurisdiction To Terminate Parental Rights, Joan M. Shaughnessy
The Other Side Of The Rabbit Hole: Reconciling Recent Supreme Court Personal Jurisdiction Jurisprudence With Jurisdiction To Terminate Parental Rights, Joan M. Shaughnessy
Joan M. Shaughnessy
This Essay contrasts the jurisdictional regime followed in termination of parental rights and other child custody cases with the regime that has dominated recent Supreme Court personal jurisdiction cases. Jurisdiction in child custody cases has long been based upon the connection of the child, not the defendant parent, to the jurisdiction. Recent Supreme Court cases, on the other hand, have focused nearly exclusively on the defendant’s connection to the forum state. This Essay argues that the Supreme Court cases betray a failure of the Court to provide a consistent constitutional justification for the jurisdictional limitations it has imposed. The Essay …
"The Good Mother": Mothering, Feminism, And Incarceration, Deseriee A. Kennedy
"The Good Mother": Mothering, Feminism, And Incarceration, Deseriee A. Kennedy
Deseriee A. Kennedy
As the rates of incarceration continue to rise, women are increasingly subject to draconian criminal justice and child welfare policies that frequently result in the loss of their parental rights. The intersection of an increasingly carceral state and federally imposed timelines for achieving permanency for children in state care has had a negative effect on women, their children, and their communities. Women, and their ability to parent, are more adversely affected by the intersection of these gender-neutral provisions because they are more likely than men to be the primary caretaker of their children. In addition, incarcerated women have higher rates …
Rights And Realities, Laura A. Rosenbury
Rights And Realities, Laura A. Rosenbury
Laura A. Rosenbury
The author responds to Melissa Murray's article, The Networked Family: Reframing the Legal Understanding of Caregiving and Caregivers, 94 Va. L. Rev. 385 (2008).
The Origin Of Parental Rights: Labor, Intent, And Fathers, Dara Purvis
The Origin Of Parental Rights: Labor, Intent, And Fathers, Dara Purvis
Dara Purvis
Most theories of parentage fail to explain the genesis of the right to parent - for example, why does a biological relationship generate parental rights? This Article shows that the law of parental rights mirrors theories of acquiring property, and that the law has shifted over time, from favoring a property right based in genetics to a Lockean theory of property rights earned through labor. The growth of Lockean labor-based theories is epitomized in reforms to parentage laws that incorporate functional theories of parenting, meaning that adults who perform caretaking work that creates a significant relationship with children are recognized …
Multiple Parents/Multiple Fathers, Nancy E. Dowd
Multiple Parents/Multiple Fathers, Nancy E. Dowd
Nancy Dowd
Multiple parents, especially multiple fathers, are a social reality but not a legal category. The assumption that every child has, or should have, two, but only two, parents remains a core operating assumption of family law. Yet at the same time, our knowledge of the existence of multiple fathers, whether birthfathers, stepfathers, psychological fathers or other categories, has found some reflection in cases that have granted some relational rights to fathers who do not fill the single place allotted for "legal father." In this Article, Professor Dowd proposes that it is time to think not if, but how, to recognize …
Children, Parents & The State: The Construction Of A New Family Ideology, Deseriee A. Kennedy
Children, Parents & The State: The Construction Of A New Family Ideology, Deseriee A. Kennedy
Deseriee A. Kennedy
More than twenty-five states allow courts to consider parental incarceration or conviction of a crime in determining whether to terminate parental rights. This problem is of increasing significance as a result of dramatic growth in incarceration rates, particularly among women who were often the primary and sole caretaker of their children before their imprisonment. Social scientists have recognized that the reality for parents in many communities is one of widespread and repeated incarceration, which has a devastating effect on families and communities. The problem is magnified by a failed drug policy and the Adoption and Safe Families Act, which, in …
Parental Rights And The Ugly Duckling, Margaret F. Brinig, F. H. Buckley
Parental Rights And The Ugly Duckling, Margaret F. Brinig, F. H. Buckley
Margaret F Brinig
No abstract provided.
What's Wrong With A Parenthood Market? A New And Improved Theory Of Commodification, Martha M. Ertman
What's Wrong With A Parenthood Market? A New And Improved Theory Of Commodification, Martha M. Ertman
Martha M. Ertman
No abstract provided.