Family Law Commons^™

The Ali Principles Of The Law Of Family Dissolution: Addressing Inequality Through Functional Regulation, Linda C. Mcclain, Douglas Nejamie

Faculty Scholarship

As part of a volume commemorating the American Law Institute on its centennial, this Essay reflects on the ALI Principles of the Law of Family Dissolution. We show how the Principles’ drafters intervened in cutting-edge issues at a time of flux in family law in ways that elaborated a progressive agenda that would continue to gain traction in the years after the Principles’ publication in 2000. Beginning from the assumption that family law should reflect how people actually live, the drafters developed a functional, rather than formal, approach to legal regulation. Such an approach, they believed, could vindicate commitments to …

A Game Theory View Of Family Law: Planning For A 500% Family Tax, Steven J. Willis

FIU Law Review

Divorces involve money, which can prompt fierce legal battles. These include family obligations for child support, alimony, and property division. Small income changes can have huge consequences. For example, a $1,000 income increase can result in $5,000 of increased family obligations. A $10,000 increase can produce $50,000 of obligations. Or a $10,000 decrease can result in $50,000 of reduced obligations.

A Game Theory View Of Family Law: Divorce Planning For A 500% "Family-Tax", Steven J. Willis

UF Law Faculty Publications

Divorces involve money, which can prompt fierce legal battles. These include family obligations for child support, alimony, and property division. Small income changes can have huge consequences. For example, a $1,000 income increase can result in $5,000 of increased family obligations. A $10,000 increase can produce $50,000 of obligations. Or a $10,000 decrease can result in $50,000 of reduced obligations.

Money And Betrayal: Perceptions Of Alimony Fairness In Relation To Infidelity, Jessica Wery, Michael Kothakota

Journal of Financial Therapy

Alimony is a contentious topic often argued over during a divorce. Individuals getting divorced seek fairness in an alimony settlement, but due to how laws are written this can seem arbitrary. Public policy suggests laws should reflect the suggestions of the people it affects. Thus, public perception of alimony fairness is an important component in the discussion of what is fair for spouses. In addition, infidelity in marriage might change how the public views what is fair. This study collected data from 1,285 individual United States participants. Participants were randomly assigned a vignette condition related to a hypothetical alimony scenario …

Child Support And Joint Physical Custody, Raymond C. O'Brien

Catholic University Law Review

Child custody has evolved to the point where, at a minimum, states provide a mediated process by which parents may formulate parenting plans with court-appointed assistance. At a maximum state legislatures and courts increasingly consider joint physical custody awards. While joint physical custody safeguards the fundamental rights of parents, it nonetheless prompts practical concerns in awarding child support. Today, child support begins with state statutory guidelines, but the guidelines often fail to adequately address the economic consequences of two complete residences, one supported by a parent with fewer economic resources, and the fact that oftentimes the child drifts from one …

Family Law By The Numbers: The Story That Casebooks Tell, Laura T. Kessler

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

This Article presents the findings of a content analysis of 86 family law casebooks published in the United States from 1960 to 2019. Its purpose is to critically assess the discipline of family law with the aim of informing our understandings of family law’s history and exposing its ideological foundations and consequences. Although legal thinkers have written several intellectual histories of family law, this is the first quantitative look at the field.

The study finds that coverage of marriage and divorce in family law casebooks has decreased by almost half relative to other topics since the 1960s. In contrast, pages …

Alimony: The Taxing Economic Implications Of Divorce, Jared Mason, Amaia Kennedy

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

In 2017 alone, over 750,000 American couples chose to divorce3.

Nationally, fifty percent of marriages end in divorce, with each of

these marriages lasting eight years, on average. Put another way,

a divorce occurs every 13 seconds, and each of those divorces is

expensive, with an average cost of approximately $15,000 per person.

Are Premarital Agreements Really Unfair?: An Empirical Study, Elizabeth Carter

Journal Articles

The article focuses on unfair treatment of premarital agreements and data of the people who entered into premarital agreements including age at marriage, race, and political affiliation. It mentions substance of the premarital agreements including how the agreements divide property and whether the agreements waive spousal support. It also mentions premarital agreements involve the waiver of property rights.

In Search Of A Theory Of Alimony, John C. Sheldon, Nancy Diesel Mills

Maine Law Review

Maine's alimony statute is full of good advice. It directs judges who hear requests for alimony to “consider” all kinds of things, from the parties' individual wealth to their individual health, from their respective ages to their respective wages, from the length of their marriage to the strength of their educations. And, as if to subdue any doubt about the breadth of this assignment, the statute then invites judges to take into account “any other factors the court considers appropriate.” In short, the statute grants judges almost unlimited discretion in awarding alimony. Power notwithstanding, however, anyone who reads the statute …

A Human Capital Theory Of Alimony And Tax, Tessa R. Davis

Faculty Publications

The current taxation of alimony is a broken scheme. Severed from any strong theoretical mooring, it draws lines in the sand between property settlement, child support, and alimony. The lack of coherence between the substance of alimony in family law and the tax concept of alimony (“tax alimony”) could be justified on other policy grounds, however. Yet current law, which allows the payor a deduction under §215 and requires inclusion by the recipient per §71, is difficult to interpret, resulting in frequent litigation and costly noncompliance. In short, the current concept of tax alimony fails to satisfy any of the …

Promoting The General Welfare: Legal Reform To Lift Women And Children In The United States Out Of Poverty, Jill Engle

Jill Engle

American women and children have been poor in exponentially greater numbers than men for decades. The problem has historic, institutional roots which provide a backdrop for this article’s introduction. English and early U.S. legal systems mandated a lesser economic status for women. Despite numerous legal changes aimed at combating the financial disadvantage of American women and children, the problem is worsening. American female workers, many in low-paying job sectors, earn roughly twenty percent less than their male counterparts. Nearly forty percent of single mothers and their children subsist below the poverty level. The recession exacerbated this problem, mostly because unemployment …

Alimony's Job Lock, Margaret Ryznar

Akron Law Review

In family law, courts often prevent people who owe alimony from changing jobs. If a job change is accompanied by a salary decrease, the court will not necessarily readjust the alimony obligation and instead impute the higher income to the obligor. This Article introduces the term “job lock” to describe this situation, borrowing the term from the health care context, wherein job immobility due to health insurance concerns has received significant scrutiny. This Article draws similar attention to the alimony context, proposing a balancing test to assist courts interested in alleviating job lock under certain circumstances.

Divorce - Pendente Lite Awards - Counsel Fees - Costs - Alimony - Effect Of Equal Rights Amendment; Wiegand V. Wiegand, Joseph M. Donley

Akron Law Review

THE PENNSYLVANIA SUPERIOR COURT, in Wiegand v. Wiegand,struck out at one of the true bastions of sex discrimination incorporated into the Anglo-American legal system. The legislated discrimination of the Pennsylvania Divorce Law was the object of the court's scrutiny. Appellee Sara Wiegand had filed a complaint in divorce a mensa et thora, a petition for alimony, and an initial petition for alimony pendente lite, counsel fees, and expenses. On August 14, 1967, the Court of Common Pleas, Allegheny County, ordered appellant Myron Wiegand to pay $875 per month alimony pendente lite and $250 preliminary counsel fees. Subsequently, appellee filed additional …

Divorce And Alimony; Separation Agreements; Jurisdiction Of Court To Modify; Impairment Of Contract; Statutory Provisions; Wolfe V. Wolfe, John J. Lavin

Akron Law Review

WITH THE decision of Wolfe v. Wolfe 1 the Ohio Supreme Court joins the majority of American jurisdictions' which hold that where a court has the general power to modify a decree for alimony or support the exercise of that power is not affected by the fact that the decree is based on an agreement entered into by the parties to the action

Divorce And Alimony; Separation Agreements; Jurisdiction Of Court To Modify; Impairment Of Contract; Statutory Provisions; Wolfe V. Wolfe, John J. Lavin

Akron Law Review

WITH THE decision of Wolfe v. Wolfe the Ohio Supreme Court joins the majority of American jurisdictions' which hold that where a court has the general power to modify a decree for alimony or support the exercise of that power is not affected by the fact that the decree is based on an agreement entered into by the parties to the action.

A Professional Degree Is Not Marital Property Upon Divorce: Stevens V. Stevens, Katherine Scheid

Akron Law Review

This Note first analyzes the Stevens court's opinion and concludes that it fails to give sufficient direction on how to determine the amount of the alimony award in order to sufficiently compensate the supporting spouse. Second, this Note explores the ways in which courts in other jurisdictions have attempted to compensate the supporting spouse. Finally, this Note proposes two alternative methods of valuing the supporting spouse's contribution. One method applies if the court, as in Stevens v. Stevens, holds that contribution toward a technical degree is not divisible marital property but should be considered when awarding alimony. The second …

“Alimony For Your Eggs”: Fertility Compensation In Divorce Proceedings, Katelin Eastman

Pepperdine Law Review

This Comment explores the history and reasoning behind divorce in the United States, examines contemporary alimony jurisprudence, and assesses the viability of fertility compensation in divorce proceedings, arguing that there is, in fact, a legal basis for awarding such reparation upon divorce. Part II surveys divorce at common law and details the impact of the Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act (UMDA) and its introduction of no-fault divorce. Part III discusses alimony under New Jersey state law, with particular emphasis on reimbursement alimony after the Reiss trilogy, the Crews marital standard of living, and the impact of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) …

Faking Equity: A Critique Of The New York Equitable Distribution Statute As Applied To Licenses And Degrees Under The O'Brien Decision, Nicole Giannakis

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Deprivative Recognition, Erez Aloni

Erez Aloni

Family law is now replete with proposals advocating for the legal recognition of nonmarital relationships: those between friends, relatives, unmarried intimate partners, and the like. The presumption underlying these proposals is that legal recognition is financially beneficial to partners. This assumption is sometimes wrong: Legal recognition of relationships can be harmful to unmarried partners--a reality whose impact on policy concerning regulation of nonmarital unions has not been explored. As this Article shows, a significant number of people benefit financially from nonrecognition of their relationships. While in most cases the state turns a blind eye to this financial gain, when it …

Deprivative Recognition, Erez L. Aloni

Erez Aloni

Family law is now replete with proposals advocating for the legal recognition of nonmarital relationships: those between friends, relatives, unmarried intimate partners, and the like. The presumption underlying these proposals is that legal recognition is financially beneficial to partners. This assumption is sometimes wrong: Legal recognition of relationships can be harmful to unmarried partners--a reality whose impact on policy concerning regulation of nonmarital unions has not been explored. As this Article shows, a significant number of people benefit financially from nonrecognition of their relationships. While in most cases the state turns a blind eye to this financial gain, when it …

Comment On Jana Singer's Alimony And Efficiency, Margaret F. Brinig

Margaret F Brinig

No abstract provided.

Property Distribution Physics: The Talisman Of Time And Middle Class Law, Margaret F. Brinig

Margaret F Brinig

No abstract provided.

Dissolution Of Marriage: California Spousal Support, Sarah J. Hoover

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Dischargeability In Bankruptcy Of Debts For Alimony And Property Settlements Arising From Divorce, John Francis Murphy

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Incomplete Revolution: Reexaming The Law, History, And Politics Of Marital Property, Mary Ziegler

Scholarly Publications

Did the divorce revolution betray the interests of American women? While there has been considerable disagreement about the impact of divorce reform on women’s standard of living, many agree that judicial practices involving the division of marital property and the allocation of alimony have systematically disadvantaged women. Most often, in the courts and the academy, commentators see these practices as evidence of the need for family law reform.

These conclusions rely on a shared account of the history of divorce reform. According to this account, the transformation of divorce law in the 1970s and 1980s was a “silent revolution,” a …

Promoting The General Welfare: Legal Reform To Lift Women And Children In The United States Out Of Poverty, Jill C. Engle

Journal Articles

American women and children have been poor in exponentially greater numbers than men for decades. The problem has historic, institutional roots which provide a backdrop for this article’s introduction. English and early U.S. legal systems mandated a lesser economic status for women. Despite numerous legal changes aimed at combating the financial disadvantage of American women and children, the problem is worsening. American female workers, many in low-paying job sectors, earn roughly twenty percent less than their male counterparts. Nearly forty percent of single mothers and their children subsist below the poverty level. The recession exacerbated this problem, mostly because unemployment …

Reconfiguring Sex, Gender, And The Law Of Marriage, Deborah Widiss

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This article brings together legal, historical, and social science research to analyze how couples allocate income-producing and domestic responsibilities. It develops a framework—what I call the marriage equation—that shows how sex-based classifications, (non-sex-specific) substantive marriage law, and gender norms interrelate to shape these choices. Constitutional decisions in the 1970s ended legal distinctions between the duties of husbands and wives but left largely in place both gender norms and substantive rights within marriage, tax, and benefits law that encourage specialization into breadwinning and caregiving roles. By permitting disaggregation of the marriage equation, the new reality of same-sex marriage can serve as …

Use And Disposition Of Life Insurance In Dissolution Of Marriage, Jani Maurer

Barry Law Review

This article explores life insurance considerations in Florida dissolution of marriage proceedings, reviews current applicable law, and suggests methods of effectively dealing with life insurance in the divorce context.

A Case Of Forced Equity: Obtaining Spousal And Child Support From A Member Of The Armed Forces, Georgetta Beck

Golden Gate University Law Review

This Comment presents an overview of procedures which the practitioner may employ to obtain spousal and child support from a service member stationed in the United States, identifies problems which may arise in these efforts, and discusses strategies to overcome those obstacles. The first section explains the military procedure for obtaining support and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of that approach. This Comment will focus on Army procedure and regulations; other branches of the Armed Forces have a similar, but not identical, approach to the pervasive problem of nonsupport. The second section discusses problems peculiar to obtaining a support order …

Equity And Economics: A Case For Spousal Support, Bianca G. Larson

Golden Gate University Law Review

No abstract provided.