Family Law Commons^™

The Dischargeability Of Money Judgements Versus Property Interests In Arbitration Awards For Domestic Contributions In The Context Of Unmarried Couples, Gabriella Hansen

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

A debt which arises prior to the filing of the petition for discharge in bankruptcy is dischargeable unless it can be categorized as one of the statutory exceptions to discharge listed in section 523(a) of title 11 of the United States Code (the “Bankruptcy Code”). Section 523(a)(5) of the Bankruptcy Code prohibits the discharge of awards of domestic support due to a debtor’s spouse, former spouse, or child. Accordingly, maintenance, alimony, and child support, often awarded in divorce proceedings, fall under the federal bankruptcy law statutory exceptions to discharge for domestic support obligations.

When an unmarried couple separates and …

Mezini V. Mezini, 268 A.3d 1171 (R.I. 2022), Maya Maldonado-Weinstein

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

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.

Mut’Ah Divorce: Its Concepts And Its Provisions: A Comparative Study Between Islamic Jurisprudence (Fiqh) And Omani Law, Dr. Rashid Bin Hamoud Naziri

مجلة جامعة الإمارات للبحوث القانونية UAEU LAW JOURNAL

The study discusses the money paid to the divorcee woman (Mut’ah) as a result of the divorce. Many Muslim scholars have different views towards the provisions and details of this due payment to the divorcee. Further, the Omani Personal Statue law has an opinion for its provisions. As a result, this study is conducted to set the base for this opinion, explain its view, intentions and goals that law bore in its’ inactions.

This study has two approaches; the first one is classified into two sub-quests. The first sub-quest discusses the linguistic definition of (Mut’ah), while the other one discusses …

Divorcing Guns: How Family Law Could Change Parental Gun Ownership And Save Kids’ Lives, Marcia A. Zug

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

Guns are deadly. They are especially deadly for children yet, currently, parental gun ownership is not a major factor in custody disputes. This needs to change. Making irresponsible gun ownership a routine factor in custody cases could transform parental gun behavior. In other contexts, the potential loss of custody has proven to be an extremely strong deterrent. Moreover, unlike other proposed solutions to gun fatalities, this is a change that can be made right now. Making guns a part of custody disputes does not require the enactment of new legislation or even a judicial determination. By simply raising the issue …

Parental Alienation In Family Court: Attacking Expert Testimony, John E.B. Myers, Jean Mercer

Child and Family Law Journal

In child custody litigation, when a parent raises the possibility of child abuse, the accused parent may respond that the parent wo has raised the possibility of abuse is alienating the child in an effort to gain an unfair advantage in court. The parent accused of abuse may offer expert testimony on parental alienation. A voluminous and contentious social science literature exists on parental alienation. Family law attorneys often lack ready access to social science literature. The purpose of this article is to give family law attorneys information from the parental alienation literature that can be used to cross-examine experts …

Hopefully Enduring: How North Carolina’S Divorce Laws Violate The First Amendment, Maren H. Lowrey

Child and Family Law Journal

The phrase “til death do us part” is both poetic and aspirational. It is the ubiquitous vow Americans make to one another when they marry[1] and embark on what is “hopefully enduring.”[2] But life does not always meet the aspirational marks we set and that is most true in the context of marriage and divorce. Each state enjoys nearly exclusive control over this intimate relationship, which results in different regulatory schemes across the United States.[3] Changes in Supreme Court jurisprudence over time ensured state regulation of marriage did not run afoul of the Constitution.[4] These decisions …

The Impact Of Social Security Of Dependents And Financing Of Post-Secondary Education Of Dependents On Support Obligations In Particularly California Divorces After The Tax Cuts And Jobs Act Of 2017, John R. Dorocak

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act made alimony in divorce decrees and separation agreements entered into after December 31, 2018, neither deductible by the payor nor income to the payee for federal income tax purposes. Likely, that change in the tax law will result in less income to payees in a divorce and higher taxes for payors. In California, support in divorces is basically calculated by the software program Dissomaster. With payors facing higher taxes, such payors may look for possible sources of additional income for paying support. Payors may receive a credit in California against the support obligation …

Achieving Equality Without A Constitution: Lessons From Israel For Queer Family Law, Laura T. Kessler

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

How might the United States reconcile conflicts between equality and religious freedom in the realm of family law? To answer this question, this chapter considers recent developments in family (personal status) law in Israel. While Israel may at first blush appear to be the last place that feminists and queer theorists should look for solutions to modern conflicts between democratic and religious values, this chapter argues that the Israeli experience has much to offer critical family scholars working to develop pluralistic legal approaches to family regulation. Israel is a country with a diverse population and unique political and legal context …

Mut’Ah Divorce: Its Concepts And Its Provisions: A Comparative Study Between Islamic Jurisprudence (Fiqh) And Omani Law, Dr. Rashid Bin Hamoud Naziri

UAEU Law Journal

The study discusses the money paid to the divorcee woman (Mut’ah) as a result of the divorce. Many Muslim scholars have different views towards the provisions and details of this due payment to the divorcee. Further, the Omani Personal Statue law has an opinion for its provisions. As a result, this study is conducted to set the base for this opinion, explain its view, intentions and goals that law bore in its’ inactions.

This study has two approaches; the first one is classified into two sub-quests. The first sub-quest discusses the linguistic definition of (Mut’ah), while the other one discusses …

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 …

Monasky’S Totality Of Circumstances Is Vague – The Child’S Perspective Should Be The Main Test, Sabrina Salvi

Touro Law Review

After decades of confusion, the Supreme Court ruled on child custody in an international setting in Monasky v. Taglieri, by attempting to establish the definition of a child’s “habitual residence.” The Court held that a child’s “residence in a particular country can be deemed ‘habitual, however, only when her residence there is more than transitory.’” Further, the Court stated that, ‘“[h]abitual’ implies customary, usual, of the nature of a habit.”’ However, the Supreme Court’s ruling remains unclear. The 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (“HCCAICA” or “The Hague Convention”), which is adopted in ninety-eight …

Divorcing Partners And Fighting Siblings: Using The Collaborative Law Model To Resolve Disputes In Family Businesses, Hayley R. Goodman

University of Miami Business Law Review

This paper focuses on the ways that collaborative law can be used to resolve family business disputes. Such disputes can get ugly and leave families and businesses in shambles after years of fighting and even litigation. Such disputes can involve those between divorcing partners, parents and children, extended family members, and new and ex partners. Sometimes, these disputes cannot be resolved, forcing family members to sell all or part of the company. Moreover, when families try to resolve disputes through litigation, they end up spending a lot of money. Mediation is often used to resolve disputes in the family business …

Appraising Problems, Not Stuff, Chad J. Pomeroy

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming.

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 …

Using Random Assignment To Measure Court Accessibility For Low-Income Divorce Seekers, James D. Greiner, Ellen L. Degnan, Thomas Ferriss, Roseanna Sommers

Articles

We conducted a field experiment in which 311 low-income individuals seeking a divorce were randomly assigned to receive access to a pro bono lawyer (versus minimal help) to assist with filing for divorce. Examining court records, we found that assignment to an attorney made a large difference in whether participants filed for and obtained a divorce. Three years after randomization, 46% of the treated group had terminated their marriages in the proper legal venue, compared to 9% of the control group. Among “compliers”—participants who obtained representation only if assigned to receive it—those with lawyers were far more likely to file …

Ohio's Love-Hate Relationship With Marital Agreements: Why Ohio Should Lift Its Prohibition On Postnuptial Agreements, Natasha Wasil

Cleveland State Law Review

Ohio has been accepting of prenuptial agreements since its landmark decision in Gross v. Gross in 1984, declaring them to be not void per se as being against public policy. Unfortunately, Ohio’s evolution of the law regarding marital agreements has remained at a stand-still since Gross. Through the twenty-first century, a majority of states have responded to the evolution of marriage by enacting legislation, or judicially by court order, to allow spouses to enter into contracts after marriage to allocate the division of property and legal obligations of the couple in the event of divorce, commonly known as “postnuptial …

The Grounds For Divorce For Christians: A Comparative Study With Islamic Law/Shari’Ah And The Personal Status Law Of Jordan For 2010, Maher Ma’Rouf Al Naddaf, Ra'ed Ali Al Kordi

UAEU Law Journal

This study is about reasons for divorce according to Christianity in comparison to Islamic Law/Shari’ah and the New Jordanian Personal Status Law of 2010. The study includes two chapters, while the first one defines divorce and its ruling “hokom” according to Shari’ah and Christianity, the other chapter of the research studies reasons for divorce for Christians, and how Shari’ah and the Jordanian Personal Status Law interpret these reasons. The study concludes that most of the divorce reasons in Christianity are already there in Shari’ah and the Jordanian Law, which is based on this magnificent Shari’ah. It also reveals that …

A Shari'a Measures Against Arbitrary Divorce: A Comparative Fiqh Study In The Light Of Islamic Law And What He Has To Do In The Uae Personal Status Law )28/2005), May Salem Al Sheikh

UAEU Law Journal

Family related cases are of great complexity, of which divorce cases are some of the most critical. This is due to the increasing importance of the role of family in building society, and in view of the intensification of marital disputes which in turn have led to the spread of divorce in Arab societies, in addition to spouses’ abuse of the decision to divorce, which raises concerns about the resulting harm.

This research sheds the light on one type of family related cases in particular, which is the arbitrary abuse of the right to divorce which can cause negative impact …

Disposition Of Frozen Preembryos In The Case Of Divorce: New York Should Implement A Modified Mutual Contemporaneous Consent Approach, Kasey Bray

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Who Gets The Pet In The Divorce? Examining A Standard For The New York Legislature To Adopt, Jared Sanders

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Covid-19’S Complications For Family Law Counsel: Domestic Violence And Threats To The Well-Being Of Children, J. Thomas Sullivan

The Arkansas Journal of Social Change and Public Service

No abstract provided.

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 …

The Right To Unmarry: A Proposal, Brian L. Frye, Maybell Romero

Cleveland State Law Review

When I say I’m in love, you better believe I’m in love, L-U-V.

[April 2, 2020] BLF: This is a marriage proposal in the form of a law review article. In this Article, I observe that Maybell Romero and I are in love. I want to marry her, and I believe she wants to marry me. At least I’ll find out pretty soon. But we cannot marry each other right now, because we are both currently married to other people. Maybell and I want to end our existing marriages, and our respective spouses have even agreed to divorce. But the …

Family Law Disputes Between International Couples In U.S. Courts, Rhonda Wasserman

Articles

Increasing mobility, migration, and growing numbers of international couples give rise to a host of family law issues. For instance, when marital partners are citizens of different countries, or live outside the country of which they are citizens, or move between countries, courts must first determine if they have jurisdiction to hear divorce or child custody actions. Given that countries around the world are governed by different legal regimes, such as the common law system, civil codes, religious law, and customary law, choice of law questions also complicate family litigation. This short article addresses the jurisdictional and other conflicts issues …

Valuing Community Property Businesses: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly Of Louisiana Law, Sally Brown Richardson

Louisiana Law Review

The article discusses the law in Louisiana on the valuation of community property businesses in divorce proceedings and other topics like fair market value and the ruling by the Louisiana Second Circuit of Appeal in the 2003 case Ellington v. Ellington.

Contracts And The Constitution In Conflict: Why Judicial Deference To Religious Upbringing Clauses Infringes On The First Amendment, Elica Zadeh

Pepperdine Law Review

When a Hasidic person files for divorce under New York law, either party to the marriage may invoke a declaratory judgment action to establish certain rights in a settlement agreement. If children are involved, such an agreement may include a religious upbringing clause, dictating that the child is to be raised in accordance with their then-existing religion—Hasidism. Deviation from the contract risks removal from the aberrant parent who intentionally or unwittingly allows the child to wane into secularism. Although the child’s best interest is the cornerstone of custodial analysis, a problem emerges when his or her best interest is couched …

Gender And Specialization In The Practice Of Divorce Law, Richard J. Maiman, Lynn Mather, Craig A. Mcewen

Maine Law Review

In the past two decades, the gender composition of the legal profession in the United States has changed dramatically. While women comprised less than five percent of the nation's lawyers in 1970, the proportion of women lawyers had increased to more than 19% by the end of 1988, and roughly 40% of new lawyers each year are now women. However, the movement of women into the legal profession has not been easy. As a consequence, considerable commentary has been focused on the significant problems of sexual harassment, discrimination, and other forms of gender bias, and on such issues as the …

Toward A Coherent Interpretation Of Maine's Marital Property Act, John C. Sheldon

Maine Law Review

Interpreted literally, Maine's Marital Property Act (MPA) excludes all wedding gifts from the marital estates of divorcing spouses. Wedding gifts received before a wedding are nonmarital because they were not received during the marriage. Wedding gifts received after a wedding are nonmarital because they were gifts, which appear to be expressly excluded from the marital estate by the statute's definition of marital property. In short, a literal reading of the MPA prevents Maine's divorce courts from exercising any discretion in the distribution of what must, by any measure of common sense, be quintessential examples of marital property. This curious state …