Family Law Commons^™

The Child Protection Pretense: States' Continued Consignment Of Newborn Babies To Unfit Parents, James G. Dwyer

James G. Dwyer

No abstract provided.

A Taxonomy Of Children's Existing Rights In State Decision Making About Their Relationships, James G. Dwyer

James G. Dwyer

No abstract provided.

Hb 159 - Domestic Relations, Kitan A. Grey, A. Celia Howard

Georgia State University Law Review

This bill provides a major overhaul for Georgia adoption laws, which were last updated in 1990. The most notable changes include shortening the period for revocation of surrender of parental rights; granting temporary power of attorney for the care of a child; allowing adoptive parents to pay a birth mother’s expenses; lowering the age for adoptive relatives; and simplifying the process to adopt foreign-born children.

Hb 834 - Property, Brian H. Cathey, Cassandra Tuchscher

Georgia State University Law Review

The Act allows a victim of domestic violence to terminate his or her residential rental agreement without an early termination penalty if the victim receives a court order related to that family violence.

הורות משפטית מן הדין ומן הצדק - Legal Parenthood - Law And Justice, Yehezkel Margalit

Hezi Margalit

How Does A Radical Lesbian Feminist Who Just Knows How To Holler Somehow Become A Noted Legal Scholar, Nancy Polikoff

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

What Should Law Enforcement Role Be In Addressing Quality Of Life Issues Associated With Section 8 Housing?, D'Andre D. Lampkin

D'Andre Devon Lampkin

The purpose of this research project is to discuss the challenges law enforcement face when attempting to address quality of life issues for residents residing in and around Section 8 federal housing. The paper introduces readers to the purpose of Section 8 housing, the process in which residents choose subsidized housing, and the legal challenges presented when law enforcement agencies are assisting city government to address quality of life issues. For purposes of this research project, studies were sampled to illustrate where law enforcement participation worked and where law enforcement participation leads to unintended legal ramifications.

Bridging The Gap Between Intent And Status: A New Framework For Modern Parentage, Yehezkel Margalit

Hezi Margalit

The last few decades have witnessed dramatic changes in the conceptualization and methodologies of determining legal parentage in the U.S. and other countries in the western world. Through various sociological shifts, growing social openness and bio-medical innovations, the traditional definitions of family and parenthood have been dramatically transformed. This transformation has led to an acute and urgent need for legal and social frameworks to regulate the process of determining legal parentage. Moreover, instead of progressing in a piecemeal, ad-hoc manner, the framework for determining legal parentage should be comprehensive. Only a comprehensive solution will address the differing needs of today’s …

From Baby M To Baby M(Anji): Regulating International Surrogacy Agreements, Yehezkel Margalit

Hezi Margalit

In 1985, when Kim Cotton became Britain’s first commercial surrogate mother, Europe was exposed to the issue of surrogacy for the first time on a large scale. Three years later, in 1988, the famous case of Baby M drew the attention of the American public to surrogacy as well. These two cases implicated fundamental ethical and legal issues regarding domestic surrogacy and triggered a fierce debate about motherhood, child-bearing, and the relationship between procreation, science and commerce. These two cases exemplified the debate regarding domestic surrogacy - a debate that has now been raging for decades. Contrary to the well-known …

The Interstate Commerce Of Abortion: A Constitutional Argument For The Federal Invalidation Of Restrictive State Abortion Laws, Kaiya Amelia Lyons

Kaiya Amelia Lyons

No abstract provided.

A Child’S Right To A Family Versus A State’S Discretion To Institutionalize The Child, Richard R. Carlson

Richard R Carlson

International law, represented particularly by the U.N. Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), declares that a child has the right to be raised in a "family environment." Nevertheless, the CRC grants states the discretion to institutionalize children who are without functioning families. States have this discretion because the CRC does not require states to arrange, facilitate, or even allow for child placement in a permanent, substitute family. In this article, I describe this contradiction in international law--a child's right a family environment versus the state's discretion to institutionalize the child--and I explore the possible reasons for the contradiction. …

The High Price Of Poverty: A Study Of How The Majority Of Current Court System Procedures For Collecting Court Costs And Fees, As Well As Fines, Have Failed To Adhere To Established Precedent And The Constitutional Guarantees They Advocate., Trevor J. Calligan

Trevor J Calligan

No abstract provided.

Secession: The Contradicting Provisions Of The United Nations Charter – A Direct Threat To The Current World Order, N. Micheli Quadros

N. Micheli Quadros

The preamble of the United Nations' Charter (hereinafter UN Charter) presents its members declaration under which justice and respect for international law and the international community is supposed to be maintained. To date, the United Nations (UN) has failed to ensure international peace by allowing powerful states to infringe upon other nations’ territorial integrity and manipulate individuals to exercise their right of self-determination.

Outdated, redundant and vague provisions that proved their inefficiency have plagued the UN Charter. Chapter I, Art 1 § 2 of the UN Charter, states that one of the main purpose of the UN is “to develop …

From Reynolds To Lawrence To Brown V. Buhman: Antipolygamy Statutes Sliding On The Slippery Slope Of Same-Sex Marriage, Stephen L. Baskind

Stephen L Baskind

In 2003 in Lawrence v. Texas (striking Texas’ sodomy law), Justice Scalia predicted in his dissent the end of all morals legislation. If Justice Scalia is correct most, if not all, morals-based legislation may fall. For example, in recent years state laws prohibiting same-sex marriage have fallen to constitutional challenges. Ten years after Lawrence in 2013, a Utah Federal District Court in Brown v. Buhman, though feeling constrained by the 1878 Reynolds case (which rejected a First Amendment challenge to an antipolygamy law), nevertheless at the request of a polygamous family concluded that the cohabitation prong of Utah’s anti-bigamy …

The Real Marriage Penalty: How Welfare Law Discourages Marriage Despite Public Policy Statements To The Contrary - And What Can Be Done About It, Spencer Rand

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

Couples regularly complain about marriage penalties,' discovering that the tax consequences of marrying make the cost of marriage prohibitive.2 Although attempts were made in the last decade to reduce those penalties for the middle class,3 the poor were not helped by these changes. 4 Along with tax penalties, including low-income wage earners facing severe decreases or becoming entirely ineligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) when they marry, the most common penalties reduce or eliminate government benefits upon marriage.

Scholars Of The Constitutional Rights Of Children (Amici Curiae), Tanya M. Washington

Tanya Monique Washington

My co-authors and I filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in Obergefell v. Hodges last month. Our first co-authored amicus brief was filed with the Supreme Court in U.S. Windsor in 2013, and it was cited by the Respondents in their brief to the Court. The Defense of Marriage Act's harmful impact on children in same-sex families was the focus of that brief, and the Court acknowledged those harms as relevant to its analysis of DOMA's constitutionality. Our brief was published in the Iowa Journal of Gender, Race and Justice.

In our amicus brief in Obergefell v. …

Women Made Whole: How Tort Law Can Change The Lives Of Domestic Violence And Sexual Assault Victims, Sara L. Crewson

Sara L Crewson

Tort law and insurance companies are failing to provide female domestic violence victims with adequate access to civil courts, proper legal mechanisms with which to gain that access, and are far behind the times when compared to other gender-linked crimes like those of rape and sexual assault. The Restatement of Torts (Third) has classified domestic violence as an intentional tort, and most insurance policies will not provide coverage for harms that were committed intentionally. Certain homeowners' insurance policies won't provide coverage if a spouse tries to sue another spouse for harms committed, leaving vulnerable wives unable to seek compensation for …

Equitable Tolling Denied: Uniform Standard Breaks Abuser’S Control Within Domestic Violence, Laura E. Petkovich

Laura E Petkovich

No abstract provided.

The Inevitability Of Discretion: What Proponents Of Parenting Time Guidelines Can Learn From Thirty Years Of Federal Sentencing Guidelines, Joi T. Montiel

Joi T Montiel

For decades, the prevailing standard for a judge making a decision regarding parenting time has been “the best interest of the child.” Because the high degree of discretion afforded to a trial court by the best interest standard may render inconsistent and unpredictable results, the standard has been widely criticized. In the past half century, federal sentencing has undergone similar scrutiny. The Federal Sentencing Guidelines—“the most controversial and disliked sentencing reform initiative in U.S. history”—have substantially curtailed judicial discretion in an effort to ensure uniformity in sentencing. Several states have explored limiting judicial discretion in the area of parenting time …

Crying Wolf: The Use Of False Accusations Of Abuse To Influence Child Custodianship And A Proposal To Protect The Innocent, Robert W. Kerns Jr

Robert W Kerns JR

A false accusation of child abuse is one of the gravest offenses one can allege against a parent. In our society there exists a bright line standard that if a child is abused, the law steps in to shield the child from the attacker; but what happens when our legal system is manipulated so as to trick a court into protecting a child from an innocent parent? The welfare of a child cannot be recognized when he or she is fractioned from a qualified parent because an opposing parent cried wolf, and knowingly made false accusations against the other of …

Trends In The Efficacy Of Parental Alienation Allegations In Child Custody Cases And Their Implications For Tortious Action, Bruce L. Beverly

Bruce L. Beverly

As the second of a series, this paper attempts to further explore the phenomenon of parental alienation in domestic relations cases by exploring the often frustrating position that many courts take with regard to blatant and obvious violations of the fundamental rights of parents to raise and know their children. Ofttimes, where courts have found the most blatant interference and harmful manipulation by one parent of the other parent's formerly close relationship with a child, the court either forces a detrimentally aligned child into the custody of the wrongfully vilified parent, thereby harming possible the child and that injured parent, …

Full Faith And Credit For Homosexual Marriage And A Resurgent Defense Of Marriage Act, Steven Specht

Steven Specht

When the Court considered Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in United States v. Windsor, it carefully avoided addressing Section 2 which created the ability for states to ignore the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Though bans on same-sex or homosexual marriage are slowly being overturned by the courts, Section 2 creates a work-around for many states to not recognize same-sex marriages from other states on grounds of public policy. Even if the Court is to strike down all state bans on same-sex marriage in an upcoming opinion, no case on Section 2 …

Artificial Insemination From Donor (Aid) – From Status To Contract And Back Again?, Yehezkel Margalit

Hezi Margalit

The last few decades have witnessed dramatic changes in the institutions of family and parenthood and an abandonment of the historical emphasis on their bionormative structures. These changes are the result of societal shifts with respect to public openness and technological innovations that segregate marital relations from sexuality and fertility. The resultant parenthood structures, which depart from traditional spousal and parental models, intensify the ability and need to determine legal parenthood in numerous unprecedented contexts. Sir Henry Maine famously stated that mankind is pacing from status toward contract. This theme has had particular resonance during the past half century in …

Can The Center Hold? The Vulnerabilities Of The Official Legal Regimen For Intercountry Adoption, David M. Smolin

David M. Smolin

Amidst controversy, a legal regimen for intercountry adoption (ICA) has been developed over the past twenty-five years. The primary constituent parts are the 1989 UN-based Convention on the Rights of the Child (“CRC”) and the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague Convention). Since the creation of those conventions, international and national legal efforts have focused on delineation and implementation of a set of standards based on their principles in the attempt to create a stable and reliable intercountry adoption system. This project of the creation of a stable and reliable intercountry …

Concord With Which Other Families: Marriage Equality, Family Demographics, And Race, Nancy Polikoff

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Legitimate Families And Equal Protection, Katharine K. Baker

Katharine K. Baker

The Law's Duty To Promote The Kinship System: Implications For Assisted Reproductive Techniques And For Proposed Redefinitions Of Familial Relations, Scott T. Fitzgibbon

Scott T. FitzGibbon

Kinship relations, in our society and in most, are organized systematically. That is to say, each kinship connection is constructed, conducted, and considered, not in isolation but by reference to the others. Your uncle is your father’s brother, in just about the same way as your own sibling is your brother and your children are one another’s brothers and sisters. Your spouse is the mother or father of your children, in just about the same way as your mother and father are your parents and the parents of your siblings. One’s beliefs and expectations about what each kinship relationship entails …

Supreme Court, Tompkins County, Seymour V. Holcomb, Jessica Goodwin

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Internet Is The New Public Forum: Why Riley V. California Supports Net Neutrality, Adam Lamparello

Adam Lamparello

Technology has ushered civil liberties into the virtual world, and the law must adapt by providing legal protections to individuals who speak, assemble, and associate in that world. The original purposes of the First Amendment, which from time immemorial have protected civil liberties and preserved the free, open, and robust exchange of information, support net neutrality. After all, laws or practices that violate cherished freedoms in the physical world also violate those freedoms in the virtual world. The battle over net neutrality is “is absolutely the First Amendment issue of our time,” just as warrantless searches of cell phones were …

Brian H. Stuy (With Foreward By David Smolin), Open Secret: Cash And Coercion In China's International Adoption Program, Brian H. Stuy

David M. Smolin

Open Secret is a documentation and analysis of seriously abusive practices in China's intercountry adoption system. The article describes three kinds of abuses: baby-buying programs at Chinese orphanages, "confiscations" of children by population control officials, and "education" programs in which orphanages falsify the ages and family situation of teenagers in order to make them paper eligible for intercountry adoption. The article questions the effectiveness of the Hague legal regimen for intercountry adoption, particularly in the context of China. A brief foreward by David Smolin places Brian Stuy's extensively-researched article about adoptions from China in a broader context.