Family Law Commons^™

(Re-)Grasping The Opportunity Interest: Lehr V. Robertson And The Terminated Parent, Lashanda Taylor Adams

Journal Articles

In 1997, an Ohio court terminated Peggy Fugate’s parental rights to her sixyear-old daughter, Selina. At the time, Ms. Fugate, an incarcerated drug abuser, did not fight the order, believing her daughter would be adopted into a clean, stable home.1 However, Selina was never adopted. For the next seven years, Selina had trouble with the police and ran away from her foster home numerous times. While Selina’s life was going downhill in many respects, her mother was rehabilitating. She entered recovery, married, obtained full-time employment and was living in stable housing with enough room for her daughter. Recognizing the strides …

Book Review: Petra Nordqvist And Carol Smart, Relative Strangers: Family Life, Genes And Donor Conception, Machteld Vonk

Canadian Journal of Family Law

No abstract provided.

Relational Theory And Choice Rhetoric In The Supreme Court Of Canada, Lucy-Ann Buckley

Canadian Journal of Family Law

The issue of personal choice has become central to Canadian family law. Much of the debate derives from the competing models of autonomy posited by neoliberal and feminist theorists. Neoliberalism, which currently dominates Canadian public discourse, views individuals as atomistic agents who can and should make "responsible" choices. However, feminists have highlighted the effects of structural barriers and social context on personal decision-making, particularly for women, and have advanced alternative relational autonomy models. These models are particularly appropriate to family law, but their application to family financial ordering has not been widely considered. This article discusses the practical significance of …

"Race Is Not A Determinative Factor": Mixed Race Children And Custody Cases In Canada, Susan B. Boyd, Krisha Dhaliwal

Canadian Journal of Family Law

Statistics suggest that an increase will occur in the number of custody disputes involving mixed race children in Canada. This article considers the extent to which the fact that a child is mixed race factors into child custody determinations, and how courts consider it. It also discusses whether considering a child's mixed race heritage is helpful in the child-custody context. The article first explains the use of "race" and "culture" in the Canadian context, then reviews the literature on mixed race children and the law, before examining legislation on the "best interests of the child." The focus of the paper …

Who Is Family: Cohabitation, Marriage, And The Redefinition Of Family, Andrew Morrison

Canadian Journal of Family Law

The emergence of cohabitation as an alternative to the traditional form of the family has left the need for legislative reform. Currently, cohabitants must resort to equitable claims as they do not have access to the property sharing regime designated for married spouses. The definition of "family" requires reformulation to include cohabitation. This reformulation must then be reflected in Ontario's Family Law Act through the adoption of an opt-out regime. This reform appropriately balances the values of autonomy and equality and creates certainty, predictability, and consistency in the law of Ontario. This paper addresses the possibility of reform through the …

New Perspectives On European Women’S Legal History, Sara L. Kimble, Marion Rowekamp

School of Continuing and Professional Studies Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Why New Hampshire Should Permit Married Couples To Choose Community Property, Calvin Massey

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “Two states, Alaska and Tennessee, offer married couples the choice of holding their property as separate or community property. Another nine states use community property as the default arrangement. Yet in each of those nine states a couple can opt out of community property rules by agreement. Only in the remaining thirty-nine states are married couples forced to accept separate property. There is no good reason for this condition to exist. This essay sets forth the advantages of offering married couples the choice of community or separate property and deals with some expected objections to this proposal. Section I …

Surrogacy And Windsor'S Penumbras, Susan Frelich Appleton

Washington Law Review Online

This article is a contribution to the Compensated Surrogacy in the Age of Windsor symposium.

Breaking Forever Families, Andrea B. Carroll

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

The Illusion Of Equality: The Failure Of The Community Property Reform To Achieve Management Equality, Elizabeth Carter

Journal Articles

The article focuses on the equal management laws in the community property reform for the well-being and future prosperity of the family. Topics discussed include separate property regime and the community property regime in the U.S., examines the history of the reform era and argues that equality was not the primary goal of the legal reform and examines how spouses actually managed their money in the pre-1970s era.

Mixing Oil & Water: Why Child-Custody Evaluations Are Not Meshing With The Best Interest Of The Child, Bari L. Nathan

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act provides the statutory requirements for marriage and dissolution of marriage in Illinois. Section 604(b) gives courts the discretion to appoint an evaluator in order to aid in the determination of child custody by evaluating the relevant parties and writing a report. If and when these 604(b) evaluators are appointed, there are virtually no guidelines that set forth what they may or may not do in the course of their evaluations. As a result of this lack of guidelines, 604(b) evaluators often employ clinical assessment instruments (i.e., psychological tests that assess clinical constructs …

Adopting An International Convention On Surrogacy—A Lesson From Intercountry Adoption, Seema Mohapatra

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Casting Of The Canon: Family Law Reimagined,, Jill Elaine Hasday, Laurie S. Kohn

Child and Family Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Legisprudence Of Florida's Alimony Reform: Why Draconic Family Law Continues To Prevail In A Modern Society, Joseph P. Formoso

Child and Family Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Incipient Stages Of A Nation Recognizing Same-Sex Marriages And The Battles Their Children Face, Gina I. Thomas

Child and Family Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Same Sex Marriage Debate For Dummies: A Breakdown Of The Twenty-First Century's First Civil Rights Movement, Marc Anthony Consalo

Child and Family Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Mother, May I? No, You May Not! Parental Consent Requirements For Students To Participate In Student-Led Clubs At Public Schools, Kelly Sherrill Linkous Esq., J.D., Ph.D.

Child and Family Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Controversies In Tax Law: A Matter Of Perspective (Introduction), Anthony C. Infanti

Book Chapters

This volume presents a new approach to today’s tax controversies, reflecting that debates about taxation often turn on the differing worldviews of the debate participants. For instance, a central tension in the academic tax literature — which is filtering into everyday discussions of tax law — exists between “mainstream” and “critical” tax theorists. This tension results from a clash of perspectives: Is taxation primarily a matter of social science or social justice? Should tax policy debates be grounded in economics or in critical race, feminist, queer, and other outsider perspectives?

To capture and interrogate what often seems like a chasm …

California Putative Spouses: The Innocent, The Guilty, And The Law, Helen Y. Chang

Publications

This Article traces the historical roots of the putative spouse doctrine, its codification in California, its application in California, and recommends that California adopt a pure putative spouse system and simply include putative spouses as legal spouses for all purposes as it has done for registered domestic partners. To allow some but not all of the incidents of marriage to putative spouses is confusing, sometimes inequitable, and contrary to the expectations of the innocent spouse. California has a history of piecemeal legislation in family law without consideration of varying consequences and without regard to the historical purpose and policy of …

For The Title Ix Civil Rights Movement: Congratulation And Cautions, Nancy Chy Cantalupo

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.