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Full-Text Articles in Law
The New Illegitimacy: Children Of Cohabiting Couples And Stepchildren, Cynthia Grant Bowman
The New Illegitimacy: Children Of Cohabiting Couples And Stepchildren, Cynthia Grant Bowman
Cornell Law Faculty Publications
The legal treatment of children of unmarried parents and stepchildren must be changed if they are not to be disadvantaged in comparison with children of married parents. With respect to the areas of law discussed in this Article, legal reform is necessary in a variety of situations in which legitimate children receive what is the functional equivalent of posthumous support-that is, inheritance in the absence of a will, social security survivors benefits, workers' compensation, and tort suits for wrongful death and loss of consortium. Cohabitants and stepchildren of both married and unmarried parents should be added to the persons listed …
The Legal Relationship Between Cohabitants And Their Partners' Children, Cynthia Grant Bowman
The Legal Relationship Between Cohabitants And Their Partners' Children, Cynthia Grant Bowman
Cornell Law Faculty Publications
This Article argues that U.S. law should give protection to relationships between cohabitants and their partners 'children when necessary to avoid the economic and emotional trauma that may be caused by separation of the child from a member of his or her household if the cohabitation ends. After examining the social science literature about the welfare of both stepchildren and children of cohabitants and the inadequate legal treatment of custody, visitation, and child support issues under current law, the author recommends that cohabiting stepparents (1) be given standing to seek custody if they have acted as de facto parents, with …