Law Commons^™

In Re Parental Rights As To M.F., 132 Nev. Adv. Op. 19 (Mar. 31, 2016), Shannon Diaz

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court held that neither the United States Constitution nor the Nevada Constitution guarantees the right to a trial by jury in a termination of parental rights proceeding. The Court also concluded that the district court relied on substantial evidence in terminating appellant Jesus F.’s parental rights.

Moving Family Dispute Resolution From The Court System To The Community, Jane C. Murphy, Jana B. Singer

All Faculty Scholarship

Over the past three decades, there has been a significant shift in the way the legal system approaches and resolves family disputes. Mediation, collaboration, and other non-adversarial processes have replaced a traditional, law-oriented adversarial regime. Until recently, however, reformers have focused largely on the court system as the setting for innovations in family dispute resolution. But our research suggests that courts may not be the best places for families to resolve disputes, particularly disputes involving children. Moreover, attempting to turn family courts into multi-door dispute resolution centers may detract from their essential role as adjudicators of last resort and forums …

Reflections On “Innovations In Family Dispute Resolution”, Deborah Thompson Eisenberg

Maryland Law Review Online

No abstract provided.

Moving Family Dispute Resolution From The Court System To The Community, Jane C. Murphy, Jana B. Singer

Maryland Law Review Online

No abstract provided.

Family Law And Entrepreneurial Action, D. Gordon Smith

Faculty Scholarship

In "The Contractual Foundation of Family-Business Law," Benjamin Means aspires to lay the groundwork for a law of family businesses. In this brief response essay, I suggest that a workable family-business law along the lines suggested by Means is consistent with an overarching policy in the United States of promoting entrepreneurial action, and I evaluate the proposal against this policy goal, with particular attention to Means’s arguments in favor of “family-business defaults” and his concern over the potentially disruptive role of fiduciary law.

Micone V. Micone, 132 Nev. Adv. Op. 14 (March 3, 2016), Ronni Boskovich

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court considered an appeal from a district court order modifying a child custody decree. The Court affirmed in part and reversed in part the Eight Judicial District Court’s order. The Court affirmed the District Court’s order barring modification of certain child support arrearages. The Court reversed the District Court’s award of primary physical custody to the child’s nonparty grandparents.

A Liberal Dilemma: Respecting Autonomy While Also Protecting Inchoate Children From Prenatal Substance Abuse., Andrew J. Weisberg, Frank E. Vandervort

Articles

Substance abuse is a significant social problem in America. It is estimated that some eighteen million Americans have an alcohol abuse problem and that almost five million have a drug abuse problem. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, substance abuse costs some $700 billion per year Substance abuse is a major contributor to child maltreatment. It is estimated that between one- and two-thirds of cases in which children enter foster care are linked to parental substance abuse. Unfortunately, this may be an underestimate as recent research suggests that many cases, particularly cases in which children have been exposed …

Hogg, Karen (Fa 842), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 842. This collection “Same Sex Marriage and the Law: An Oral History Project” is comprised of 16 interviews with attorneys--who participated in the 2013 case of Obergefell v. Hodges that challenged Kentucky’s laws related to recognition of same-sex marriages--and couples involved in the movement who sought change and hope for equality.

Newsroom: Sack Joins Women's Fund Of Ri Board, Roger Williams University School Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

South African Marriage In Policy And Practice: A Dynamic Story, Michael W. Yarbrough

Publications and Research

Law forms one of the major structural contexts within which family lives play out, yet the precise dynamics connecting these two foundational institutions are still poorly understood. This article attempts to help bridge this gap by applying sociolegal concepts to empirical findings about state law's role in family, and especially in marriage, drawn from across several decades and disciplines of South Africanist scholarly research. I sketch the broad outlines of a nuanced theoretical approach for analysing the law-family relationship, which insists that the relationship entails a contingent and dynamic interplay between relatively powerful regulating institutions and relatively powerless regulated populations. …

Manuela H. V. The Eight Judicial District Court Of Nevada, In And For The County Of Clark; And The Honorable Robert Teuton And The State Of Nevada, 132 Nev., Adv. Op. 1 (Jan 7, 2016), Audra Powell

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The court held that in an abuse and neglect case, when the district court establishes a case plan which includes an action step not related to a specific allegation in the abuse and neglect petition, the court must make “specific factual findings that justify the action step with which the parent must comply.” In the present case, the district court did not make such findings as to its requirement that petitioner, Manuela H., submit to drug testing, thus the supreme court granted her petition for a writ of mandamus challenging the district court’s order.

Multicultural Adr And Family Law: A Brief Introduction To The Complexities Of Religious Arbitration, Michael J. Broyde

Faculty Articles

Recent polls indicate that the U.S. population is getting less religious and more secular. This seems to mirror the nation’s— and its laws’—movement away from reflecting certain traditional values. While these movements have left some members of the religious population in a precarious situation, surrounded by a society whose values are changing before their eyes, it has also caused the religious to cling tighter to their respective faiths and become more entrenched in the values they assert.

As the government has, slowly but surely, aligned itself with the popular shift away from traditional religious values, the pleas of the religious …

Inequity In Private Child Custody Litigation, Dale Margolin Cecka

Law Faculty Publications

This article explores the history and implications of a two-tiered system for adjudicating matrimonial-as opposed to nonmatrimonial- custody matters. As the author uncovered by calling every clerk's office in every major city in the country, matrimonial matters are under a different jurisdiction or part of court in nine states.' This differential treatment has implications for the outcome of private custody cases. It also reflects a bias in the administration of justice, based on race and socioeconomic class. Perhaps most importantly, it causes the government and other outside parties (such as court appointed guardians ad litem) to be more involved …

Understanding Your Domestic Relations Rights In Virginia, 2016-2017, Julie Ellen Mcconnell

Law Faculty Publications

The Metropolitan Richmond Women’s Bar Association has published this booklet to help you understand the general legal circumstances that you may face in resolving domestic relations problems under Virginia law. Each person faces unique circumstances that may not be specifically addressed in a broad overview. This booklet is not intended to provide specific advice to you or to address your specific situation. You should use this document only as an introduction to understanding your legal rights.

This booklet is based on laws in effect in Virginia on July 1, 2016. Because laws are always subject to change, you should consult …

A Test To Identify And Remedy Anti-Gay Bias In Child Custody Decisions After Obergefell, Nat Stern, Karen Oehme, Mark Joseph Stern

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

Maryland's Family Divisions Are A Model For Change, Barbara A. Babb, Gloria Danziger, Michele H. Hong-Polansky

All Faculty Scholarship

In fiscal year 2014, 43 percent of all cases filed in Maryland’s trial court of general jurisdiction (the circuit court) were family law cases (Court Operations Department, 2014: CC-5). Historically, Maryland courts, like many states’ family justice systems, lacked a uniform structure to consolidate family law issues for an individual family. As a result, families often faced multiple hearings before different judges in different courtrooms to address a variety of issues, such as divorce, domestic violence, delinquency, and child abuse/neglect. This system created tremendous hardship for families (particularly low-income families, many of whom were self-represented litigants) and resulted in fragmented …

Legal And Medical Ethical Entanglements Of Infant Male Circumcision And International Law, Paul Jerome Mclaughlin Jr.

Library Faculty Publications

The practice of infant male circumcision has been debated by legal and medical experts for years. The practice, once seen as a social norm, has come under opposition by children’s rights, legal, and medical organisations around the world. In order to meet the requirements of international treaty law and allow infant male children the fullest opportunity for self determination, infant male circumcision must be treated under the law and by medical practitioners with the same degree of opposition that female genital mutilation has received.

Homelessness And Legal Advocacy, Legal Clinic Program

Course Descriptions and Information

This clinic offers a comprehensive set of legal services focused on assisting and empowering low income individuals in their interaction with the legal system. Students explore the facets of homelessness and the role of legal advocacy in addressing its causes and alleviating its consequences.

Guardian Ad Litem, Legal Clinic Program

Course Descriptions and Information

GUARDIAN AD LITEM (GAL): This clinic focuses on legal advocacy on behalf of children, while providing students with a strong foundation in lawyering skills and values. This clinic addresses constitutional, statutory, and common laws impacting children, the legal interests of parents, and the government and the law’s evolving conception of children’s rights.

Afterword: Reimagining Family Defense, Matthew I. Fraidin

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Licensing Parents In International Contract Pregnancies, Andrew Botterell, Carolyn Mcleod

Law Publications

The Hague Conference on Private International Law currently has a Parentage/Surrogacy Project, which evaluates the legal status of children in cross‐border situations, including situations involving international contract pregnancy (or ‘surrogacy’). Should a convention (or other legal instrument) focusing on international contract pregnancy emerge from this project, it will need to be consistent with the Hague convention on Intercountry Adoption. The latter convention prohibits adoptions unless, among other things, ‘the competent authorities of the receiving State have determined that the prospective adoptive parents are eligible and suited to adopt’ (Article 5a). Included in it, therefore, is a parental vetting or licensing …

Rethinking Premarital Agreements: A Collaborative Approach, Elizabeth Carter

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Gay Marriage And The Problem Of Property, Andrea B. Carroll, Christopher K. Odinet

Journal Articles

The Supreme Court's gay marriage decision in Obergefell has been hailed in almost all corners as a milestone in American jurisprudence. From topics as varied as adoption and taxes, a myriad of rights have now descended upon gay couples as a result of the Court's ruling. In this Commentary, we explore the little discussed downsides of the decision when it comes to the property rights and debts of the spouses. This is particularly important when considering the rights of third parties and their settled expectations in the context of retroactivity, as well the ways in which the Court's decision may …

Collaboration And Intention: Making The Collaborative Family Law Process Safe(R), Margaret Drew

Faculty Publications

Since the beginning of the collaborative family law movement, commentators from various professions have discouraged collaborative lawyers from accepting cases involving intimate partner abuse. The collaborative process, with its face to face meetings and emphasis on transparency and good faith, carries with it many risks for the partner who has been abused and who is attempting to end the relationship with the abusive partner. There may be occasions, however, when the at-risk partner believes that the collaborative process will enhance her safety or at least provide her with less exposure to future harm than other resolution processes. This article will …

Compassion Fatigue: Caveat Caregiver?, Jennifer Baum

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Most of us are familiar with the stereotype of the burned out lawyer who drags herself to work in the morning, makes cynical comments throughout the day, no longer provides her best service to her clients, and goes home bored and uninspired. You may wonder why someone so uncaring ever became a child advocate in the first place, or how she lost her spark. And you know this could never happen to you. Right?

Wrong, according to a panel of experts convened by the ABA Section of Litigation’s Children’s Rights Litigation Committee in a teleconference examining the phenomenon recently …

Reflections On "Innovations In Family Dispute Resolution", Deborah Thompson Eisenberg

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Drinking From The Data Well: Response To Gamete Donor Anonymity And Limits On Numbers Of Offspring: The Views Of Three Stakeholders, Martha M. Ertman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Governed By Marriage Law, Deirdre Mcgowan

Books/Book Chapters

Marriage law links the private and the political, connecting the aspirations of individuals to the regulatory ambitions of the state. Marriage has significant social and cultural importance, but the assumptions of stability and care it entails are also useful to government. As a result, marriage law has, both historically and in the present, been offered as the solution to a range of social problems. Using Ireland as a case study example, this essay focuses on the problems which marriage law reform has attempted to address and the political frameworks within which reform took place. It suggests that marriage law is …

Comparing Supreme Court Jurisprudence In Obergefell V. Hodges And Town Of Castle Rock V. Gonzales: A Watershed Moment For Due Process Liberty, Jill C. Engle

Journal Articles

“The nature of injustice is that we may not always see it in our own times. The generations that wrote and ratified the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment did not presume to know the extent of freedom in all of its dimensions, and so they entrusted to future generations a charter protecting the right of all persons to enjoy liberty as we learn its meaning. When new insight reveals discord between the Constitution’s central protections and a received legal stricture, a claim to liberty must be addressed.” -- Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584, …

Education & Practice (Newsletter Of The Section On Education Of Lawyer, Virginia State Bar) - V. 25, No. 1 (Fall 2016), Dale Margolin Cecka

Law Faculty Publications

What You Do and Do Not Learn in Law School: A Family Law Associate’s Perspective

Hiring and Supervising New Lawyers: A Family Law Partner’s Perspective

Chair’s Column

Law Faculty News and News and Events Around the Commonwealth

Call for Nomination: William R. Rakes Leadership in Education Award

2016-2017 Board of Governors