Law Commons^™

Punishing Drug Use During Pregnancy: Is It Time To “Just Say No” To Fetal Rights?, Danika E. Gallup

Brooklyn Law Review

In family courts throughout the country, civil neglect and abuse petitions are routinely brought against individuals based on their drug use during pregnancy. While some may be quick to justify such state interventions in the name of child protection based on the presumption that drug use always harms fetuses in utero and the child once it is born, this note questions the propriety of such justifications. While drug use during pregnancy may result in detrimental health outcomes, the theoretical underpinning of this premise has been dramatically distorted due to racist and classist assumptions that permeate child protective schemes. Medical research …

Potensi Pengembangan Wakaf Saham Sebagai Objek Wakaf Baru Di Indonesia: Perspektif Hukum Islam, Fahrul Fauzi

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Share waqf is holding one or more shares owned by wakif in a company that is engaged in a field that is permitted under sharia, the profits of which are used according to the purpose of waqf both for public and private in the framework of worshiping Allah SWT. The regulation of share waqf in Indonesia is still incorporated in the provisions of waqf in general. The existence of this regulation is the result of ijtihad by Indonesian ulama who adjusts to the needs and current social conditions. Shares in Islamic law are categorized as a form of Syirkah. The …

The Haunting Of Her House: How Virginia Law Punishes Women Who Become Mothers Through Rape, Jordan S. Miceli

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

If a rape victim becomes pregnant following the attack, she has three options: abort the pregnancy, place the child for adoption, or keep and raise the child. However, by requiring proof of conviction of rape to terminate the parental rights of the man who fathered that child through his rape, the Commonwealth of Virginia imposes a substantial burden on a victim weighing those options. To obtain a conviction under the current scheme, a victim, through her local prosecutor, has to prove to a jury that the accused committed the rape beyond a reasonable doubt. The Commonwealth requires proof of conviction …

The Future Harm Exception: Coercive Control As Serious Psychological Harm And The Challenge For Lawyers’ Ethics, Deanne Sowter

Dalhousie Law Journal

Can a lawyer use the future harm exception to prevent her client from coercively controlling his former spouse? Lawyers are required to keep their clients’ secrets unless an exception applies. One of those exceptions is where there is a clear and imminent risk of serious bodily harm or death to an identifiable group or person. The exception provides that serious psychological harm constitutes serious bodily harm, but there is very little guidance as to what type of threat might meet the test. Coercive control is a type of family violence whereby an abusive spouse will use a pattern of tactics …

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 …

Immigration Law—Creating Consistency In Domestic Violence Asylum Cases, Zoya Miller

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Compulsory Dna Testing In Argentina: The Right To Truth Versus The Right To Privacy, Margaret Foster

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

During the Dirty War—a seven year repression by the Argentinian junta of political dissidents and alleged subversives—an estimated 500 babies were stolen from their mothers while imprisoned and given to leading military officials as "adopted" children. These children had their true identities erased and replaced with a false one covering up their true origins. This Note will explore Argentina's response to the Dirty War. Namely, it will consider the tension between the right to truth—an international right right often associated with enforced disappearances—and the right to privacy. In particular, it will consider cases in which adults resisted DNA testing to …

Domestic Relations, Andrew B. Mcclintock, Allison C. Ellison

Mercer Law Review

This Article addresses significant case law and legislative updates to Georgia domestic relations law that arose during the Survey period from June 1, 2020 through May 31, 2021. Notably, this period includes the state of emergency declared by the Governor and statewide judicial emergency declared by Chief Justice Harold D. Melton on March 14, 2020, in response to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the state of Georgia during the first quarter of 2020. The majority of litigation deadlines were reinstated effective July 13, 2020, as part of the Fourth Order Extending Statewide Judicial Emergency issued by the …

Family Law, Rachel A. Degraba

University of Richmond Law Review

This Article provides a practical update on recent changes in Virginia law in the family law realm, including, but not limited to, divorce, custody and visitation, adoption, child support, and equitable distribution of assets and debts. There have been significant legislative amendments regarding the divorce process with the introduction of the Uniform Collaborative Law Act as well as the removal of the corroborating witness requirement for no-fault divorce matters. This succinct synopsis outlines legislative changes as well as significant judicial decisions within the past year.

Maternity Rights: A Comparative View Of Mexico And The United States, Roberto Rosas

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Women play a large role in the workplace and require additional protection during pregnancy, childbirth, and while raising children. This article compares how Mexico and the United States have approached the issue of maternity rights and benefits. First, Mexico provides eighty-four days of paid leave to mothers, while the United States provides unpaid leave for up to twelve weeks. Second, Mexico allows two thirty-minute breaks a day for breastfeeding, while the United States allows a reasonable amount of time per day to breastfeed. Third, Mexico provides childcare to most federal employees, while the United States provides daycares to a small …

Standing By To Protect Child Abuse Victims: Utilizing Standby Counsel In Lieu Of Personal Cross-Examination, Claire Murtha

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Child abuse is a pervasive problem in the United States. Often, the abused child’s word is the only evidence to prove the abuse in court. For this reason, the child’s testimony is critical. Testifying can pose a challenge for the abused child who must face her abuser in the courtroom, especially if that abuser personally questions her.

The United States Supreme Court has recognized the legitimate and strong interest the state has in protecting the psychological and physical well-being of children. When a child will face significant trauma and cannot reasonably communicate in the courtroom, the child can be questioned …

Protecting The Child Bride: Following Texas' Middle-Ground Approach, Wendy Ross

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Biology Is Important, But Does Not Necessarily Always Constitute A "Family": A Brief Survey Of The Uniform Adoption Act, Carrie L. Wambaugh

Akron Law Review

The Uniform Adoption Act [hereinafter "UAA"] recognizes that adoptive families are the "legal equivalent" to biological families. While recognizing biology is very important, the UAA contends that this biological fact alone will not be enough to trump the rights of adoptive parents and the child by ensuring stability and finality in adoptions. The child is the one with the most at stake and deserves protection from "transfer trauma" in contested adoptions. This Comment addresses the problems that adoptive families have confronted and explores certain provisions of the Uniform Adoption Act.

Working While Mothering During The Pandemic And Beyond, Nicole Buonocore Porter

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

Although combining work and family has never been easy for women, working while mothering during the pandemic was close to impossible. When COVID-19 caused most workplaces to shut down, many women were laid off. But many women were forced to work from home alongside their children, who could not attend daycare or school. Mothers tried valiantly to combine a full day’s work on top of caring for young children and helping school-aged children with remote school. But many found this balance difficult, leading to women’s lowest workforce participation rate in over forty years. And even women who did not quit …

Zero Sympathy: Unaccompanied Minors' Rights In The Us Immigration System, Mahrukh Ali

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

This note analyzes the US Government's approach to unaccompanied minors and the webs they must navigate when they are apprehended by the US immigration system. More importantly, this note calls for reformative approaches to children's rights through acknowledging the differences between adults and children while simultaneously taking their vulnerability and autonomy into account. After explaining the migrant crisis along with its implications and examining the underlying reasons fostering this movement, this note discusses the legal options available for unaccompanied minors. It draws on the shortcomings of the immigration system as the system labels unaccompanied minors as dependent children, but also …

Reimagining Postmortem Conception, Kristine Knaplund

Georgia State University Law Review

Hundreds, likely thousands, of babies have been born years after a parent has died. Thousands more people have cryopreserved their sperm, ova, and embryos, or have requested that a loved one’s gametes be retrieved after death to produce still more such children. Twenty-three states have enacted statutes detailing how these postmortem conception children can inherit from their predeceased parents.

And yet, few of these children will be able to inherit. The statutes create a bewildering array of standards, with over a dozen definitions of consent, variations in signature and witnessing requirements, and hurdles imposed in one state but not another. …

Children Of The Government: Affording A Higher Education A Review Of The State Of Pennsylvania’S Recently Implemented Law That Grants Children Who “Age Out” Of The Foster Care Tuition And Fee Waivers At Every University In The State, Erin K. Cooper

Helms School of Government Undergraduate Law Review

No abstract provided.

Mommy, Baby And Rapist Makes Three? Amid Abortion Bans, The Pressing Need For A Nationwide Lower Standard To Strip Parental Rights, Regardless Of A Rape Conviction, Melanie Dostis

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Among the fundamental rights recognized in the Constitution are the rights of parents to raise their children. While never interpreted as an absolute legal privilege, courts have exercised wide discretion in preserving this right and historically ignored the reality that not all parents are deserving of this right. Even though the family law system has protections in place to terminate parental rights for atrocities like abuse, it largely neglects an uncomfortable area of parental origin: parental rights regarding children conceived by rape. This is not only to the detriment of children, but, as this Note argues, at the peril of …

Inheritance Crimes, David Horton, Reid Kress Weisbord

Washington Law Review

The civil justice system has long struggled to resolve disputes over end-of-life transfers. The two most common grounds for challenging the validity of a gift, will, or trust— mental incapacity and undue influence—are vague, hinge on the state of mind of a dead person, and allow factfinders to substitute their own norms and preferences for the donor’s intent. In addition, the slayer doctrine—which prohibits killers from inheriting from their victims—has generated decades of constitutional challenges.

But recently, these controversial rules have migrated into an area where the stakes are significantly higher: the criminal justice system. For example, states have criminalized …

The Termination Of Parental Rights In Texas: The Long Run Cut Short For Parents In Bexar County, Gabriel A. Narvaez

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

Divorce Without Marriage: Taxing Property Transfers Between Cohabiting Adults, Keeva Terry

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

Deinstitutionalization, Family Reunification, And The "Best Interests Of The Child": An Examination Of Armenia's Child Protection Obligations Under Conventional International Law, George S. Yacoubian Jr., Esq.

Pace International Law Review

For nearly a century, the global community has sought to afford children legal protections, abandoning widely held views that children were pecuniary assets. In the United States and globally, a nascent children’s rights movement culminated in broad child welfare reform. Whether adoption, armed conflict, child labor, education, human trafficking, or deinstitutionalization, the post-war 20th century witnessed an evolution of international child protections. The prevailing standard of “best interests of the child” (BIC) has been incorporated into domestic and international law doctrine and, not surprisingly, has been operationalized in a variety of ways. In recent years, the standard has been explored …

Care In The Time Of Covid: Addressing The State Of Family And Medical Leave In Light Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Emily Kowalik

Journal of Legislation

No abstract provided.

A Chance To Save Lives: A Guide For How And Why The Us Should Mandate Vaccines For Children And Limit State Exemption Laws, Lauren Zidones

Akron Law Review

Vaccines have helped increase the life expectancy for humans in the 20th century and have reduced the number of deaths associated with infectious diseases. Despite efforts by the CDC, state and local governments, and other public health agencies, infectious diseases are still a major cause of illness, disability, and death. Steps must be taken to address the continued rise of vaccine-preventable diseases in America. Eliminating or limiting state exemptions for mandatory vaccinations for school-aged children is the simplest way to address this growing issue. However, a population of parents argue for absolute parental rights and stand against any vaccine exemption …

International Family Law, Robert G. Spector, Melissa A. Kucinski

The Year in Review

No abstract provided.

Gestational Surrogacy Contract Terms Under The 2017 Uniform Parentage Act, Jhonell Campbell

Child and Family Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Chimerism And Mosaicism: The Fallibility Of Dna Evidence, Robert Ellis-Liang

Child and Family Law Journal

No abstract provided.

How To End The Cycle Of Domestic Violence: Policies Focused On Children, Ashley Phillips

Child and Family Law Journal

There is an alarming amount of people who witness childhood domestic violence, and when children are exposed to domestic violence, they are subjected to a cycle of violence and trauma that exists in families for generations.1 However, society does not focus on trauma-exposed children to help break the cycle of domestic violence, even though child witnesses and victims become future abusers and prison inmates. This paper explains the cycle of domestic violence and its traumatic effects, examines the problems and limits of the law in respect to family intervention, and concludes with policy solutions focused on assisting children exposed to …

The True Detriment Of Sibling Separation Lies In The Law, Vincent Sorrentino

Child and Family Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Parental Leave In The United States: Why The United States Should Follow France In Implementing Mandatory Paid Paternal Leave, Emily Bergmann

Child and Family Law Journal

This article addresses an issue relevant to all working parents: paid parental leave. The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world to not guarantee paid leave for parents. Substantial research and studies have documented numerous benefits correlated to paid parental leave including increased workforce participation, health benefits for both children and parents, reduced gender stereotypes, and more. Unfortunately, many fathers are stigmatized when they choose to take family leave; therefore, making leave mandatory is necessary to reduce this stigma. Current paternity leave policies in the United States will be analyzed under the FMLA, individual states, and private …