Law Commons^™

Beyond Interstate Recognition In The Same-Sex Marriage Debate, Gary J. Simson

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The national same-sex marriage debate has been dominated for the past decade by the interstate recognition issue. This article seeks to shift the focus of the debate to same-sex marriage prohibitions themselves and their incompatibility with several limitations of federal constitutional law.

After showing the legal irrelevance of the Defense of Marriage Act to the interstate recognition issue, the article addresses the proper resolution of that choice-of-law issue through the lens of a well-known New York Court of Appeals decision. In that case, despite New York's ban on uncle-niece marriage, the New York high court - one of the most …

My Two Dads: Disaggregating Biological And Social Paternity, Melanie B. Jacobs

Faculty Scholarship

Examines the question of what the basis for establishing fatherhood should be. Explores how legal parentage is determined, examines the two-parent paradigm, and compares biological and social paternity in order to recognize two legal fathers.

Foreword To The Special Issue On The Family Law Education Reform Project, Andrew Schepard, Peter Salem

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

The purpose of this issue is to promote a dialogue between the family law academic community and stakeholders in the family law system about how future family lawyers should be educated. Family law practice has undergone dramatic change in the last quarter century, perhaps more than any other area of practice. Virtually everything about it has changed—the role of the family court, the procedure for resolving family disputes, the role of the family lawyer, and the substantive law. It is a vibrant and exciting field, with great influence on the lives of families and children.

The family law curriculum in …

Understanding The Influence Of Climate Forecasts On Farmer Decisions As Planned Behavior, Ikrom Artikov, Stacey Hoffman, Gary Lynne, Lisa M. Pytlikzillig, Q. Steven Hu, Alan Tomkins, Kenneth Hubbard, Michael Hayes, William J. Waltman

Lisa PytlikZillig Publications

Results of a set of four regression models applied to recent survey data of farmers in eastern Nebraska suggest the causes that drive farmer intentions of using weather and climate information and forecasts in farming decisions. The model results quantify the relative importance of attitude, social norm, perceived behavioral control, and financial capability in explaining the influence of climate-conditions information and short-term and long-term forecasts on agronomic, crop insurance, and crop marketing decisions. Attitude, serving as a proxy for the utility gained from the use of such information, had the most profound positive influence on the outcome of all the …

Understanding Farmers’ Forecast Use From Their Beliefs, Values, Social Norms, And Perceived Obstacles, Qi Hu, Lisa M. Pytlikzillig, Gary Lynne, Alan Tomkins, William J. Waltman, Michael Hayes, Kenneth Hubbard, Ikrom Artikov, Stacey Hoffman, Donald A. Wilhite

Lisa PytlikZillig Publications

Although the accuracy of weather and climate forecasts is continuously improving and new information retrieved from climate data is adding to the understanding of climate variation, use of the forecasts and climate information by farmers in farming decisions has changed little. This lack of change may result from knowledge barriers and psychological, social, and economic factors that undermine farmer motivation to use forecasts and climate information. According to the theory of planned behavior (TPB), the motivation to use forecasts may arise from personal attitudes, social norms, and perceived control or ability to use forecasts in specific decisions. These attributes are …

Same-Sex Marriage In New York, Lewis A. Silverman

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

The Constitutional Rights Of Non-Custodial Parents, David D. Meyer

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Constitutional Rights Of Non-Custodial Parents, David D. Meyer

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

What Place For Marriage (E)Quality In Marriage Promotion?, Linda C. Mcclain

Faculty Scholarship

The place of marriage in a just and fair constitutional democracy reverberates as one of the most challenging questions posed in debates over family law and policy. Should government properly support and promote marriage, defined as the union of one man and one woman, as the proxy for the form of family best able to undergird our polity by allowing realization of the goods associated with family life and carrying out the important functions society assigns to families? Or is marriage's privileged place undeserved because it is an imperfect and inadequate proxy for these purposes. This article argues that, although …

Methamphetamine Addiction, Treatment, And Outcomes: Implications For Child Welfare Workers, Cathleen Otero, Sharon Boles, Nancy Young, Kim Dennis

Center on Children, Families, and the Law (and related organizations): Publications

Methamphetamine is a highly addictive stimulant associated with serious health and psychiatric conditions, including heart damage and brain damage, impaired thinking and memory problems, aggression, violence, and psychotic behavior. Methamphetamine is also associated with the transmission of infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis.

Child welfare workers are seeing growing numbers of children and families affected by the parent’s use of methamphetamine. In order to make sound decisions for the benefit of children and families, child welfare workers need accurate information about methamphetamine, its effects on parents and their children, and the effectiveness of treatment. This paper presents the most …

Family Boundaries: Third-Party Rights And Obligations With Respect To Children, Joanna L. Grossman

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

The article introduces the topics discussed within the issue, which defines the law pertaining to the rights and obligations of a third parties with respect to children in the U.S. According to the author, the articles regard whether the law should recognize a continuum of those adults with claims to children in which a third party might deserve more or fewer rights based on his relationship with the child. In the article "Philosophy, Morality and Parental Priority," the fundamental right of parents to raise their children is being dealt with. Another article talks about the rights of same-sex partners in …

The Use Of Hair Analysis To Test Children For Exposure To Methamphetamine, Michael T. Flannery, Jerry Jones, Karen Farst, Karen Bord Worley

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Evolution - Or End - Of Marriage?: Reflections On The Impasse Over Same-Sex Marriage, Linda C. Mcclain

Faculty Scholarship

The debate over legalization of same-sex marriage implicates the question of whether doing so would signal the end - or destruction - of the institution of marriage, or instead would be an appropriate evolution of marriage laws that is in keeping with the ends of marriage and with relevant public values. This essay comments on an earlier published debate on that question: Special Issue: The Evolution of Marriage, 44 Family Court Review 33-105 (2006). The essay contends that the appeal to preserving a millennia-old tradition of marriage against destruction fails to reckon with the evolution of the institution of civil …

The Legal Status Of Pregnant And Parenting Youth In Foster Care, Cynthia Godsoe, Eve Stotland

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Prenuptial Agreements: A New Reason To Revive An Old Rule, Jeffrey G. Sherman

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Review Of Fathers Under Fire: The Revolution In Child Support Enforcement, By Irwin Garfinkel, Sara S. Mclanahan, Daniel R. Meyer, And Judith A. Seltzer, Ryan E. Spohn

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The title of this book adequately reflects its timely focus on nonresidential fathers facing increased child support enforcement, examining how child support contributions (or failure to meet child support obligations) affect the lives of children as well as the fathers themselves. As the authors suggest, nonresident fathers have generally been treated as financial resources, with little attention paid to their rights as parents or their needs as providers for their children. A particular focus of this collection of studies is the role of indigent nonresident fathers and their role as parents and providers. Consequently, the scope of study adopted by …

Protecting Children By Preserving Parenthood, Jane C. Murphy

All Faculty Scholarship

Establishing legal parentage, once a relatively straightforward matter of marriage and biology, has become increasingly complex. The determination of legal status as mother may now involve several women making claims based on genetic contribution, contract, status as gestational carrier or other bases. The debate about the best choice for children when adults are competing for parental status is ongoing, lively and filled with many voices. Less attention has been paid to a much larger, second category of cases - cases in which the law is faced with resolving the legal status of the one adult who may be available to …

Foster Children Paying For Foster Care, Daniel L. Hatcher

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines the legality and policy concerns of state foster care agencies using children's Social Security benefits as a state funding stream. The practice requires foster children who are disabled or have deceased or disabled parents to pay for their own care. Often with the assistance of private consultants under contingency fee contracts, agencies look for children who are eligible for Social Security benefits and interject themselves as the children's representative payees. Rather than using the benefits to serve the children's unmet needs, the agencies use their fiduciary power to access the children's benefits and apply the funds to …

Bringing Up Baby: Adoption, Marriage, And The Best Interests Of The Child, Robin Fretwell Wilson, W. Bradford Wilcox

Faculty Scholarship

In the piece, Professor Brad Wilcox and I ask who should care for children when their biological parents cannot? This is a question of potentially explosive dimensions under new definitions of legal parentage proposed in this volume of the WILLIAM & MARY BILL OF RIGHTS JOURNAL. This question is also important today for evaluating state adoption laws. A significant number of states bar consideration of a prospective adopter’s marital or non-marital status. We believe these laws miss an important opportunity to maximize the best interests of each child being placed. In this piece, we take an exclusively child-centered approach, drawing …

The Constitutionality Of Best Interests Parentage, David D. Meyer

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Constitutionality Of Best Interests Parentage, David D. Meyer

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Parentage At Birth: Birthfathers And Social Fatherhood, Nancy E. Dowd

UF Law Faculty Publications

Deciding who should be a child's legal parents at birth seems a simple task. Instinctively, the answer is the child's biological mother and father. Historically, the answer would have been different depending on whether the child was born within a marriage or not; marriage trumped biology, at least with respect to fathers. A husband was generally presumed to be the father of a child born to his wife, even if there was no genetic connection. A number of changes have moved parentage away from the marital/genetic/patriarchal model that valued the marital family above genes or social fatherhood. Modern principles of …

Gun Related Youth Violence: Fear Of Victimization Versus The Influence Of Significant Others, Ryan Spohn, Samantha Lane

Center on Children, Families, and the Law: Faculty Publications

Differential association/social learning theories have received considerable empirical support as an explanation of participation in delinquent acts, including violent delinquency (Heimer 1997). More recently, and primarily as a result of highly publicized school shootings in suburban high schools, fear of crime and victimization have received attention as motivators of gun-carrying and gun violence. These phenomena are generally not examined in unison, however, leaving open the question of their relative role as a cause of gun carrying and violence amongst youth. The current research project addresses this question. A major strength of the current research is the adoption of multiple measures …

Review Of Fathers Under Fire: The Revolution In Child Support Enforcement, By Irwin Garfinkel, Sara S. Mclanahan, Daniel R. Meyer, And Judith A. Seltzer, Ryan Spohn

Center on Children, Families, and the Law: Faculty Publications

The title of this book adequately reflects its timely focus on nonresidential fathers facing increased child support enforcement, examining how child support contributions (or failure to meet child support obligations) affect the lives of children as well as the fathers themselves. As the authors suggest, nonresident fathers have generally been treated as financial resources, with little attention paid to their rights as parents or their needs as providers for their children. A particular focus of this collection of studies is the role of indigent nonresident fathers and their role as parents and providers. Consequently, the scope of study adopted by …

Review Of The Cultural Lives Of Capital Punishment: Comparative Perspectives Edited By Austin Sarat And Christian Boulanger, Ryan Spohn

Center on Children, Families, and the Law: Faculty Publications

This volume examines the interconnectivity of culture and punishment across an impressive variety of states and nations. The authors convincingly argue that research is strengthened by developing an understanding of the "cultural life" of capital punishment, defined as the embeddedness of this punishment in the discourse and symbolic practices of specific locales and times. This book is abolitionist in nature, representing the praxis of social research.

The editors argue that independent variables like crime rates, economics, religion, and public opinion fail to explain international variation in the use of the death penalty. Eschewing variables, they argue for analysis of individual …

Adoption Consents: Legal Incentives For Best Practices, Elizabeth Samuels

All Faculty Scholarship

When a state places its legal imprimatur on the unmaking of one family and the making of another, the state should insure to the greatest extent possible that all the individuals involved have followed or have been afforded the best practices that ethics and humanity demand. The Uniform Adoption Act sets out commonly accepted goals of state adoption laws, among them the goals of protecting minor children against unnecessary separation from their birth parents and of ensuring that a decision by a birth parent to relinquish a minor child and consent to the childs adoption is informed and voluntary. With …

Legal Representation Of Birth Parents And Adoptive Parents, Elizabeth Samuels

All Faculty Scholarship

The Article examines the role that legal representation of birth and prospective parents may or may not play in independent domestic adoptions in furthering two primary goals that characterize ethically and humanely conducted adoptions, deliberate decision making and finality. Ideally, these two goals are complementary and can be balanced with one another. There is, however, a danger of the second goal eclipsing the first. Many state laws appear to value an increase in infant adoptions over the goal of encouraging careful deliberation. Most domestic infant adoptions involve powerful market forces as well as powerful emotional pressures, and they occur in …

Principles Of U.S. Family Law, Vivian E. Hamilton

Faculty Publications

What explains U.S. family law? What are the origins of the current chaos and controversy in the field, the home of some of the most vituperative debates in public policy? To answer these questions, this Article identifies and examines family law's foundational principles. It undertakes a conceptual analysis of the legal practices that govern families. This analysis has yet to be done, and its absence hamstrings constructive thought on our family law. The Article develops a typology that conceptualizes U.S. family law and exposes its underlying principles. First, it identifies the significant elements, or rules, of family law. Second, it …

A Privacy Right To Public Recognition Of Family Relationships - The Cases Of Marriage And Adoption, David D. Meyer

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Presumption Of Undue Influence Resurrected: He Said/She Said Is Back, Christine Manolakas

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.