Law Commons^™

Family Lawyering: Past, Present, And Future, John M. Lande, Forrest S. Mosten

Faculty Publications

In the past fifty years, divorce law has turned upside down. Marriage is not assumed to be a lifelong commitment. Fault generally is not legally relevant. Gender equality is a fundamental principle. Today, courts regularly handle a much broader range of issues, including disputes about issues such as domestic violence; parental relocation; religious upbringing; payment for children's college education; grandparent and stepparent visitation rights; rights of same-sex and unmarried couples; alienation of parents and children; and the role of e-mail, the Internet, and cybersex in divorce.

Family law practice inevitably evolved in response to these social and legal changes. This …

The Revolution In Family Law Dispute Resolution, John M. Lande

Faculty Publications

This article surveys a wide range of procedures that divorcing parties now use, including self-representation. Lawyers sometimes provide “unbundled” legal services to help parties who want to divide responsibilities for legal tasks between themselves and their lawyers. Parties often use mediation, arbitration, and private judging. Norms for lawyers’ professional roles have emphasized the importance of cooperation and some lawyers offer “planned early negotiation” processes such as Collaborative and Cooperative Law. Family courts engage in a wide range of activities beyond traditional litigation and adjudication. Many courts manage or mandate parent education and services related to domestic violence. Courts regularly appoint …

Collaborative Family Law, The New Lawyer, And Deep Resolution Of Divorce-Related Conflicts, Pauline H. Tesler

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Unlike many of the contributions to this Symposium issue, mine is a speculative, idiosyncratic opinion piece. I want to explore what we know, what we think we know, what we do not know, and what we need to know about Collaborative Law and interdisciplinary team Collaborative Divorce Practice as they presently exist in the field of family law, in two respects: what these processes offer to clients (the "deep resolution" part of my title) and what effect the practice of these processes has on lawyers (the "new lawyer" part of my title). Instead of citing to authority, this essay draws …

Divorce And Life Insurance: Post Modern Remedies For Breach Of A Duty To Maintain A Policy For A Designated Beneficiary, Kelvin H. Dickinson

Missouri Law Review

In the last two centuries, life insurance has attained a place of prominence in most Americans' financial and domestic affairs, and a preference in our law. This article examines the application of legal and equitable remedies after the death of an insured who was subject to a life insurance mandate but failed to comply fully with its terms. The author finds that many problems stem from the failure of the parties, their lawyers, and judges, to develop a clear understanding of the purposes to be served by each mandate, and from poorly drafted mandates whose application is unclear in marginal …

Pilot Study On Marital Power As An Influence In Division Of Pension Benefits At Divorce Of Long Term Marriages, A, Joan M. Krauskopf, Sharon Burgess Seiling

Journal of Dispute Resolution

The Hewlett Foundation on Dispute Resolution funded a small pilot project designed by the authors to explore whether the hypothesis might be true and to determine a methodology for more extensive research. This article explains the applicable law, aspects of power in negotiation, the research methodology, and the tentative findings from the project.

Missouri Child Support Guidelines, Jennifer Clifton Ferguson

Missouri Law Review

The Child Support Enforcement Amendments of 1984' and the Family Support Act of 1988, are designed to improve the adequacy, consistency, and collectability of child support awards. These two laws require states to develop specific guidelines providing a numerical formula for the determination of child support award amounts' and require that the guidelines be presumptive. Following the federal mandate, the Missouri Supreme Court enacted child support guidelines which have been mandatory since April 1, 1990.

Promise And Problems In Divorce Mediation, Steven T. Knuppel

Journal of Dispute Resolution

In the past two decades, mediation in general has gained increasing acceptance in the legal community.' "[T]he search for alternative methods of resolving disputes has burgeoned to 'a movement'."2 In the divorce context, particularly, mediation has been seen by some as a more suitable process than the adversary system. 3 Proponents of mediation assert that the adversary system involves debilitating expense, frustrating delay, 4 and fails to address the emotional needs of the parties.5 Adversarial tactics often aggravate rather than resolve spousal differences, 6 though an amicable settlement might be in the best interests of both parties, especially when there …

Book Review , Nanette K. Laughrey

Journal of Dispute Resolution

As the practice of divorce mediation continues to grow, more and more professionals need training and literature to develop skills and perspective. A welcome addition to their libraries will be Divorce Mediation: Theory and Practice, edited by Jay Folberg and Ann Milne. In the preface, the editors explain that the purpose of the book is to examine divorce mediation from an interdisciplinary perspective. They achieve this goal with a series of articles written by professionals from such diverse fields as anthropology, sociology, psychology, law, and social work. Each article examines a different aspect of divorce mediation and provides the special …

Separation Agreements In Missouri, Irwin E. Blond

Missouri Law Review

In the calendar year of 1968 an estimated 537,000 divorces took place in the United States. In many of these divorces the respective future rights and responsibilities of the parties were fixed in a written agreement known as the "Separation Agreement." The purpose of this comment is to present the practical problems encountered in Missouri in the use of such agreements and to suggest possible solutions for them. In the absence of an agreement respecting the future responsibilities of the parties, the court's authority in such matters is limited. According to section 452.070, RSMo 1969, the court can grant a …