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Seattle University School of Law

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Articles 241 - 270 of 278

Full-Text Articles in Family Law

Members Only: The Need For Reform In U.S. Intercountry Adoption Policy, Colin Joseph Troy Jun 2011

Members Only: The Need For Reform In U.S. Intercountry Adoption Policy, Colin Joseph Troy

Seattle University Law Review

In the last five years, Americans have adopted nearly seventy thousand children from foreign countries. The trend of intercountry adoption, “the process by which a married couple or single individual of one country adopts a child from another country,” is representative of the new globalized world, where families are formed and dissolved beyond the bounds of national borders. Although intercountry adoption has enabled many adoptive parents to form loving families and provide caring living environments for countless children, intercountry adoption is not without its share of problems. Corruption and abuse, such as child trafficking, have in many cases marred the …


Putting Children Last: How Washington Has Failed To Protect The Dependent Child's Best Interest In Visitation, Jennifer K. Smith Jan 2009

Putting Children Last: How Washington Has Failed To Protect The Dependent Child's Best Interest In Visitation, Jennifer K. Smith

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment proposes three amendments to the Washington Visitation Statute that would ensure juvenile courts properly focus on the long-term best interests of children and reduce children's exposure to abuse in the visitation setting. To analyze the existing tension between the rights of parents and the rights of children, Part II of this Comment traces the development of family rights and state intervention under Roman, constitutional, and Washington law. In particular, this Part focuses on the origins of parental rights, the parens patriae right of states, and the rights of children. Part III addresses the dependency process in Washington by …


The Parent Trap: Differential Familial Power In Same-Sex Families, Deirdre Bowen Jan 2008

The Parent Trap: Differential Familial Power In Same-Sex Families, Deirdre Bowen

Faculty Articles

Do intact same-sex couples where one member of the couple became pregnant with assisted reproduction or was the primary adopter, and the other member became a parent through second parent adoption, understand the legal protections afforded them? In short the answer is no. An interesting family dynamic arises around those who can claim the true status as parent based on their legal understandings of parenthood and their interactions with the dominant culture. The result of research conducted on this issue indicated that second parent adopters had much less emotional power in the family, but often had more economic power. Even …


Washington's 2002 Parentage Act: A Step Backward For The Rights Of Nonmarital Children, Stacey Scriven Bernstein Jan 2006

Washington's 2002 Parentage Act: A Step Backward For The Rights Of Nonmarital Children, Stacey Scriven Bernstein

Seattle University Law Review

The purpose of this Comment is to encourage the Washington legislature to amend the WPA and to suggest potential avenues for challenging the Act if it is not amended. Part II of this Comment provides the historical and legal context necessary to analyze and critique the WPA. Part III discusses the WPA's serious shortcomings and explores one potential constitutional challenge to the Act. Part IV contains recommendations for amending the WPA.


Taking The Stand: The Lessons Of The Three Men Who Took The Japanese American Internment To Court, Lorraine K. Bannai Nov 2005

Taking The Stand: The Lessons Of The Three Men Who Took The Japanese American Internment To Court, Lorraine K. Bannai

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.


The Afterlife Of The Meretricious Relationship Doctrine: Applying The Doctrine Post Mortem, John E. Wallace Jan 2005

The Afterlife Of The Meretricious Relationship Doctrine: Applying The Doctrine Post Mortem, John E. Wallace

Seattle University Law Review

The meretricious relationship doctrine has received increased attention in recent years largely due to its application to same-sex couples' and the national debate on same-sex marriage. However, the importance of the doctrine, applicable also to heterosexual couples, extends beyond this recent focus. The number of unmarried, committed persons cohabitating has been increasing rapidly. Over eleven million people reported being unmarried but living with a partner in 2000, an increase of seventy-two percent since 1990. As the number of unmarried persons cohabitating increases, so will the importance of the doctrine. The meretricious relationship doctrine is a judicially-created equitable doctrine that allows …


Access Denied: The Problem Of Abused Men In Washington, Melody M. Crick Jan 2004

Access Denied: The Problem Of Abused Men In Washington, Melody M. Crick

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment explains how the Washington legislature and court system have failed to provide abused men with much needed protection, despite a law that is facially gender neutral. Following this Introduction, Part II explores the wording of Washington's domestic violence statutes and analyzes the current implementing regulations. Part III demonstrates that the problem of abused men is legitimate by examining increasing social awareness and the results of current studies. By examining the prevailing national viewpoint embodied in the Violence Against Women Act, Part IV discusses how such a viewpoint adversely affects the availability of resources for abused men. Part V …


Therapeutic Domestic Violence Courts: An Efficient Approach To Adjudication?, Hon. Catherine Shaffer Jan 2004

Therapeutic Domestic Violence Courts: An Efficient Approach To Adjudication?, Hon. Catherine Shaffer

Seattle University Law Review

Part II of this Article will explore the history of state intervention to confront domestic violence, along with some of the attitudes that contribute to the lack of adequate enforcement of recent legislative reforms. Part III of this Article will discuss the costs of domestic violence and the impact of superficial court treatment in reducing those costs. Part IV will outline the historical development, philosophy, and potential development of therapeutic courts, and in particular will examine the proven effectiveness of the drug court model and the potential benefits that are unique to domestic violence courts. Part V suggests further creation …


Murder By Child Abuse—Who's Responsible After State V. Jackson? , Christine A. Martin Jan 2000

Murder By Child Abuse—Who's Responsible After State V. Jackson? , Christine A. Martin

Seattle University Law Review

Currently, under Washington law, a passive parent is not legally responsible for the death of his or her child from abuse. State v. Jackson is a horrific illustration of the gaps in Washington's law regarding the issue of who is responsible for the death of a child by abuse. Because passive parents should be held responsible for the death of their child from abuse, and because Washington's current laws are inadequate, Washington's legislature should create a special statute that would hold both abusive and passive parents culpable for the death of a child resulting from abuse.


Not In Front Of The Children: Prohibition On Child Custody As Civil Branding For Criminal Activity, Deborah Ahrens Jan 2000

Not In Front Of The Children: Prohibition On Child Custody As Civil Branding For Criminal Activity, Deborah Ahrens

Faculty Articles

This piece identifies and explores a trend in statutes and caselaw towards treating criminal behavior as a per se or presumptive bar to child custody, reading this development through the lens of the modern criminal sanctions literature.


Getting Ahead With Washington's Workfirst Program: Are Battered Women Left Behind?, Wendy Davis Jan 1999

Getting Ahead With Washington's Workfirst Program: Are Battered Women Left Behind?, Wendy Davis

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment will suggest that although the structure of Washington's WorkFirst Act could help victims become self-sufficient, the current implementation of the Act does not adequately address the particular needs of victims. As a result, a victim's chances of achieving financial independence from either the state or her abuser are minimal. Part II of this Comment will give a brief summary of the federal guidelines under which Washington's WorkFirst Act was developed. Part III will outline the requirements of the WorkFirst Act, and in particular, the Act's provisions that address or affect domestic violence victims. Included in this section will …


De Facto Parents And The Unfulfilled Promise Of The New Ali Principles, Julie Shapiro Jan 1999

De Facto Parents And The Unfulfilled Promise Of The New Ali Principles, Julie Shapiro

Faculty Articles

Alternative families - those that do not fit the classic nuclear family model - have been the focus of legal reform over the last twenty years. The American Law Institute has produced model legislation recognizing de facto parents as holders of some limited rights. To some this is a more flexible regime that would benefit non-nuclear families, in particular lesbian families. This article critiques the ALI draft, demonstrating that its promise is largely illusory.


A Lesbian-Centered Critique Of Second-Parent Adoptions, Julie Shapiro Jan 1999

A Lesbian-Centered Critique Of Second-Parent Adoptions, Julie Shapiro

Faculty Articles

When lesbian couples start families, one woman often begins with all the legal entitlements of parenthood, either by giving birth or by virtue of adopting a child, while the other woman has no legal rights. She is a non-legal parent. Absent legal rights she suffers many critical disadvantages. Second-parent adoptions have been developed to allow lesbians to create families with two-legal parents. They have been widely hailed as a solution to the problem of the non-legal parent. This article argues, however, that for many women they may actually make matters worse. Because some women can use second-parent adoptions, women who …


The Morality Of Choice: Estate Planning And The Client Who Chooses Not To Choose, Janet L. Dolgin Jan 1998

The Morality Of Choice: Estate Planning And The Client Who Chooses Not To Choose, Janet L. Dolgin

Seattle University Law Review

The Symposium focuses around two hypotheticals. The question posed about each-whether it is ethical for an estate lawyer to represent spouses, one of whom chooses subservience to the interests of the other-provokes discussion of a broad set of concerns about the scope and meaning of the contemporary family, and about the appropriate parameters of legal representation of family members.


Foreword To Symposium On "Should The Family Be Represented As An Entity?": Reexamining The Family Values Of Legal Ethics, Russell G. Pearce Jan 1998

Foreword To Symposium On "Should The Family Be Represented As An Entity?": Reexamining The Family Values Of Legal Ethics, Russell G. Pearce

Seattle University Law Review

This symposium on whether the family should be represented as an entity marks another milestone in the development of legal ethics as a field central to understanding the operation of law in our society, and not merely as a set of dry, largely irrelevant rules. It does so by acknowledging that ethical rules of lawyers who represent families have very real consequences for those families. Building on earlier efforts to address this topic, this symposium's authors confront what some commentators have described as the individualist impulse of the ethics codes and whether this impulse is beneficial or harmful to families.


The Power Of Narrative: Listening To The Initial Client Interview, Raven Lidman Jan 1998

The Power Of Narrative: Listening To The Initial Client Interview, Raven Lidman

Seattle University Law Review

As I thought about the hypothetical situations posed for consideration by this symposium, I envisioned distinct individuals in context, speaking particular words. I decided to write the initial consultation out as a dialogue to see what happened to the ideas and the interactions as these three, the lawyer, husband, and wife, explored them. I, thus, chose to turn a hypothetical into a real situation. By selecting this format, I was only able to focus on the first hypothetical. This one was perhaps the most challenging for me personally. As a feminist and a family law lawyer, I have struggled and …


Love Among The Ruins: The Ethics Of Counseling Happily Married Couples, Teresa Stanton Collett Jan 1998

Love Among The Ruins: The Ethics Of Counseling Happily Married Couples, Teresa Stanton Collett

Seattle University Law Review

This Article explores the professional tension experienced by lawyers when clients embrace an ideal of marriage as "the two shall become as one," in a legal system that has repudiated this understanding in favor of the "reality" of marriage as an association dedicated to the individual fulfillment of the man and woman involved. Part II describes the three purposes of estate planning that define the parameters of any proposed representation. Estate planning lawyers assist clients in minimizing taxes, directing gifts to particular beneficiaries, and insuring the continuing care of loved ones. The decision to accept or reject proposed representation often …


Family Matters: Nonwaivable Conflicts Of Interest In Family Law, Steven H. Hobbs Jan 1998

Family Matters: Nonwaivable Conflicts Of Interest In Family Law, Steven H. Hobbs

Seattle University Law Review

The hypotheticals prepared for this special symposium issue ask if a lawyer can provide legal services to a family when one family member yields major decision-making authority to another family member. At stake is the disposition of significant individual and family assets. The traditional model of legal representation would require each family member to have an advocate protecting and promoting his or her individual interests while negotiating a reasonable accommodation of the other family members' interests. The challenge presented by the hypotheticals is whether an attorney can simultaneously represent apparent multiple interests without violating ethical provisions.


Dependency And Delegation: The Ethics Of Marital Representation, Naomi Cahn, Robert Tuttle Jan 1998

Dependency And Delegation: The Ethics Of Marital Representation, Naomi Cahn, Robert Tuttle

Seattle University Law Review

The two hypotheticals for this symposium concern a lawyer who is asked to represent a married couple in which one spouse would like to cede decision-making authority to the other. As we have examined the lawyer's ethical responsibilities, we have identified two distinct, but conceptually related, issues of legal ethics. The first, a threshold question, deals with the nature of marital representation: May a lawyer simultaneously represent both husband and wife? And if so, how should the representation be structured? The second adds an additional layer of complexity: If a lawyer represents both husband and wife, may the lawyer accept …


The Guardian Ad Litem In Child Custody Cases: The Contours Of Our Judicial System Stretched Beyond Recognition, Raven Lidman, Betsy Hollingsworth Jan 1998

The Guardian Ad Litem In Child Custody Cases: The Contours Of Our Judicial System Stretched Beyond Recognition, Raven Lidman, Betsy Hollingsworth

Faculty Articles

This article discusses the role of the guardian ad litem, as Part I dissects each of the five potential guardian ad litem roles: Lawyer, Expert Witness, investigator/Lay Witness, Mediator/Facilitator, and Party. For each role, this section explores: how the well-known role is typically performed within the court system as a whole; how that role might be performed in a custody case, consistent with its occurrence elsewhere in the judicial system; and how that role, when held by a guardian ad litem, actually is performed in a custody context. Part II endeavors to explain how the guardian ad litem figure has …


Custody And Conduct: How The Law Fails Lesbian And Gay Parents And Their Children, Julie Shapiro Jan 1996

Custody And Conduct: How The Law Fails Lesbian And Gay Parents And Their Children, Julie Shapiro

Faculty Articles

When parents dispute child custody, courts determine their rights by using a "best interests of the child" analysis. In this context, courts consider a host of factors, including parental sexuality. When considering the suitability of custody for a lesbian or gay parents, most courts employ a nexus test - one that requires a showing of a nexus between parental sexuality and the well-being of the child. A smaller number continue to use a harsher test that disqualifies lesbian and gay parents under a per se rule. This article argues that closer examination reveals that even the apparently more liberal nexus …


Approval Of Ru-486 As A Postcoital Contraceptive, Kari Hanson Jan 1993

Approval Of Ru-486 As A Postcoital Contraceptive, Kari Hanson

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment argues that if RU-486 were approved as a postcoital contraceptive rather than as an abortifacient, the drug would be of greater overall benefit to women seeking to control their fertility. To support the argument that RU-486 should be approved as a postcoital contraceptive, Part II of this Comment examines the background and development of the drug, the controversy it has engendered, and the drug's recently discovered contraceptive potential. Part III provides a short look at the process by which the FDA approves new drugs and discusses how RU-486 would likely progress through this process. Part IV begins by …


When The Bough Breaks: Federal And Washington State Indian Child Welfare Law And Its Application, Kim Laree Schnuelle Jan 1993

When The Bough Breaks: Federal And Washington State Indian Child Welfare Law And Its Application, Kim Laree Schnuelle

Seattle University Law Review

Although removal of any child from his or her family is traumatic, too frequently Indian child removal has been performed with little prior investigation and with an absence of cultural sensitivity. The resulting inequalities in Indian child foster placement and adoption rates led to a recognition of the need for Indian child welfare reform, both on a federal and state level. This Article provides an overview of Indian child welfare issues and addresses both the evolution and nature of Indian child welfare reform. Initially, this Article discusses the federal Indian Child Welfare Act, including the cultural history behind the Act, …


Where The Reason Stops: Babcock V. State Establishes An Unjustified Immunity For Foster-Care Placement, Christine A. Mccabe Jan 1991

Where The Reason Stops: Babcock V. State Establishes An Unjustified Immunity For Foster-Care Placement, Christine A. Mccabe

Seattle University Law Review

This Note will argue that the Babcock court's application of this immunity fails to serve the traditional goals of judicial immunity and undermines the factors that should protect dependent children. This argument will develop by first considering the development of judicial immunity and the significance of the concept of functional comparability. The Note will then begin the discussion of the Babcock case with an explanation of the nature of a dependency proceeding and the duties performed by a caseworker during initiation of a dependency proceeding and during placement in foster-care. The Note will then consider the caseworker's actions in the …


The Implied Termination Of Community Property Agreements Upon Permanent Separation, William Oltman Jan 1990

The Implied Termination Of Community Property Agreements Upon Permanent Separation, William Oltman

Seattle University Law Review

This Article will assess the effect of living separate and apart in a defunct marriage on the typical community property agreement, including both inter-vivos and at-death elements. First, as background, this Article will explain and analyze the Washington law status of the concept of living separate and apart. Second, this Article will then review the facts and the holding of In re Estate of Lyman, an appeals court case illustrating the typical fact situation and setting forth the approach of the Washington Supreme Court in this area. It remains the best and most instructive example to date of this …


Protecting Children In Nontraditional Families: Second Parent Adoptions In Washington, Carrie Bashaw Jan 1990

Protecting Children In Nontraditional Families: Second Parent Adoptions In Washington, Carrie Bashaw

Seattle University Law Review

Most adults take for granted their right, through marriage and adoption, to legally protect their relationship with children. A substantial segment of adults, however, cannot take this right for granted. In some states these individuals are denied the right to have a legal relationship with their partners' children because they are lesbians. The rights and needs of children in these nontraditional families could be recognized through second parent adoptions. In essence, a second parent adoption is the adoption of a child by the partner of the child's natural or legal parent. For example, suppose a lesbian couple, Emily and Lynn, …


In Re Grant: Where Does Washington Stand On Artificial Nutrition And Hydration?, Stephen P. Vanderhoef Jan 1989

In Re Grant: Where Does Washington Stand On Artificial Nutrition And Hydration?, Stephen P. Vanderhoef

Seattle University Law Review

The Washington Supreme Court in In re Grantsought to determine whether life sustaining treatment could be legally withheld from a terminally ill, non-comatose, incompetent individual. In its December 1987 slip opinion, a majority of the court expanded on its previous decisions empowering third parties, including guardians, families, and physicians, to withhold and withdraw life sustaining treatment from incompetent individuals. This was accomplished by characterizing artificial nutrition and hydration as removable, life sustaining medical treatment. The court also gave third parties the power to remove artificial nutrition and hydration before the incompetent individual in question slips into a coma or …


Paternity Determinations In Washington: Balancing The Interests Of All Parties, Carol Denardo Spoor Jan 1985

Paternity Determinations In Washington: Balancing The Interests Of All Parties, Carol Denardo Spoor

Seattle University Law Review

The state and all parties in a paternity proceeding may benefit from a more efficient, administrative approach to paternity adjudication if certain procedural safeguards are assured the defendant. Section II of this Comment sketches the development of common-law and statutory rights of paternity actions in Washington. Section III examines the interests of each party in a paternity action. Section IV discusses the advantages of an administrative hearing. Section V suggests procedural safeguards for the defendant and proposes a framework for administrative determinations of paternity that is consistent with the interests of all parties. Administrative hearings in such circumstances are preferable …


Public Policy Over Metaphysics: Wrongful Birth And Wrongful Life In Harbeson V. Parke-Davis, Inc., Eric B. Schmidt Jan 1985

Public Policy Over Metaphysics: Wrongful Birth And Wrongful Life In Harbeson V. Parke-Davis, Inc., Eric B. Schmidt

Seattle University Law Review

The recognition of the wrongful birth and wrongful life causes of action by the Washington State Supreme Court is supported by both policy rationales and legal theories. Wrongful birth and wrongful life causes of action receive support from traditional tort principles and, more important, further public policy by deterring negligent genetic counseling and negligent preconception medical treatment. This Note describes the legal history of these claims and analyzes several issues not addressed by the Washington court. In addition, this Note criticizes a more recent decision by the court, which limits wrongful conception causes of action, because that decision conflicts with …


Confronting Child Victims Of Sex Abuse: The Unconstitutionality Of The Sexual Abuse Hearsay Exception, Katrin E. Frank Jan 1984

Confronting Child Victims Of Sex Abuse: The Unconstitutionality Of The Sexual Abuse Hearsay Exception, Katrin E. Frank

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment first analyzes Washington’s hearsay exception Act in the light of the principles that form the basis for the hearsay rule and its exceptions. It then examines the effect of the Act on the preexisting hearsay rules. Next, it compares the concept of unavailability as used in the hearsay exceptions with the concept of incompetence; both concepts are then analyzed according to the requirements of the hearsay rules and the confrontation clause. The Comment concludes that the Act is unconstitutional because it permits admission of hearsay of testimonially incompetent children.