Family Law Commons^™

Bibliography Of Family Law Publications Of The Pennsylvania Bar Institute (1971-2023), Joel Fishman

Law Faculty Publications

As practicing members of the bench and bar, readers of this article know of the publications of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute (PBI) that began in 1968 to published Continuing Legal Education programs. The following is a listing of the family-law CLE publications from 1971 through 2023. The listing is partly drawn from a short-title printed list of PBI publications listed chronologically from 1968 to 1998 (1-2192) that the author obtained many years ago and now number over 11,000 publications. Not every title can be found in the law library catalogs and so some titles are listed according to the titles …

The History Of The Pennsylvania Rules Of Domestic Relations, Pennsylvania Rules Of Civil Procedure §§1900- 1959 (1980-2022), Joel Fishman, Hailey E. Maurer

Law Faculty Publications

The adoption of the Pennsylvania Divorce Code on April 2, 1980, P.L. 63, Act 1980-26 was the second major change of the Divorce Law since 1785. “The Divorce Law,” May 2, 1929 P.L. 1237, 23 P.S. § 63 authorized local rules. The new 1980 act created three major features not found in the earlier act: no-fault divorce, alimony, and equitable distribution of property. For an early discussion of the new Code, see Lynne Z. Gold-Bikin and Jack A. Rounick, The New Pennsylvania Divorce Code, 25 Vill. L. Rev. 617 (1980), at https://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/vlr/ vol25/iss4/2. The results of the statutory law resulted …

Parens Patriae After The Pandemic, Meredith Johnson Harbach

Law Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted extraordinary state action to protect American children. Acting in its longstanding role as parens patriae, the state stepped in to protect children and their families from the ravages of the pandemic as well as from the dramatic upheaval it precipitated. This Article will evaluate the state’s pandemic response vis-à-vis children and their families, mining the experience for lessons learned and possible ways forward. Specifically, this project will argue that the state’s pandemic response represented a departure from the state’s conventional approach to parens patriae. Conventional practice prior to the pandemic was characterized by a state model …

Debt Governance, Wealth Management, And The Uneven Burdens Of Child Support, Allison Anna Tait

Law Faculty Publications

Child support is a ubiquitous kind of debt, common to all income and wealth levels, with data showing that approximately 30% of the U.S. adult population has either been subject to paying child support or has received it. Across this field of child support debt, however, unpaid obligations look different for everyone, and in particular the experiences around child support debt diverge radically for low-income populations and high-wealth ones. On the low-income end of the spectrum, child support debt is a sophisticated and adaptive governance technology that disciplines and penalizes those living in or near poverty. Being in child support …

Chief Justice Max Baer’S Family Law Opinions (2004-2022), Joel Fishman

Law Faculty Publications

Chief Justice Baer has a long history of family law adjudications beginning in 1990, as a judge, then administrative judge, in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County Court, Family Division. Between 1990 and 1999 he served in the Family Division, then the Civil Division until 2004, when C.J. Baer was elected to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. C.J. Baer garnered statewide and national recognition for his advocacy, diligence, and effective work in the area of juvenile justice.

Introduction: Family Court Review Special Issue Dynamic Pedagogy In The Family And Juvenile Law Classroom: Experiential And In-Class Exercises, Meredith Johnson Harbach

Law Faculty Publications

Over the last number of years, the legal academy has placed increasing emphasis on the need to diversify teaching methods, and in particular, has focused on expanding in-class, experiential teaching methods. Educational research confirms that learning experientially has multiple benefits for adult learners, including better retention of material, the ability to explore a more diverse range of representation contexts, the development and use of a broader range of analytical skills, and an emphasis professional collaboration and growth.1Consistent with this evolution of the scholarship on teaching and learning in law school, ABA Standard 303(a)(3) requires all students to complete“ one or …

Fringe Inheriting: Probate Avoidance At Both Ends Of The Wealth Spectrum, Allison Anna Tait

Law Faculty Publications

The principal system in the United States for transferring wealth from one generation to the next - the probate system - is a historically and steadfastly public one. Probate is a set of public processes and a court system created to situate and facilitate wealth transfer, giving legal imprimatur to the distribution of family money. Nevertheless, while the probate system may be the central and most conventional system for transferring wealth, not all families and individuals avail themselves of the system. The broad swath of families who avail themselves of the services and certain benefits of the probate system are, …

Custom Of The Country: Trust And Marriage Planning In High-Wealth Families, Allison Anna Tait

Law Faculty Publications

That marriage has always been a property arrangement in some form or another – particularly for those families and couples with property to arrange – is a truism. It is a truism because marriage has significant property implications for the intended spouses, with the result that financial planning around marriage is both a historical and continuing reality, despite changes in the social and economic norms governing marriage. Moreover, the wealth management industry has, past and present, trained its eye and its expertise on marriage planning as part of a family’s larger wealth planning, offering services and products to help mitigate …

The Law Of High-Wealth Exceptionalism, Allison Anna Tait

Law Faculty Publications

No family is an island. But some families would like to be – at least when it comes to wealth preservation – and they depend on what this Article calls the law of high-wealth exceptionalism to facilitate their success. The law of high-wealth exceptionalism has been forged, over the years, from the twinned scripts of wealth management and family wealth law, both of which constitute high-wealth families as sovereign entities capable of self-regulation and deserving of exemption from the rules that govern ordinary-wealth families. Consequently, high-wealth families take advantage of complicated estate planning techniques and highly favorable wealth rules in …

Bibliography Of The Writings (1976-2017) Of Robert Raphael, Joel Fishman

Law Faculty Publications

The following bibliography is based on the card catalogs of the Allegheny County and Jenkins Law Libraries as well as the collection located in the first library. Robert Raphael (1922-2019) was born in New York City, but spent his whole life in Pittsburgh, PA. He is known by his colleagues as the “father of divorce law” along with Albert Momjian in creating the Divorce Code of 1980.

Bibliography Of The Writings (1979-2019) Of Lynne Z. Gold-Bikin, Joel Fishman

Law Faculty Publications

Lynne Z. Gold-Bikin (1938-2019) was a major family law practitioner in Pennsylvania for the last 40 years. Members of the section paid tribute to her in the October 2018 issue of the Pennsylvania Family Lawyer as did Judge Daniel Clifford who gave a Memorial Minute published in the Spring 2019 issue of the Pennsylvania Family Lawyer from which the following is summarized.

Childcare, Vulnerability, And Resilience, Meredith Johnson Harbach

Law Faculty Publications

The question of how to provide care for America’s youngest children, and the quality of that care, is among the most vexed for family law. Despite seismic demographic shifts in work and family, childcare law and policy in the United States still operates on the assumption that childcare is the private responsibility of parents and families rather than a state concern. But this private childcare model, based on unrealistic assumptions in liberal theory and buttressed by an ascendant neoliberalism, is inadequate to today’s childcare challenges. This project confronts the inadequacies of the private childcare model. Using Martha Albertson Fineman’s Vulnerability …

Judge William L. Standish And His Court Cases In Family Division, Court Of Common Pleas Of Allegheny County (1980-1987), Joel Fishman

Law Faculty Publications

Judge William L. Standish joined R. Stanton Wettick, Jr., Lawrence W. Kaplan, and Eugene B. Strassburger III as the first four judges of the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, Family Division, who handled family law cases during the decade of the 1980s when the new Divorce Code (Act 26 of 1980) ushered in a new era of change in family law. Governor Richard Thornburgh appointed William Standish as a judge on November 16, 1979, was confirmed by the Senate on March 18, 1980, and sworn-in on April 2, 1980. He was then elected to a full-term position in November …

Marriage Equality Comes To The Fourth Circuit, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Marriage equality has come to America. Throughout 2014, several federal appellate courts and numerous district court judges across the United States invalidated state constitutional or statutory proscriptions on same-sex marriage. Therefore, it was not surprising that Eastern District of Virginia Judge Arenda Wright Allen held that Virginia’s bans were unconstitutional in February. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed her opinion that July. North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia District Judges rejected these jurisdictions’ prohibitions during autumn, and the Supreme Court approved marriage equality the next year. Because marriage equality in the Fourth Circuit presents …

Judge Eugene B. Strassburger Iii And His Court Cases In Family Division, Court Of Common Pleas Of Allegheny County (1980-1990), Joel Fishman

Law Faculty Publications

In the last two issues of the Pennsylvania Family Lawyer, I compiled a list of family law cases decided by Judges R. Stanton Wettick, Jr. and Lawrence W. Kaplan for the decade of the 1980s when the Divorce Code was first introduced into the Commonwealth. The local court was a leader in deciding cases that set forth many of the principles that the appellate courts adopted as new law. In this article, I present the cases of Judge Eugene B. Strassburger, III, who served in the Allegheny Court of Common Pleas from June 28, 1978, until his retirement on …

Judge R. Stanton Wettick, Jr. And His Court Cases In Family Division, Court Of Common Pleas Of Allegheny County (1980-1990), Joel Fishman

Law Faculty Publications

Judge Wettick’s family-law cases listed below are drawn from the Pittsburgh Legal Journal and the Allegheny County Divorce Decisions Volumes 1-11 (1980-1989) and Allegheny County Family Law Reporter Volume 12 (1990). The headnotes and statements are drawn from the digest topics listed in the library’s edition and some from Wettick’s statement of topics in the introductory paragraph of the case.

Corporate Family Law, Allison Anna Tait

Law Faculty Publications

There is no such thing as corporate family law. But there are corporate families, and corporate families fight. What happens when corporate family members fight and the conflict is so severe that one or more of the parties wants out of the corporate relationship? Corporate law provides some solutions, but they are shaped by the assumption that all parties will bargain effectively for protections when seeking to exit a corporate relationship. Under this theory, family business is, after all, just business. The problem with this assumption is that corporate family members do not bargain the way that corporate law expects. …

Family Law Legislative Update, Jason Zarin

Law Faculty Publications

The Virginia General Assembly adjourned sine die on April 5, 2017. One bill affecting adoption was successfully vetoed, and several bills affecting adoption were enacted. Following is a preview of some possible legislation that may be introduced for the 2018 session.

Judge Lawrence W. Kaplan And His Court Cases In Family Division, Court Of Common Pleas Of Allegheny County (1980-1990), Joel Fishman

Law Faculty Publications

In the last issue of the Pennsylvania Family Lawyer, I compiled a list of family law cases decided by Judge R. Stanton Wettick, Jr. for the decade of the 1980s when the Divorce Code was first introduced into the Commonwealth. The local court was a leader in deciding cases that set forth many of the principles that the appellate courts adopted as new law developed. In this article, I present the cases of Judge Lawrence Kaplan who served his entire judicial career in the Allegheny Court of Common Pleas from June 30, 1978 until his retirement on Augst 12, 1998 …

Improper Delegation Of Judicial Authority In Child Custody Cases: Finally Overturned, Dale Margolin Cecka

Law Faculty Publications

"The appellate courts of this Commonwealth are not unlit rooms where attorneys may wander blindly about, hoping to stumble upon a reversible error."

These words of Judge Humphreys, denying a 2016 child custody appeal, are cogent. Yet four months later, in another appeal, Judge Humphreys joined a unanimous decision overturning a common provision in a custody order. In Bonhotel v. Watts, the Court of Appeals of Virginia held that judges cannot delegate judicial decision making power in child custody cases to outside professionals. This sounds obvious, but such delegation is actually ordered all the time. In final orders, Virginia's trial …

Family Law, Allison Anna Tait

Law Faculty Publications

In the past year, Virginia courts have addressed a range of family law questions—new and old—that reflect the changing landscape of families and marriage. Questions related to same-sex marriage and divorce have begun to appear on Virginia court dockets, including an important case the Supreme Court of Virginia decided this year with respect to same-sex couples cohabiting and the termination of spousal support. Family law courts also saw shifts in gender norms—wives paying spousal support to their husbands and fathers being awarded physical custody of their children. These legal questions tested the limits of statutory language and helped to expand …

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

Forward-Looking Family Law, Meredith Johnson Harbach

Law Faculty Publications

Reviewing June Carbone & Naomi Cahn, Marriage Markets: How Inequality is Remaking the American Family (Oxford University Press 2014), and Clare Huntington, Failure to Flourish: How Law Undermines Family Relationships (Oxford University Press 2014).

This essay reviews both books, describing their core arguments and innovative re- form proposals. Having surveyed their work, I agree with Carbone, Cahn, and Hunting- ton that the most urgent and politically-tenable reforms to family law involve enhancing investments for structural supports benefitting children. Both books shore up the instrumental and normative cases for such investment, and they also show how a renewed focus on children …

The Return Of Coverture, Allison Anna Tait

Law Faculty Publications

Once, the notion that husbands and wives were equal partners in marriage seemed outlandish and unnatural. Today, the marriage narrative has been reversed and the prevailing attitude is that marriage has become an increasingly equitable institution. This is the story that Justice Kennedy told in Obergefell v. Hodges, in which he described marriage as an evolving institution that has adapted in response to social change such that discriminatory marriage rules no longer apply. Coverture exemplifies this change: marriage used to be deeply shaped by coverture rules and now it is not. While celebrating the demise of coverture, however, the …

Nudging Parents, Meredith Johnson Harbach

Law Faculty Publications

Childcare quality matters, and parents intuitively understand that it does. Among the features of childcare parents most value, quality is regularly at the top of the list. Yet experts consistently rate childcare quality in the United States as mediocre at best. Why the disconnect? This Article argues that behavioral market failure is an important piece of the puzzle. Standard economic theory assumes parents are rational market actors, and even market failure theory cannot account for their imperfect rationality. But the paradox of poor childcare quality is not just market failure; it's behavioral market failure. This diagnosis not only helps us …

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 …

Of Valentines, Diamonds, Emeralds And Peanuts: Heart Balm In Virginia, Paul M. Birch

Law Faculty Publications

A light look at heart balm statutes and Peter v. Langley, Civ. 89241 (Va. Cir. Ct. Nov. 6, 2014).

Marriage Equality Comes To America, Carl W. Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Marriage equality is sweeping the nation. Four appeals courts recently affirmed district judges’ opinions which invalidated numerous state laws proscribing same-sex marriage. Yet, the Sixth Circuit reversed a number of district jurists, prompting a circuit split that provoked Supreme Court resolution. Because marriage equality’s status is unclear, this piece assesses disposition of the litigation and recommends how to clarify marriage equality.

Divorce Equality, Allison Anna Tait

Law Faculty Publications

The battle for marriage equality has been spectacularly successful, producing great optimism about the transformation of marriage. The struggle to revolutionize the institution of marriage is, however, far from over. Next is the battle for divorce equality. With the initial wave of same-sex divorces starting to appear on court dockets, this Article addresses the distinctive property division problems that have begun to arise with same-sex divorce and that threaten, in the absence of rule reform, to both amplify and reinscribe problems with the conventional marital framework. Courts have failed to realize the cornerstone concept of equitable distribution-marriage as an economic …