Family Law Commons^™

Welfare Reform, The Child Care Dilemma, And The Tax Code: Family Values, The Wage Labor Market, And The Race-And-Class-Based Double Standard, Mary L. Heen

Law Faculty Publications

In the winter of 1996, Steve Forbes--publisher, heir, and presidential candidate--captured the American imagination with his proposal for a flat tax. But while Mr. Forbes claimed that such a tax would level the economic playing field by eliminating countless loopholes and miles of red tape, his actual proposal betrayed such claims to fairness by overtaxing workers and undertaxing financial capital.

In the face of recent proposals for dramatic and far-reaching tax reform, Taxing America takes a critical look at the way the federal government collects its revenue and exposes the bias at the heart of a system which claims to …

Bottoms V. Bottoms: In Whose Best Interest? Analysis Of A Lesbian Mother Child Custody Dispute, Peter N. Swisher

Law Faculty Publications

This Article traces and analyzes the series of legal and factual events leading up to the Virginia Supreme Court's contradictory and controversial decision in Bottoms v. Bottoms.

Guardianship: A Research Note, Lawrence M. Friedman, Joanna L. Grossman, Chris Guthrie

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Sweep Searches--The Rights Of The Community, And The Guarantees Of The Fourth And First Amendments: Moms Of The Chicago Public Housing Complex, Revisit Your Civil And Constitutional Rights And Save Your Babies, Lundy Langston

Journal Publications

African-American babies are an endangered species. They have the potential to live to the ripe old age of fourteen. We are singing new songs of overcoming-overcoming the loss of our babies. However, it's the same song: the lyrics are Black, and the music is, as always, White. Across the nation let us hold hands, let us gather together, let us save our babies. Will the music, the lyrics of our collective songs, save our babies? Is there a collective voice? There must be a collective voice if we are to save our babies and WE must save them if we …

How Do Judges Decide Divorce Cases?: An Empirical Analysis Of Discretionary Decision Making, Marsha Garrison

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Unprecedented Intrusion: A Survey And Analysis Of Selected Grandparent Visitation Cases, Joan C. Bohl

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Adoption Law: Congratulations For Now--Current Law, The Revised Uniform Adoption Act, And Final Adoptions, Eric C. Czerwinski

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Choices For A Child: An Ethical And Legal Analysis Of A Failed Surrogate Birth Contract, Adam Marshall

University of Richmond Law Review

In today's world of increasingly sophisticated reproductive technologies which offer once infertile couples the chance to have their own child, one wonders what wisdom King Solomon would provide in a conflict involving a woman hired to bear another couple's child. This paper explores such a situation.

Unemployment Compensation In A Time Of Increasing Work-Family Conflicts, Martin H. Malin

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The demographics of the workplace have changed substantially since the nation's unemployment insurance system was enacted in the 1930s. The number of dual-earner and single-parent families has increased dramatically. Yet, the basic requirements for eligibility for unemployment compensation have not varied much since their initial enactment. In this Article, Professor Malin explores the availability of benefits to individuals who lose their jobs because of conflicts between work and family responsibilities and to unemployed individuals whose family responsibilities restrict the types of jobs that they are able to take. He finds that the states have differed greatly concerning the degree to …

What If? The Legal Consequences Of Marriage And The Legal Needs Of Lesbian And Gay Male Couples, David L. Chambers

Articles

Laws that treat married persons in a different manner than they treat single persons permeate nearly every field of social regulation in this country - taxation, torts, evidence, social welfare, inheritance, adoption, and on and on. In this article I inquire into the patterns these laws form and the central benefits and obligations that marriage entails, a task few scholars have undertaken in recent years. I have done so because same-sex couples, a large group not previously eligible to marry under the laws of any American jurisdiction, may be on the brink of securing the opportunity to do so in …

Divining The Deep And Inscrutable: Toward A Gender-Neutral, Child-Centered Approach To Child Name Change Proceedings, Lisa Kelly

Articles

While largely a matter of social convention, the surnames that children bear have been regulated by the law as well. In certain circumstances, the law has attempted to regulate the surnames given to children at birth, but more often the law has come into play when a change of name is sought for the child: It is at this point that the law dictates to family members what it values and what it will forbid as the law goes about the business of enforcing societal norms. This article will look at the role of naming and name changing and the …

God Bless The Child: Poor Children, Parens Patriae, And A State Obligation To Provide Assistance, Kay P. Kindred

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Kiddie Tax: A Nuisance Solution To A Nonexistent Problem (Special Tax Symposium), Richard C.E. Beck

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Accommodating Spouses: Regulation B And Revised Article 3- The Suretyship Law Complication, Sarah Howard Jenkins

University of Richmond Law Review

Congress enacted the Equal Credit Opportunity Act in 1974 to insure fairness and impartiality in the extension of credit. Congress found that economic stability and competition among financial institutions would be enhanced if credit decisions were made without discrimination on the basis of sex or marital status. The Act and its implementing regulation, Regulation B, were designed "to promote the availability of credit for all creditworthy applicants without regard to... marital status" and to prohibit practices that discriminate on that basis. Later, the scope of the Act was extended to include other classes of discrimination such as race, color, religion, …

The Parental Tort Immunity Doctrine: Is It A Defensible Defense?, Sandra L. Haley

University of Richmond Law Review

If the overriding purpose of tort law is to compensate those injured by the wrongdoing of another, then intrafamily tort immunities have historically defeated that purpose. Their effect is to leave an uncompensated injured party with no remedy simply by virtue of the tortfeasor's familial relationship to the injured person. This survey focuses on the doctrine of parental tort immunity and concludes that, although numerous exceptions exist, the rationales advanced for the doctrine's continued existence are of questionable relevance today.

Fault: A Viable Means Of Re-Injuecting Responsibility In Marital Relations, Adriaen M. Morse Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

The era of marital fault being the only grounds for divorce in the United States has passed, and its passing brings few tears to the eyes of most. As evidenced by the passage above, the airing of marital fault in open court, even in the days when such practices were the norm, at times shocked the sensibilities and conscience of those who had to listen to the evidence and then issue decisions based upon it.

Annual Survey Of Virginia Law: Domestic Relations, Katharine Salmon Cary, Mary Kathryn Hart

University of Richmond Law Review

This article reviews some of the important developments in the area of domestic relations law between May 1995 and July 1996. Of particular significance were opinions by the Court of Appeals of Virginia regarding issues of imputed income, the definition of a "day" for shared custody purposes, and the role of marital fault in equitable distribution determinations. The majority of bills passed in the 1996 Session of the General Assembly simply fine-tuned existing law. However, notable statutory revisions were made in the areas of child support and domestic violence. Although the legislature replaced the term "spousal abuse" with "family abuse," …

University Of Richmond Law Review

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Lessons From The New English And Australian Child Support Systems, J. Thomas Oldham

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In the last decade, both England and Australia have reformed their child support systems. While both nations desired to shift the financial burden of child support in single-parent families from society to absent parents, England and Australia enacted different administrative schemes to achieve this goal. In this Article, the author first explores the features of the English and Australian child support systems. The author then proceeds to analyze the merits of the two systems and the implications for other nations in light of the two nations' relative ability to achieve underlying policy goals.

"Irresponsible" Reproduction, Linda C. Mcclain

Faculty Scholarship

In recent years, there have been countless calls for reversing the rise in irresponsibility in American society.' Calls for restoring personal responsibility in both private and political life sound from both of the major political parties as well as from various cultural critics, pundits, and academics. 2 Proponents of a return to personal responsibility wage their battle on numerous fronts, advocating a cultural revolution, a moral revival, and a recovery of "virtue" to bring about a reformation of attitudes and behaviors regarded as troublesome. 3 Many voices now urge that law and public policy should encourage, or require, personal responsibility …

The Deliberate Contruction Of Families Without Fathers: Is It An Option For Lesbian And Heterosexual Mothers, Nancy Polikoff

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Flesh Of My Flesh But Not My Heir: Unintended Disinheritance, Laura M. Padilla

Faculty Scholarship

This article briefly explains how the laws of intestacy and adoption work together, providing background information on second parent adoptions. It then describes why these laws are inadequate for same sex partners who adopt each others' children. It is impractical to cover statutes throughout the United States, and because I seek legal reform in California, this article focuses on California statutes, with occasional reference to the Uniform Probate Code. However, the problems caused by California's statutes also arise in other states with similar statutes. Therefore, the issues raised in this article, as well as the solutions proposed, are relevant in …

The Children We Abandon: Religious Exemptions To Child Welfare And Education Law As Denials Of Equal Protection To Children Of Religious Objectors, James G. Dwyer

Faculty Publications

The story of children who die because their parents, in observance of their own religious principles, withhold conventional medical treatment from them is a familiar one. In this Article, James G. Dwyer shows that the phenomenon of parents denying secular benefits to their children for religious reasons goes far beyond these few highly publicized cases, extending into the realm of education as well as medical care. Moreover, Dr. Dwyer shows that the federal and state governments endorse this practice by statutorily exempting 'religious objector' parents from otherwise generally applicable compulsory child care and education laws. He argues that courts addressing …

The Family Franchise: Elderly Parents And Adult Siblings, Margaret F. Brinig

Journal Articles

In this paper, I am going to concentrate on one family transition where we have established substantial legal barriers-that of emancipation. However, I will briefly allude to other "broken families," such as the divorcing family and the family divided by adoption.

As students of the family, we are preoccupied with divorce. We write about families in crisis and use the fabric of their lives worn thin and stretched to the breaking point to develop our ideas about what families are and even what they ought to be. In a way, of course, law teaching and the Socratic method drive us …

Book Review Of State Legislative Summary, 1994: Children, Youth, And Family Issues, James S. Heller

Library Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

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 …

Welfare Reform And Child Care: A Proposal For State Legislation, Clare Huntington

Faculty Scholarship

Without subsidized child care, Dianne Williams, the mother of an eighteen-month-old son, would never have left welfare and earned the post-secondary degree that led to her current job as a senior secretary; Tammy Stinson, a U.S. Air Force veteran and 29-year-old mother of two children, would spend up to $150 of her weekly $200 salary on child care, increasing the likelihood she would turn to welfare or live in poverty; Jerry Andrews, a graduate of a government-funded early childhood education program, might not earn $31,200 a year and be working towards an engineering degree. These individuals are lucky. The vast …

Separating From Children, Carol Sanger

Faculty Scholarship

On September 1, 1939, in anticipation of the imminent German bombing of British cities, 150,000 children were assembled at the railway stations of London and sent throughout the day to "'destinations unknown'" in the English countryside. Mothers and children under five were evacuated together but school-age children were shipped out to rural billets in school groups, accompanied only by their teachers and civil defense volunteers. Forty years later, an observer remembered the day vividly:

[T]he mothers [were] trying to hold back their tears as they marched these little boys and girls in their gas masks into the centre …. The …