Family Law Commons^™

Virtual Mothers And The Meaning Of Parenthood, Annette Ruth Appell

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Professor Appell supports the use of the traditional parental rights doctrine, which accords biological parents, particularly mothers, parental status alienable only voluntarily or upon proof of unfitness. She defends the doctrine against the criticisms that it is regressive and does not protect the interests of children or de facto parents. She contends that the attacks on traditional parental rights doctrine are misguided because they work to the disadvantage of families who do not easily fit the dominant norm-minority, single-mother, lower income, or politically and legally under-represented families. After examining the constitutional underpinnings and application of the parental rights doctrine as …

Lochner Redeemed: Family Privacy After Troxel And Carhart, David D. Meyer

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Gender Bias Task Force: Comments On Family Law Issues, Philip Trompeter

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Question Of Neutrality: Divorce Mediation Literature, The Role Of The Mediator, And Perspectives On Bias, Cory Michael Mathews

Dissertations and Theses

Research on mediation processes have addressed the role of the mediator, but often obliquely. In divorce mediation, the literature has sketched various approaches to the role, which diverge from each other in some significant ways. What is lacking is an integrated picture as to how these approaches to the field differ on key questions in the practice of divorce mediation.

This thesis is a preliminary attempt at such an integrated sketch, focusing on the question of whether or not the mediator is truly neutral in the process. Two major schools of thought of emerge from the literature, here referred to …

How To Plot Love On An Indifference Curve, Brian H. Bix

Michigan Law Review

In From Partners to Parents: The Second Revolution in Family Law, June Carbone offers nothing less than a whirlwind tour of the current doctrinal and policy debates of Family Law - an astounding feat in a book whose main text (excluding endnotes and appendices) does not reach 250 pages. There seem to be few controversies about which Carbone has not read widely and come to a conclusion, and usually a fair-minded one: from the effect of no-fault divorce reforms on the divorce rate, to the long-term consequences of slavery for the African-American family (pp. 67-84), to whether the Aid to …

Are We Protecting The Wrong Rights?, Jennifer L. Saulino

Michigan Law Review

Elizabeth Bartholet, in her book Nobody's Children, takes a strong step toward beginning a new kind of dialogue about abused and neglected children. She positions herself as a liberal who has come to terms with the fact that traditional liberal ideals are in conflict with the needs of abused and neglected children (p. 5). In doing so, she tries to convince her readers that, regardless of ideology, we all should have a different focus in the area of child abuse and neglect law. She uses Sabrina as one of several examples of how programs for abused and neglected children that …

Restitching The American Quilt: Untangling Marriage From The Nuclear Family, Lisa Milot

Scholarly Works

Part I of this Note will trace the various threads of American marriage law, particularly the perception that marriage is unraveling today due to an unprecedented divorce crisis. Part II will disentangle the conflicting patterns of contract law and status regimes that variously govern marriage, focusing on the uneven enforcement of antenuptial contracts and the implications of such. Part III will argue that the true focus of regulation is the status of the nuclear family, not of marriage per se. Finally, Part IV will propose a bifurcation of the legal regimes governing marriage and the family, recognizing the ability of …

Florida's Foster Care System Fails Its Children, Timothy L. Arcaro

Faculty Scholarship

This article will attempt to draw attention to the pervasive problem of child sexual abuse in foster care by identifying circumstances that contribute to sexual victimization. Hopefully the discussion will illuminate the plight of child victims of sexual abuse and generate discourse on a new paradigm of protection initiatives for foster children. Part I of the article will explain child protection proceedings and how children enter the foster care system. Part II will describe common characteristics of state foster care systems. Part III will discuss traditional notions of child sexual abuse and their illusory application in the context of sexual …

Re-Evaluating Grandparental Visitation In North Carolina In Light Of Troxel V. Granville, John M. Lewis

Campbell Law Review

No abstract provided.

Closing The Window Of Opportunity: The Limited Rights Of Putative Fathers Under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 48-3-601 And In Re Byrd, Lauren Vaughan

Campbell Law Review

This note will discuss whether the court's interpretation of N.C. Gen. Stat. § 48- 3-601 is consistent with legislative intent and with North Carolina case law, and will then address whether this statute adequately protects the constitutional rights of unmarried putative fathers as mandated by the United States Supreme Court.

Grandma Got Run Over By The Supreme Court: Suggestions For A Constitutional Nonparental Visitation Statute After Troxel V. Granville, Eric B. Martin

Washington Law Review

Every state in the Union has a statute allowing for court-ordered child visitation by non-parents. Until the summer of 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court had never ruled on the constitutionality of such statutes. When the Court finally tackled Washington's statute in Troxel v. Granville, the Court left the most significant questions unanswered, while casting doubt on the validity of Washington's statute. Prior to Troxel, the Washington Supreme Court had held Washington's nonparental visitation statute facially unconstitutional, finding that the statute violated the Fourteenth Amendment rights of parents. After granting certiorari, the U.S. Supreme Court held Washington's statute unconstitutional …

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: Vasquez V. Hawthorne Wrongfully Denied Washington's Meretricious Relationship Doctrine To Same-Sex Couples, Amanda J. Beane

Washington Law Review

Washington's property-division scheme for unmarried couples is among the most progressive in the nation. The scheme has evolved from a time when courts treated unmarried couples unfavorably and generally refused to divide their property equitably. The Washington Supreme Court took a step forward from this approach when it created the meretricious relationship doctrine. Under this doctrine, courts may equitably divide unmarried couples' property at the termination of their relationship if the relationship was stable, marital-like, and the parties cohabited knowing they were not lawfully married. Now, however, the Washington Court of Appeals has restricted the application of this doctrine to …

A "Frozen Exception" For The Frozen Embryo: The Davis "Reasonable Alternatives Exception", Jennifer L. Medenwald

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Pragmatism For A Changing American Family, David D. Meyer

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Domestic Partnership And Erisa Preemption, Jeffrey G. Sherman

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

"A Lawyer Class": Views On Marriage And "Sexual Orientation" In The Legal Profession, William C. Duncan

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Golden Eggs: Towards The Rational Regulation Of Oocyte Donation, Kenneth Baum

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Johnson V. Rodrigues (Ovozco): An Analysis Of The Constitutionality Of Utah's Adoption Statutes, Sarah K.L. Chow

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Alternative Caretaking And Family Autonomy: Some Thoughts In Response To Dorothy Roberts, Katharine K. Baker

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Dialectics And Domestic Abuse, Katharine K. Baker

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Reflecting Reality: Adding Elder Abuse And Neglect To Legal Education, Seymour H. Moskowitz

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Ali Child Support Principles: A Lesson In Public Policy And Truth-Telling, Karen Czapanskiy

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Ali Principles' Approach To Domestic Partnership, Martha M. Ertman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Marriage As A Trade: Bridging The Private/Private Distinction, Martha M. Ertman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Keeping Kids Out Of The System: Creative Legal Practice As A Community Child Protection Strategy, Leigh S. Goodmark

Book Gallery

No abstract provided.

Changing The Meaning Of Motherhood, Martha M. Ertman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Ethical Judgment And Interdisciplinary Collaboration In Custody And Child Welfare Cases, Deborah J. Weimer

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The G.I.F.T. Of Two Biological And Legal Mothers, Ryiah Lilith

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Troxel V. Granville 120 S. Ct. 2054 (2000), Margaret Byrne

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Natural Law, Marriage, And The Thought Of Karol Wojtyla, John J. Coughlin

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article examines the loss of the natural law perspective from legal theory and the movement towards liberal theory. The Article continues by analyzing two features of the natural law tradition as described in the philosophical writings of Karol Wojtyla. The first feature concerns marriage and family as the fundamental human community. The second considers marriage as a virtuous relationship. The Article concludes with practical suggestions for the legal profession and legal education with regard to counseling clients about marriage.