Family Law Commons^™

The Intersection Between Welfare Reform And Child Support Enforcement: D.C.’S Weak Link, Stacy Brustin

Scholarly Articles

This Article examines the effectiveness with which the District of Columbia has linked welfare reform and child support collection. Part I discusses the ways in which the 1996 federal welfare reform legislation significantly altered federal and state child support systems. Part II shifts the discussion from the national arena to the District of Columbia and explores legislative, executive, and judicial responses to child support enforcement in the wake of federal welfare reform.

Part III recommends ways in which the District of Columbia can improve its enforcement system and suggests that it is not enough to simply establish child support orders; …

West Virginia Takes Refuge In Troxel's Safe Harbor: State Ex Rel. Brandon L. V. Moats, Kristina Thomas Whiteaker

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Prohibiting Procreation: A Step In The Right Direction To Protect The Children Of Deadbeat Dads; An Analysis Of The Court Decision In State V. Oakley, Andrea C. Kryszak

Journal of Law and Health

This note will entail an in-depth analysis of the Wisconsin Supreme Court's majority opinion and the dissent. This note will also provide support for the majority opinion by evaluating how the court's decision will help protect the children of individuals like Oakley, who intentionally refuse to support them. While some may claim that the probation condition to prohibit Oakley from procreating was a drastic measure, it was the appropriate measure for the court to take. This sentence will serve as a deterrent to Oakley and other fathers who intentionally refuse to support their children. The probation condition will prevent any …

Yes, No, And Maybe: Informed Decision Making About Divorce Mediation In The Presence Of Domestic Violence, Nancy Ver Steegh

Faculty Scholarship

Divorce mediation in the context of domestic violence is one of the most controversial issues in family law today. Some believe that mediation is never appropriate when domestic violence has taken place, and others believe that it is always appropriate and should be mandatory. These views can be reconciled by taking a third approach, that mediation is sometimes appropriate but that this decision must be made on a case-by-case basis in consultation with the abuse survivor. The central premise of this article is that victims of domestic violence should have the opportunity to make an informed choice about which divorce …

From Presumed Fathers To Lesbian Mothers: Sex Discrimination And The Legal Construction Of Parenthood, Susan E. Dalton

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

In Part I of this article, Dalton briefly reviews the way legal scholars commonly define sex-based discrimination, particularly as it pertains to issues of reproduction. Part II is a brief historical review of legal constructions of parenthood. In Part III, Dalton examines two legal concepts: retroactive legitimation and presumed fatherhood. Both concepts were introduced in 1872 and each independently encouraged judges to think of fatherhood as consisting of two distinct spheres, the biological and the social. She then traces the legal development of these concepts through a series of presumed father, retroactive legitimation, and putative father cases. In Part IV …

Marriage Law: Obsolete Or Cutting Edge?, Michigan Journal Of Gender & Law

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Over the past hundred years, social and cultural expectations surrounding various forms of committed relationships have changed dramatically, and contemporary legal systems have struggled to adapt. The result has been an extraordinary opportunity to test fundamental assumptions about law, about the cultural understandings that are enforced through state power, and about the mechanisms that drive law's evolution. The Michigan Journal of Gender & Law has drawn together an exceptional group of panelists who will discuss these questions throughout the day.

Covenant Marriage Turns Five Years Old, Steven L. Nock, Laura Sanchez, Julia C. Wilson, James D. Wright

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Part I of this article discusses public policy rationales behind covenant marriage legislation, describes relevant aspects of Louisiana's legislation, and summarizes the efforts of other states to enact covenant marriage legislation. Part II discusses methods of data collection and analysis and identifies the demographic characteristics of covenant married couples as opposed to standard married couples in Louisiana. Part III addresses the dynamics behind couples' choice to have a covenant versus standard marriage. Part IV is an analysis of couples' satisfaction with their marriage option and the gendered dynamics of different levels of satisfaction with the marital choice.

Power, Possibility And Choice: The Racial Identity Of Transracially Adopted Children, Twila L. Perry

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Review of The Ethics of Transracial Adoption by Hawley Fogg-Davis

Is "Response To Intervention" The Answer To The Individuals With Disability Education Act Eligibility Mess?

Child and Family Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Advancing Equality In Domestic Violence Law Reform, Julie Goldscheid

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

International Human Rights Dimensions Of Intimate Violence: Another Strand In The Dialectic Of Feminist Lawmaking, Rhonda Copelon

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Theories Of Domestic Violence In The African Context, Cynthia Grant Bowman

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Child Custody For Disabled Adults: What Kentucky Families Need, Amy P. Hauser

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Parent's Rights Under The Fourteenth Amendment: Does Kentucky's De Facto Custodian Statute Violate Due Process?, Elizabeth Ashley Bruce

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Social Reform For Kentucky's Judicial System: The Creation Of Unified Family Courts, Erin J. May

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Essay: Jurisdiction In Family Law Matters: The Minnesota Perspective, Robert E. Oliphant

William Mitchell Law Review

This article adds to the growing library of analysis and commentary on Minnesota family law. It surveys, reviews, analyzes, and comments on the decisions of Minnesota's appellate courts in the sometimes challenging and always interesting areas of subject matter and personal jurisdiction. The article examines many of the more common issues associated with jurisdiction that impact Minnesota family law in the areas of child support, custody, property division, maintenance, and paternity. It investigates the jurisdictional questions involved when applying Minnesota's long-arm statute and weighs the potential constitutional barriers to its application. It also examines relevant provisions of the Parental Kidnapping …

Illegitimate Children’S Rights In Probate Proceedings—In Re Estate Of James A. Palmer, Deceased, Robert A. Mcleod

William Mitchell Law Review

The transfer of a person's assets after death has been an important element in the law beginning with the Magna Carta, and is firmly rooted in American jurisprudence. Defining children and heirs for probate purposes remains a difficult issue. In particular, the determination of children and heirs in an age when the birth of “illegitimate” children is common makes the proper and just determination of heirship a recurring and timely topic. The Minnesota Probate Code defines the term “child” and provides: “a person is the child of the person's parents regardless of the marital status of the parents and the …

A Constitutional Challenge To Michigan’S Ban On Second Parent Adoption By The Unmarried Partner Of The Child’S Current Parent, Robert Allen Sedler

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Developments In Law And Policy: Emerging Issues In Family Law, Michael T. Morley, Richard Albert, Jennie L. Kneedler, Chrystiane Pereira

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

Ending Marriage As We Know It, Nancy Polikoff

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Globalization And Comparative Family Law: A Discussion Of Pluralism, Universality, And Markets, James T. Gathii, Patricia Youngblood Reyhan

Faculty Publications & Other Works

No abstract provided.

Of Child Welfare And Welfare Reform: The Implications For Children When Contradictory Policies Collide, Kay P. Kindred

Scholarly Works

On August 22, 1996, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (hereinafter, “PRWORA” or the “welfare reform law”), which replaced the Aid to Families and Dependent Children Program (“AFDC”), the nation’s primary cash-assistance program, with the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Program (“TANF”), funded by block grants to states. PRWORA represented a dramatic change in social welfare policy in the United States. Among the many changes effected by the law in the nation’s social welfare programs were: (1) the increased authority of the states over cash-assistance programs for needy families, giving …

The Effects Of The Courtroom Context On Children's Memory And Anxiety, Rebecca Nathanson

Scholarly Works

Modifications of the courtroom environment have been proposed to enhance the ability of child witnesses to offer complete and accurate testimony and reduce system-induced stress. However, these interventions have often been conceived without the benefit of empirical data demonstrating intervention efficacy. The present study examines the effects of the courtroom context on children's memory and anxiety. Eighty-one eight- to ten-year-olds participated in a staged event involving bodily touch, and two weeks later their memory for the event was tested. Half of the children were questioned in a mock courtroom in a university law school, and half were questioned in a …

The Effects Of The Courtroom Context On Children’S Memory And Anxiety, Rebecca Nathanson

Scholarly Works

Modifications of the courtroom environment have been proposed to enhance the ability of child witnesses to offer complete and accurate testimony and reduce system-induced stress. However, these interventions have often been conceived without the benefit of empirical data demonstrating intervention efficacy. The present study examines the effects of the courtroom context on children's memory and anxiety. Eighty-one eight- to ten-year-olds participated in a staged event involving bodily touch, and two weeks later their memory for the event was tested. Half of the children were questioned in a mock courtroom in a university law school, and half were questioned in a …

Introduction To Symposium, The Rights Of Parents With Children In Foster Care: Removals Arising From Economic Hardship And The Predicative Power Of Race, Ann Cammett

Scholarly Works

Professor Cammett introduces a symposium at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York exploring the predicament posed by the surge of child removals through neglect petitions, and the subsequent placement of those children in foster care. The panel’s published comments offer some poignant reflections on the crisis of the child welfare system.

Grandparent Visitation Claims: Assessing The Multiple Harms Of Litigation To Families And Children, Stephen A. Newman

Articles & Chapters

This article provides a detailed appraisal of the negative consequences of grandparent visitation lawsuits, and of the harms caused by state-coerced grandparent visitation, in the context of the malfunctioning extended family. I suggest that the special weight afforded a fit parent's decision should be very substantial, and that it should be dispositive of the case unless the grandparent can produce convincing evidence showing that extraordinary circumstances, involving clear harm to the child, justify court ordered visitation. This high degree of deference to parents derives from two features of grandparent visitation cases that deserve more attention than they have received so …

Battered Men: Implementing Educational Programs For An Overlooked Problem, Elizabeth Morales

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Recommendations For Reform Of The Child Support System In Cook County, Malcolm Rich, Kristina Tunnicliff

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Building A Doll's House: A Feminist Analysis Of Marital Debt Dischargeability In Bankruptcy, Peter C. Alexander

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Family Law: Third Party Custody After Baby Girl L. And A.G.S.: Now Where Are We?, Robert G. Spector

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.