Family Law Commons^™

Crossing Borders In The Classroom: A Comparative Law Experiment In Family Law, Barbara Atwood, Graciela Jasa Silveira, Nicole Laviolette, Tom Oldham

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Domestic Relations, Barry B. Mcgough, Gregory R. Miller

Mercer Law Review

This survey period saw major changes to domestic relations law. With the political changes in the state legislature came sweeping reforms to what seemed to be deeply entrenched laws. Although Georgia law presently requires appeals of all domestic relations cases occurring through the discretionary application process, the Georgia Supreme Court extended its 2003 pilot project into its third year, agreeing to accept all "non-frivolous" applications filed in divorce and alimony cases. As a result, those interested in domestic relations law have benefited from many more substantive decisions from the appellate courts on a variety of issues. Revisions to the Uniform …

The Child Client: Representing Children In Child Protective Proceedings, Merril Sobie

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Part I of this article outlines the historical context and addresses the child's right to legal representation. Part II discusses the child's legal status by defining the specific legal interests, her procedural rights as a party to the litigation, the right to choose counsel, and the child's right to be involved as a participant. The penultimate Part analyzes the role of the child's counsel, including an outline of the relevant statutes, the diametrically opposed positions of state legislatures and the organized bar, and the hopelessly conflicting contemporary case law. The final Part addresses the fundamental deficiencies of the “best interests” …

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.

Parent Perceptions Of Child Care Choice And Quality In Four States, Helen Raikes, Brian Wilcox, Carla Peterson, Susan Hegland, Jane Atwater, Jean Ann Summers, Kathy Thornburg, Jacqueline Scott, Wayne Mayfield, Julia C. Torquati, Carolyn P. Edwards

Center on Children, Families, and the Law (and Related Organizations): Publications

The purpose of the Year 2 Studies of the Midwest Child Care Research Consortium was to assess parent perceptions of child care choices and quality across four states. The states studied — Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska — comprise U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Region 7. The current study was conducted by asking 1,325 parents to complete a paper and pencil survey. The parents all had children receiving child care from providers who participated in an earlier telephone survey of 2,022 providers and in observations of 365 providers. Results from that study are reported elsewhere1. Providers in the …

The Custody Battle Over Cryogenically Preserved Embryos After Divorce: Advocating For Infertile Women’S Rights, Cori S. Annapolen

ExpressO

This paper focuses on the struggles that infertile women face to achieve motherhood because their rights are underrepresented in the American court system. It specifically centers on how the process of in vitro fertilization (IVF) helps infertile women conceive children, but then details the problems that increasing technology now causes for these women after they freeze embryos and then divorce. Because the courts of only four states have determined who gets custody of these embryos after a divorce, and because the divorce rate and the number of couples utilizing IVF are increasing, future states will likely be forced to answer …

Evaluating Marriage: Does Marriage Matter To The Nurturing Of Children?, Robin Fretwell Wilson

Faculty Scholarship

Three decades ago, it would have been inconceivable for people to discuss seriously the idea of withdrawing the legal and financial support society gives to marriage. In recent years, however, thinkers and policymakers have given more serious thought to the possibility of eliminating marriage as a category entitled to the State’s support. An important consideration in this debate is whether keeping or eliminating the State’s support of marriage matters to the well-being of children. A wealth of studies contemplating modern family forms now exists, many of which invariably stack newer family structures up against the more traditional nuclear family. Until …

Removing Violent Parents From The Home: A Test Case For The Public Health Approach, Robin Fretwell Wilson

Faculty Scholarship

Few decisions are as determinative of a child’s well-being and long-term success as the decision to remove a child from his or her own home following an allegation of abuse by a parent. Using the public health lens Professor Marsha Garrison develops elsewhere in this Issue, this Comment examines one of the most critical questions Child Protective Services agencies face thousands of times a day: whether to remove a child who is a possible victim of abuse or neglect from his or her home. This evidence-based approach shows that the choice to remove the child rather than the alleged offender …

Collapsing Liberalism's Public/Private Divide: Voldemort's War On The Family, Danaya C. Wright

UF Law Faculty Publications

As a legal scholar setting out to explore themes of law in Harry Potter, I am acutely aware of the absence of family law conflicts in these different family structures and relationships. Rowling's obvious fascination with different family structures and her relatively strong sense of an isolated, private sphere that is free of state intervention seems in keeping with traditional liberal values of the public/private divide. Yet her rejection of state interference in the private sphere of the family does not correspond to an autonomous state that is focused on the public sphere. Where liberalism separates the private world of …

Two Mothers And Their Child: A Look At The Uncertain Status Of Nonbiological Lesbian Mothers Under Contemporary Law, Rachel E. Shoaf

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Post-Crawford: Time To Liberalize The Substantive Admissibility Of A Testifying Witness's Prior Consistent Statements, Lynn Mclain

All Faculty Scholarship

The United States Supreme Court's 1995 decision in Tome v. United States has read Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(B) to prevent the prosecution's offering a child abuse victim's prior consistent statements as substantive evidence. As a result of that decision, the statements will also be inadmissible even for the limited purpose of helping to evaluate the credibility of a child, if there is a serious risk that the out-of-court statements would be used on the issue of guilt or innocence.

Moreover, after the Court's March 2004 decision in Crawford v. Washington, which redesigned the landscape of Confrontation Clause analysis, other …

Adverse Possession Of Identity: Radical Theory, Conventional Practice, Jessica A. Clarke

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This Article examines the conditions under which acting as if one has a particular legal status is sufficient to secure that status in the eyes of the law. Legal determinations of common-law marriage, functional parenthood, and racial identity share striking similarities to adverse possession law – these doctrines confer legal status on those who are merely acting as if they have that legal status. In each case, the elements of a legal claim are strikingly similar: physical proximity, notoriety and publicity, a claim of right, consistent and continuous behavior, and public acquiescence. The reason public performance is critical is that …

Harry Potter & The Law: Family Life And Moral Character, James C. Smith

Scholarly Works

Harry Potter's mistreatment by his Muggle family does not amount to a legal wrong. Notice that Dumbledore did not threaten the Dursleys with legal proceedings, either in Muggle or Wizard tribunals. The ethic of equitable treatment is societal and lacks a legal basis in Anglo-American family law. Family law has many facets; it is an amalgam of legal rules and principles. My focus is the lens of property law -- in particular, family property norms -- although it is also plain that the Dursleys have not violated non-property based family law norms.

Breaking The Bank: Revisiting Central Bank Of Denver After Enron And Sarbanes-Oxley, Celia Taylor

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Same-Sex Marriages In New York: The Langan And Hernandez Decisions, Ann Xin Zhu

Buffalo Women's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Phase Three Of New York State Domestic Violence Law: The Financial Aftermath, Jennifer Sarkees

Buffalo Women's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Beyond Our Conception: A Look At Children Born Posthumously Through Reproductive Technology And New York Intestacy Law, Erica Howard-Potter

Buffalo Women's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Material-Fetal Conflict: The Right Of A Woman To Refuse A Cesarean Section Versus The State's Interest In Saving The Life Of The Fetus, Daniel R. Levy Esq.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Confronting America's Ambivalence Towards Same-Sex Marriage: A Legal And Policy Perspective, Justin R. Pasfield

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Are State Marriage Amendments Bills Of Attainder?: A Case Study Of Utah's Amendment Three, Daniel H. Walker

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Marriage And The Betrayal Of Perez And Loving, Monte Neil Stewart, William C. Duncan

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Child Laundering: How The Intercountry Adoption System Legitimizes And Incentivizes The Practices Of Buying, Trafficking, Kidnapping, And Stealing Children, David M. Smolin

ExpressO

This article documents and analyzes a substantial incidence of "child laundering" within the intercountry adoption system. Child laundering occurs when children are taken illegally from birth families through child buying or kidnapping, and then "laundered" through the adoption system as "orphans" and then "adoptees." The article then proposes reforms to the intercountry adoption system that could substantially reduce the incidence of child laundering.

Rhetorical Holy War: Polygamy, Homosexuality, And The Paradox Of Community And Autonomy, Gregory C. Pingree

ExpressO

The article explores the rhetorical strategies deployed in both legal and cultural narratives of Mormon polygamy in nineteenth-century America. It demonstrates how an understanding of that unique communal experience, and the narratives by which it was represented, informs the classic paradox of community and autonomy – the tension between the collective and the individual. The article concludes by using the Mormon polygamy analysis to illuminate a contemporary social situation that underscores the paradox of community and autonomy – homosexuality and the so-called culture wars over family values and the meaning of marriage.

Home As A Legal Concept, Benjamin Barros

ExpressO

This article, which is the first comprehensive discussion of the American legal concept of home, makes two major contributions. First, the article systematically examines how homes are treated more favorably than other types of property in a wide range of legal contexts, including criminal law and procedure, torts, privacy, landlord-tenant, debtor-creditor, family law, and income taxation. Second, the article considers the normative issue of whether this favorable treatment is justified. The article draws from material on the psychological concept of home and the cultural history of home throughout this analysis, providing insight into the interests at stake in various legal …

Michigan Court Improvement Program Reassessment, Muskie School Of Public Service

Children, Youth, & Families

The Michigan Court Improvement Program was required to conduct a reassessment of its laws and performance and to adopt a strategic plan to further improve its handling of child protection cases. The Muskie School of Public Service, Cutler Institute for Child and Family Policy, and the American Bar Association’s Center for Children and the Law contracted with Michigan’s State Court Administrative Office to conduct the Reassessment. This report represents the results of the reassessment study.

Fathers And The Supreme Court: Founding Fathers And Nuturing Fathers, Nancy E. Dowd

UF Law Faculty Publications

This article critiques the Supreme Court's negative, stereotypic views of fatherhood, especially unmarried fatherhood, and argues that the Court should reconsider and refine its definition of fatherhood around nurture. The corrective for the Court's current view is not to revert to a status-based definition of fatherhood, but rather to reinforce and recast its prior fathers' rights decisions to establish a definition grounded on relationship and care. What should be discarded are outdated stereotypes about men as incapable, incompetent caregivers, as well as patriarchal norms of status and ownership based in genetic and economic fatherhood recognized exclusively within marriage. Instead, fatherhood …

In Defense Of Maroni: Why Parents Should Be Allowed To Proceed Pro Se In Idea Cases, M. Brendhan Flynn

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Lessons Of People V. Moscat: Confronting Judicial Bias In Domestic Violence Cases Interpreting Crawford V. Washington, David Jaros

All Faculty Scholarship

Crawford v. Washington was a groundbreaking decision that radically redefined the scope of the Confrontation Clause. Nowhere has the impact of Crawford and the debate over its meaning been stronger than in the context of domestic violence prosecutions. The particular circumstances that surround domestic violence cases 911 calls that record cries for help and accusations, excited utterances made to responding police officers, and the persistent reluctance of complaining witnesses to cooperate with prosecutors -- combine to make the introduction of "out-of-comment statements" a critical component of many domestic violence prosecutions. Because domestic violence cases are subject to a unique set …

Secondhand Smoke And The Family Courts: The Role Of Smoke Exposure In Custody And Visitation Decisions, Kathleen Dachille, Kristine Callahan

Faculty Scholarship

This publication is designed to assist courts, practitioners and lay people who are faced with a custody or visitation proceeding in which a child's exposure to secondhand smoke has been or may be raised.

Women As A Symbol Of Cultural Conflict: The Compatability Of Egypt's Shari'a Derived Personal Status Laws With Its International Obligations, And Prospects For Reform, Jasmin Moussa

Archived Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the compatibility of Shari'a-derived personal status laws in Egypt with the international legal obligation to eliminate gender discrimination (specifically in the area of family relations). In Egypt, the Shari'a-derived personal status law for Sunni Muslims governs family relations, including marriage, divorce, child custody and successions, and have been frequently criticized for discriminating against women. However, this body of law is not immutable, it has proven flexible over the centuries, and has accommodated many changes in society.

As such, an important question is: are Egypt's personal status laws reconcilable with its international obligations? If not, how can they …