Family Law Commons^™

Due Date: Enforcing Surrogacy Promises In The Best Interest Of The Child, Browne C. Lewis

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Professor Lewis argues that the courts should apply contract principles and not family law principles to resolve surrogacy disputes. Since children are unique, Professor Lewis argues, courts should presume that the contract should be specifically enforced. As a result, the intended mother should be adjudicated the legal mother. However, Professor Lewis further argues the the surrogate should be able to present evidence of changed circumstances to rebut the presumption of specific performance and permit the court to determine maternity based upon the best interests of the child.

How Parents Are Made: A Response To Discrimination In Baby Making: The Unconstitutional Treatment Of Prospective Parents Through Surrogacy, Kimberly M. Mutcherson

Indiana Law Journal

Roundtable on Regulating Assisted Reproductive Technology 2012

New Thinking On Commercial Surrogacy, Richard F. Storrow

Indiana Law Journal

Roundtable on Regulating Assisted Reproductive Technology 2012

Mothering For Money: Regulating Commercial Intimacy, Surrogacy, Adoption,, Pamela Laufer-Ukeles

Indiana Law Journal

Roundtable on Regulating Assisted Reproductive Technology 2012

Inter-Country Adoption And The Special Rights Fallacy, James G. Dwyer

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Where The Judiciary Prosecutes In Front Of Itself: Missouri's Unconstitutional Juvenile Court Structure, Josh Gupta-Kagan

Faculty Publications

This article is the first scholarly examination of Missouri’s unusual juvenile court structure: Missouri law charges a “juvenile officer” with exclusive authority to determine which child welfare or delinquency cases to file and what to charge in each case. The juvenile officer is hired and supervised by juvenile court judges, and the juvenile officer litigates cases in front of those same judges. This structure differs from the typical procedures in juvenile courts around the United States, which have generally adapted their juvenile courts to reflect the norm of executive branch agencies or attorneys (not court staff) filing cases to intervene …

Discrimination In Baby Making: The Unconstitutional Treatment Of Prospective Parents Through Surrogacy, Andrea B. Carroll

Journal Articles

The article focuses on limited use of reproductive technologies in defense of discriminating against unmarried intended parents. It emphasizes to eliminate unconstitutional treatment of prospective parents involved in the surrogacy process. It informs that State laws related to surrogacy create discrimination which is based on marital status. It suggests that surrogacy should be included as a permissible reproductive avenue for right to married and unmarried intended parents in the U.S.

Transracial Foster Care And Adoption: Issues And Realities, Fern L. Johnson, Stacie Mickelson, Mariana Lopez Davila

New England Journal of Public Policy

The article places transracial foster care and adoption into a broader perspective that highlights social and cultural factors and the reasons for controversy about this adoption option. The first section describes the demographics of children in the foster care system. This is followed by an overview of requirements for approval as foster and adoptive parents in Massachusetts and information about the laws governing transracial adoption. The controversy over transracial adoption is laid out by explaining the race-blind and race-matching positions. Policy priorities are outlined that take into account the main points of controversy. The final section focuses on growth in …

Texas Hold ’Em - The State Refuses To Allow Same-Sex Couples Married Elsewhere To Get Divorced. Is This The Next Constitutional Showdown Over Marriage Equality?, Sonja R. West, Dahlia Lithwick

Popular Media

The court papers don’t tell us all that much about what happened between the couple described only as “J.B.” and “H.B.” We can assume there once was love and then, at some point, there wasn’t. Their parting, we’re told, was amicable. The problem is that J.B. and H.B. are both men. The other problem is that they live in Texas. The two were married in Massachusetts in 2006, where same-sex marriage has been legal since 2004. They later moved to Texas, and now want to get divorced. Texas, however, won’t let them. And they cannot get divorced in Massachusetts either, …

The Role Of Clinical Legal Education In The Future Of The Battered Women's Movement, Leigh Goodmark

Buffalo Journal of Gender, Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

Violent Relationships And The Ensuing Effects On Children: Should New York Adopt A Rebuttable Presumption Against Awarding Custody To Batterers?, Elizabeth Monachino

Buffalo Journal of Gender, Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

Unlocking Family Court's Potential For Public Health Promotion, Catherine Cerulli, Ann Marie White, Nancy Chin, Neil Mclaughlin

Buffalo Journal of Gender, Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

For Nontraditional Names' Sake: A Call To Reform The Name-Change Process For Marrying Couples, Meegan Brooks

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In a large number of states, women are encouraged to take their husbands’ surnames at marriage by being offered an expedited name-change process that is shorter, less expensive, and less invasive than the statutory process that men must complete. If a couple instead decides to take an altogether-new name at marriage, the vast majority of states require that each spouse complete the longer statutory process. This name-change system emerged from a long history of naming as a way for men to dominate women. This Note emphasizes the need for name-change reform, arguing that the current system perpetuates antiquated patriarchal values …

Why Turner V. Rogers Was And Wasn’T Correctly Decided: How The Fourteenth Amendment Should Be Read For Child Support Contemnors, Gina Rose Lauterio

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Wanted: Forever Home – Achieving Permanent Outcomes For Nevada's Foster Children, Miriam C. Meyer-Thompson

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

North Carolina's Bold Model For Eugenics Compensation, Peter Hardin, Paul Lombardo

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.

So You Want To Have A Second Child? Second Child Bias And The Justification-Suppression Model Of Prejudice In Family Responsibilities Discrimination, Kyle C. Velte

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Koons: Interest Deduction And Flp Valuation Practice Pointers, Wendy G. Gerzog

All Faculty Scholarship

The Tax Court's Koons decision explains the rules for allowing an estate to deduct interest payments, and it details how the court arrived at a determination of the value of a family limited liability company interest.

The Categorical Distinction Between Adolescents And Adults: The Supreme Court's Juvenile Punishment Cases—Constitutional Implications For Regulating Teenage Sexual Activity, Martin R. Gardner

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

I undertake in this article the task of exploring the impact of the punishment cases in resolving one particular controversial family law issue involving the possible existence of a juvenile’s constitutional right to engage in sexual conduct prohibited by the state and against the wishes of that juvenile’s parents. While the Supreme Court has seldom decided cases involving direct claims by children of constitutional rights disfavored by their parents, assertions by minors of constitutionally protected sexual liberty have become more prevalent of late in light of the Supreme Court’s recognition in Lawrence v. Texas of a constitutionally protected right, at …

“The Pursuit Of Happiness” Comes Home To Roost? Same-Sex Union, The Summum Bonum, And Equality, Patrick Mckinley Brennan

Working Paper Series

John Locke understood human happiness to amount to the removal of "uneasiness." This paper argues that,to the extent that the United States is a nation dedicated to "the pursuit of happiness" understood as the removal of "uneasiness," same-sex unions or marriages should be given legal recognition. While Locke defended a variation on traditional marriage on the grounds of progenitiveness and care for dependent offspring, his more foundational commitment to the importance of the removal of uneasiness precludes, on pain of inconsistency, limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples. This paper argues, furthermore, that conservatives and neo-conservatives who celebrate this nation's being …

From Citizenship To Custody: Unwed Fathers Abroad And At Home, Albertina Antognini

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The sex-based distinctions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) have been remarkably resilient in the face of numerous equal protection challenges. In Miller v. Albright, Nguyen v. INS, and most recently United States v. Flores-Villar — collectively the "citizenship transmission cases" — the Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the INA’s provisions that require unwed fathers, but not unwed mothers, to take a series of affirmative steps in order to transmit citizenship to their children born abroad.

The conventional account of these citizenship transmission cases is that the Court upholds sex-based distinctions that would otherwise fail …

The Hague Convention And Domestic Violence: Proposals For Balancing The Policies Of Discouraging Child Abduction And Protecting Children From Domestic Violence, Shani M. King

UF Law Faculty Publications

The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (the Convention) was enacted in response to a pattern of parental abduction across international borders to thwart or preempt custody arrangements in one country and seek a more advantageous setting for litigating custody issues in another. Consequently, the Convention was designed to discourage the abduction of children across international borders and to encourage respect for custody and access arrangements in countries from which children were abducted. To implement the Convention, the United States enacted the International Child Abduction Remedies Act (ICARA) on April 29, 1988. Much has been written …

Same-Sex Divorce In The United States: Protecting The Interests Of The Children, Joan Catherine Bohl

University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review

In light of recent political, legal, and legislative developments, the status of same-sex couples across the United States has become increasingly complex. This article focuses on the issue of same-sex divorce in a mobile society. When a same-sex couple moves from a state recognizing same-sex marriage—or from Canada—to a state that does not expressly recognize same-sex marriage, dissolution of that marriage can become a byzantine problem much more complex than a state’s “official” position on same-sex marriage. Relevant factors can range from the state’s legislative and executive pronouncements affecting homosexual citizens in areas such as pension benefits and health plans …

Removal Of The Impediment: The State Of Transgender Marriage In Montana, Wesley Parks

Montana Law Review

As of the date of this article, no Montana court has explicitly addressed transgender marriage. Of the numerous state courts outside Montana that have addressed transgender marriage, traditional, objective definitions of sex were used that fail to protect the privacy of transgender people and fail to apply laws equally throughout the entire transgender community. This article surveys in depth those out-of-state cases to illustrate the inconsistent reasoning courts have applied when addressing transgender marriage. Then, this article examines contemporary Montana cases regarding gay and lesbian privacy and equal protection. Synthesizing these sources, this article suggests that Montana pioneer transgender marriage …

Family Mediation After Hendershott: The Case For Uniform Domestic Violence Screening And Opt-In Provision In Montana, Eduardo R.C. Capulong

Montana Law Review

Hendershott is a welcome reaffirmation of Montana’s stand against domestic violence: domestic violence is a public matter requiring serious judicial attention. Without a systematic screening method, however, courts are ill-equipped to disqualify cases for mediation. Montana needs a method that not only diagnoses for domestic violence, but also distinguishes among different types as many, if not most, cases would benefit from mediation. An absolute bar is not the solution. What is required is a broad-based outreach and educational effort that would support what I suspect mediators across the state are already doing: tailoring mediation to address the needs of domestic …

Adopted Couple V. Baby Girl: Erasing The Last Vestigates Of Human Property, James G. Dwyer

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Doe V. Supreme Sharia Court Of Appeals, Edna Arbel, Miriam Naor, Noam Sohlberg

Translated Opinions

[This abstract is not part of the Court's opinion and is provided for the reader's convenience. It has been translated from a Hebrew version prepared by Nevo Press Ltd. and is used with its kind permission.]

A petition against the decision of the Sharia Court of Appeals that it is not possible to appoint a female arbitrator under Section 130 of the Ottoman Family Law for divorce proceedings conducted before the court. According to the Sharia court, Section 130 of the Ottoman Family Law is based on the Maliki interpretation. Since the Malikis require that the arbitrators be men, women …

What Is Anthony Kennedy Thinking?, Sonja R. West

Popular Media

Supreme Court watchers have long made a national sport out of parsing Justice Anthony Kennedy’s every word. From issues as diverse as the death penalty, terrorism, and gay rights, Kennedy has been the only conservative justice to vote with the court’s more liberal wing. It’s not surprising, therefore, that as we wait for the court’s decision on same-sex marriage bans, the search for clues to Kennedy’s thinking has shifted into high gear.

In March, during the oral argument about California’s same-sex marriage ban, Kennedy said that he was “trying to wrestle” with a “difficult question” about the constitutionality of same-sex …

Should A History Of Spousal Abuse Serve As A Presumptive Bar To Inheritance?, Phyllis C. Taite

Other Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Identification Problems And Voting Obstacles For Transgender Americans, James A. Haynes

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

No abstract provided.