Family Law Commons^™

California's Eavesdropping Law Endangers Victims Of Domestic Violence, John E.B. Myers

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Case Closed: Addressing Unmet Legal Needs & Stabilizing Families, Vivek S. Sankaran, Martha L. Raimon

Other Publications

This is the first of two articles that examines the role that advocates for parents and families can play in furthering the well-being and safety of children. This article highlights how the work of multidisciplinary advocacy teams with legal expertise can help prevent children from entering foster care. The next article will discuss emerging parent representation models that expedite the safe reunification of children already in foster care.

The Future Of Compensated Surrogacy In Washington State: Anytime Soon?, Terry J. Price

Articles

Americans in the mid-1980s were shocked by the facts of the Baby M case. That case, a compensated surrogacy arrangement that publicly went very wrong, raised complicated issues that the country had not considered: whether a woman could contract to carry a pregnancy for another person without becoming the legal mother; whether she could be separated from the child at birth, even though it was her genetic offspring; and whether the contract could take precedence over a mother’s regret over giving up the child. As a result of that case, a number of states, including Washington, prohibited compensated surrogacy arrangements. …

Who Are The Mothers Who Need Safe Haven Laws? An Empirical Investigation Of Mothers Who Kill, Abandon, Or Safely Surrender Their Newborns, 29 Wis. J.L. Gender & Soc'y 213 (2014), Diane S. Kaplan

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

Who are the Mothers who kill their infants at birth? Why do they kill? How do they kill? Once the infant is disposed of, what becomes of the Mother? Neonaticide is the killing of a newborn within the first twenty-four hours of birth. In response to the discovery of thirteen abandoned newborns, Texas passed the first Safe Haven law in 1999. Within nine years, all states enacted similar laws. The purpose of Safe Haven Laws is to deter neonaticidal behaviors by allowing Mothers who are bearing unwanted pregnancies to legally surrender their newborns with anonymity and immunity from prosecution. The …

Twilight: The Unveiling Of Victims, Stalking, And Domestic Violence, 21 Cardozo J. L. & Gender 39 (2014), Susan L. Brody

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Assisted Conception And Equality Of Familial Status In Parentage Law, Wanda Wiegers

Canadian Journal of Family Law

This article provides an in-depth analysis of outcomes in parentage disputes involving assisted conception across Canada. Throughout this article, I draw on equality of status, familial security and equity in terms of gender and sexual orientation as norms or values that should underlie and guide the legal regulation of parenthood in the context of reproductive technologies. Throughout, I also compare and contrast the sources of and the implications for children and parents of resistance in law towards the abolition of illegitimacy and the regulation of assisted conception.

A Voice For “The Small”: Judicial “Meetings” In Custody And Access Disputes, Carolyn Savoury

Canadian Journal of Family Law

No abstract provided.

A V B And Attorney General Of Quebec (Eric V Lola)—The Implications For Cohabiting Couples Outside Quebec, Natasha Bakht

Canadian Journal of Family Law

No abstract provided.

Consent, Coercion, And Shared Parenting: Ruffudeen-Coutts V Coutts, Susan B. Boyd

Canadian Journal of Family Law

No abstract provided.

Suppressing Damages In Involuntary Parenthood Actions: Contorting Tort Law, Denying Reproductive Freedom, And Discriminating Against Mothers, Bruce Feldthusen

Canadian Journal of Family Law

"Involuntary parenthood" actions are negligence actions, usually medical malpractice cases involving a failed sterilization, inadequate warning about the risks of pregnancy, or a failed abortion. In Canada, they will soon also involve product liability claims against negligent birth control manufacturers, providers and regulators. This article considers whether the parents' damages ought to include the cost of raising the child. No Canadian appellate court has ever ruled on this point, although it has been adjudicated extensively by the highest courts elsewhere in the common law world. At least 7 different rules limiting such recovery have been endorsed in the Canadian lower …

Establishing Canada's First Integrated Domestic Violence Court: Exploring Process, Outcomes, And Lessons Learned, Rachel Birnbaum, Nicholas Bala, Peter Jaffe

Canadian Journal of Family Law

The establishment of domestic violence courts has resulted in significant improvements in responses to family violence, but these courts have generally dealt only with criminal cases and do not address the risks that the victim and children may face in family proceedings. In some locations in the USA, courts have been established to deal with both criminal and family proceedings that arise from a domestic violence situation. This paper describes and analyzes the establishment of the first court in Canada that hears both criminal and family cases concerning families where there are domestic violence issues. The authors report on a …

Rethinking Canadian Legal Approaches To Frozen Embryo Disputes, Stefanie Carsley

Canadian Journal of Family Law

This article examines and critiques Canadian legal responses to disputes over frozen in vitro embryos. It argues that current laws that provide spouses or partners with joint control over the use and disposition of embryos created from their genetic materials and that mandate the creation of agreements setting out these parties' intentions in the event of a disagreement or divorce overlook the experiences of women who undergo in vitro fertilization treatment. It also maintains that these laws do not accord with how Canadian law and public policy has responded to similar conflicts between spouses, or to agreements that seek to …

A Relational Model Of Family Lawyering: Exploring The Potential For Education, Practice, And Research, Jill Howieson, Lynn Priddis

Canadian Journal of Family Law

This article responds to what seems to be a "hot" millennium topic in the family law environment—namely the nature of the relationship between the family lawyer and the client. It proposes a model of family lawyering that puts the relationship with the client explicitly in the foreground of the process and suggests a research regime that could investigate the merits of the model. The authors refer to the model as a "relational model of family lawyering." The model involves family lawyers working within a partnering framework that incorporates attention to the relational aspects of the process, and in particular, to …

Protecting Survivors Of Domestic Violence Within The Insurance Regime: Opportunities To Seek Termination Or Variation Of Insurance Contracts, Elizabeth Adjin-Tettey

Canadian Journal of Family Law

A person whose life is insured under a life insurance contract for the benefit of another person does not have a contractual or common law right to terminate or otherwise affect the terms of the contract. As well, such contracts remain valid even after termination of the relationship that provided an insurable interest at the commencement of the contract. The existence of a life insurance contract might provide an incentive for the policy owner/beneficiary to cause harm to the insured person in order to collect the insurance money. Recovery of the insurance money is precluded on grounds of public policy …

Canon 1095 And The Dignitas Connubii: The Role Of Consent, Incapacity, And Psychic Anomalies In Cases Of Matrimonial Nullity, Roberto Rosas

Faculty Articles

This Article will focus on the following points: (1) the essential elements of marriage; (2) the basic principle of matrimonial consent; (3) the nature of consent; (4) acts through which consent is formed; (5) matrimonial nullity in Canon Law; (6) Canon Law and the Dignitas Connubil (Dignitas); and (7) recent jurisprudence concerning matrimonial nullity. It aims to shed light and clarify paragraphs 2 and 3 of Canon 1095 of the Code by making clear how the causes of defect of discretion of judgment and the inability to assume the essential obligations due to some sort of psychic disorder or anomaly …

Conferring Dignity: The Metamorphosis Of The Legal Homosexual, Noa Ben-Asher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The legal homosexual has undergone a dramatic transformation over the past three decades, culminating in United States v. Windsor, which struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). In 1986, the homosexual was a sexual outlaw beyond the protection of the Constitution. By 2013, the homosexual had become part of a married couple that is “deemed by the State worthy of dignity.” This Article tells the story of this metamorphosis in four phases. In the first, the “Homosexual Sodomite Phase,” the United States Supreme Court famously declared in Bowers v. Hardwick that there was no right to …

Introduction: Invited Essays On The Implications Of Windsor And Perry

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Adoption And The Limits Of Contract In Victorian Adoption Case Law And George Eliot's Silas Marner, Sarah Abramowicz

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Marriage Equality, United States V. Windsor, And The Crisis In Equal Protection Jurisprudence, Susannah W. Pollvogt

Hofstra Law Review

The article discusses equal protection jurisprudence in America in relation to the U.S. Supreme Court's (USSC's) ruling in the 2013 marriage equality case United States v. Windsor. The views of USSC Justice Anthony Kennedy are mentioned, along with an unconstitutional animus legal doctrine and a heightened rational basis standard of review. The U.S. Constitution's Equal Protection Clause is addressed in relation to the nation's discrimination laws.

Do Tell! The Rights Of Donor-Conceived Offspring, Naomi Cahn

Hofstra Law Review

The article discusses the legal rights of donor-conceived children in America, and it mentions U.S. constitutional rights, the laws associated with donor conception in the country, and the concept of double disclosure. Parental rights and children's interests are mentioned, along with respect for familial autonomy and various aspects of U.S. family and health laws. Sperm and egg (ovum) donations are examined, along with the nation's fertility industry and assisted reproductive technology.

Two Direct Rights Of Action In Child Support Enforcement, Margaret Ryznar

Catholic University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Further Standing Lessons, Heather Elliott

Indiana Law Journal

Professor Elliott wrote a piece for the Indiana Law Journal in 2012 (available here). In this article, she updates her analysis and explores the implications of both the health-care and marriage equality cases on the Court’s standing doctrine.

Windsor, Shelby County, And The Demise Of Originalism: A Personal Account, Dawn E. Johnsen

Indiana Law Journal

Essays on the Implication of Windsor and Perry

Evolving Values, Animus, And Same-Sex Marriage, Daniel O. Conkle

Indiana Law Journal

In this Essay, I contend that a Fourteenth Amendment right to same-sex marriage will emerge, and properly so, when the Supreme Court determines that justice so requires and when, in the words of Professor Alexander Bickel, the Court’s recognition of this right will “in a rather immediate foreseeable future . . . gain general assent.” I suggest that we are fast approaching that juncture, and I go on to analyze three possible justifications for such a ruling: first, substantive due process; second, heightened scrutiny equal protection; and third, rational basis equal protection coupled with a finding of illicit “animus.” I …

Standing To Appeal And Executive Non-Defense Of Federal Law After The Marriage Cases, Ryan W. Scott

Indiana Law Journal

Essays on the Implications of Windsor and Perry

Is The Full Faith And Credit Clause Still "Irrelevant" To Same-Sex Marriage?: Toward A Reconsideration Of The Conventional Wisdom, Steve Sanders

Indiana Law Journal

Essays on the Implications of Windsor and Perry

Contractualizing Custody, Sarah Abramowicz

Law Faculty Research Publications

Many scholars otherwise in favor of the enforcement of family contracts agree that parent-child relationships should continue to prove the exception to any contractualized family law regime. This Article instead questions the continued refusal to enforce contracts concerning parental rights to children’s custody. It argues that the refusal to enforce such contracts contributes to a differential treatment of two types of families: those deemed “intact”—typically consisting of two married parents and their offspring—and those deemed non-intact. Intact families are granted a degree of freedom from government intervention, provided that there is no evidence that children are in any danger of …

Leveling Up After Doma, Deborah A. Widiss

Indiana Law Journal

Essays on the Implication of Windsor and Perry

The Case For Mandatory Training On Screening For Domestic Violence In The Wake Of The Affordable Care Act, Nat Stern, Karen Oehme

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

The Origin Of Parental Rights: Labor, Intent, And Fathers, Dara Purvis

Faculty Scholarship

Most theories of parentage fail to explain the genesis of the right to parent - for example, why does a biological relationship generate parental rights? This Article shows that the law of parental rights mirrors theories of acquiring property, and that the law has shifted over time, from favoring a property right based in genetics to a Lockean theory of property rights earned through labor. The growth of Lockean labor-based theories is epitomized in reforms to parentage laws that incorporate functional theories of parenting, meaning that adults who perform caretaking work that creates a significant relationship with children are recognized …