Family Law Commons^™

Traditional Surrogacy In Tennessee: Strange Statute Begets Strange Judicial Ruling, Joanna L. Grossman

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

According to a recent article in the New York Times by Tamar Lewin, the United States has become – or is in the process of becoming – a mecca for foreign couples seeking the services of a surrogate to gestate a child for them. Theories differ as to the draw, but the lack of national policy or strict regulation is among the most likely suspects.

Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around: The Supreme Court Is Harming People With Its Inscrutable Gay Marriage Actions, Sonja R. West, Dahlia Lithwick

Popular Media

The Supreme Court’s decision Monday (Oct. 5, 2014) to decline the appeals of decisions striking down same-sex marriage bans in five states was, to most court-watchers, a huge surprise. It was also a deeply strange move given the magnitude of the constitutional issue and the general confusion about what a non-decision actually means. While Monday’s denial of certiorari was not technically a decision on the merits, most supporters of same-sex marriage celebrated the move as part of the justices’ inexorable crawl toward marriage equality. And in Virginia, Oklahoma, Colorado, and other affected states, gay couples who have waited—in many cases …

Ironic Simplicity: Why Shaken Baby Syndrome Misdiagnoses Should Result In Automatic Reimbursement For The Wrongly Accused, Jay Simmons

Seattle University Law Review

Shaken baby syndrome (SBS)’s shortcomings include the debatable science behind SBS theory and diagnosis—the questioning of which has grown more vociferous—and the arguably biased, discriminatory treatment of the accused. Professor Deborah Tuerkheimer notes that the evolving SBS skepticism and contentious debate has resulted in "chaos" in many SBS adjudications and within the medical and biomechanical fields, with the same SBS proponents and opponents continually crusading for and clashing over their beliefs. The issues surrounding the medical and biomechanical components of SBS diagnoses have been repeatedly examined and discussed, and are not the focus of this Note. This Note recounts those …

A Matter Of Compliance: How Do U.S. Multinational Corporations Deal With The Discrepancies In The Family And Medical Leave Act Of 1993 And The European Union Directive On Parental Leave; Is An International Standard Practical Or Appropriate In This Area Of Law?, Kathryn L. Morris

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Lawful Wife, Unlawful Sex - Examining The Effect Of The Criminalization Of Marital Rape In England And The Republic Of Ireland, Melisa J. Anderson

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Ill Effects Of A United States Ratification Of The Hague Convention On Protection Of Children And Co-Operation In Respect Of Intercountry Adoption, Gina M. Croft

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Legal Recognition Of Gender Change For Transsexual Persons In The United Kingdom: The Human Rights Act 1998 And "Compatibility" With European Human Rights Law, Robert E. Rains

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Momma Drama: A Study Of How Canada's National Regulation Of Surrogacy Compares To Australia's Independent State Regulation Of Surrogacy, Ailis L. Burpee

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Summary Of Henson V. Henson, 130 Nev. Adv. Op. 79, Sydney Gambee

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court determined that (1) survivor benefits must be specifically set forth in a divorce decree notwithstanding NRS 286.590, which does not automatically confer survivor benefits and (2) immediate payment of benefits to a former non-employee spouse must be requested by motion, in accordance with California’s approach in In re Marriage of Cornejo.

[1] 916 P.2d 476 (Cal. 1996).

Climate Change Survey Measures: Exploring Perceived Bias And Question Interpretation, Tarik Abdel-Monem, Lisa M. Pytlikzillig, Tonya K. Bernadt, Nicole Wall

Lisa PytlikZillig Publications

Climate change has become an important yet politically divisive topic in recent years. Further complicating the issue are assertions that climate change– related public opinion surveys used by social scientists are biased or otherwise problematic. We conducted a pilot study to explore questions concerning bias and interpretation of climate change surveys. Our study sample was composed of adult residents of Nebraska (n = 115). We augmented our survey findings with cognitive interviews of a subsample of respondents (n = 20). We assessed study participants’ attitudes about climate change, and perceptions of bias and interpretation of survey questions drawn from previously …

Family Unity Revisited: Divorce, Separation, And Death In Immigration Law, Albertina Antognini

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Families are integral to immigration law and policy, and family-based immigration accounts for the majority of legal entry into the United States. Legislative, judicial, and scholarly discussions that address immigration law's family-based categories rely nearly exclusively on the principle of family unification, which has long been a cornerstone policy of immigration law. Yet the family-based provisions of immigration law do more than unify intact families; understanding families as dynamic entities that experience change reveals an immigration system that acknowledges a flexible family structure in determining status.

The principal aim of this Article is to present a more complete description of …

The Ties That Bind: Reevaluating The Role Of Legal Presumptions Of Paternity, Heather Kolinsky

UF Law Faculty Publications

As Justice Brennan observed in Michael H. v. Gerald D. so many years ago, we must "identify the point at which a tradition becomes firm enough to be relevant to our definition of liberty and the moment at which it becomes too obsolete to be relevant any longer." This Article addresses one such tradition, the legal presumption of paternity, and examines it through the lens of equal protection, the changing roles of fatherhood, and the evolution of marriage.

The concept of who is a parent must change to both satisfy equal protection as well as modern scientific and societal realties. …

Clark Memorandum: Fall 2014, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Byu Law School Alumni Association, J. Reuben Clark Law Society

The Clark Memorandum

• In Praise of Thinking Like a Lawyer (James R. Rasband)
• Choices (Guido Calabresi)
• Be Not Afraid of Greatness (Allison Belnap)
• Marriage, Family Law, and the Temple (Elder Bruce C. Hafen)
• Lamentation (Arta Romney Ballif)

Dangers In De Facto Parenthood, Jeffrey A. Parness

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Commentaries On The Iaals' Honoring Families Initiative White Paper, Barbara A. Babb

All Faculty Scholarship

Family courts are not likely to disappear, as they currently constitute the largest proportion of trial court filings in most states. It appears as though family courts have become an emergency room for family problems. Thus, we need to enhance our efforts to improve the family justice system. In order to revamp family courts most effectively, there must be a focus on the creation of unified family courts that are grounded in therapeutic jurisprudence and the ecology of human development. This framework allows for a more responsive and holistic approach to families' legal and underlying nonlegal needs. The goal of …

Divorce Involving Domestic Violence: Is Med-Arb Likely To Be The Solution?, Dafna Lavi

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

After an introduction in chapter one, the second chapter of this article presents statistics regarding the phenomenon of domestic violence and presents the definition of “violence” (with its attendant difficulties). The third chapter presents the existing problems regarding the judicial handling of divorce cases in general and those involving violence in particular. The fourth chapter analyzes the academic discourse regarding the issue of mediation of divorce cases involving violence (the position of the proponents and the opponents, as well as the problems of the current situation). The fifth chapter proposes med-arb as addressing the issue of divorce mediation in the …

Procreating From Prison: Evaluating British Prisoners' Right To Artificially Inseminate Their Wives Under The United Kingdom's New Human Rights Act And The 2001 Mellor Case, Pollybeth Proctor

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Airplane Trips And Organ Banks: Random Events And The Hague Convention On Intercountry Adoptions, Curtis Kleem

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

What Is In A Name: Why The European Same-Sex Partnership Acts Create A Valid Marital Relationship, Edward Brumby

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Moshe V. The Board For Approval Of Embryo Carrying Agreements Under The Embryo Carrying Agreements Law, Elyakim Rubinstein, Asher Grunis, Miriam Naor, Salim Joubran, Esther Hayut, Edna Arbel, Hanan Melcer

Translated Opinions

The Petitioners are a female couple who wish to bring into the world a child by fertilizing an egg extracted from the body of the First Petitioner and implanted in the uterus of the Second Petitioner, who would carry the pregnancy and give birth. The Ministry of Health rejected their requests for the approvals of performing this procedure in Israel. Hence this Petition, which challenges various provisions in the Embryo Carrying Agreements Law (Approval of the Agreement and the Status of the Child), 5756-1996 (hereinafter: the Surrogacy Law) and the Eggs Donation Law, 5770-2010 (hereinafter: the Eggs Donation Law). It …

A Difficult Situation Made Harder: A Parent's Choice Between Civil Remedies And Criminal Charges In International Child Abduction, Donyale N. Leslie

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

To Comply Or Not To Comply? Brazil's Relationship With The Hague Convention On The Civil Aspects Of International Child Abduction, Amanda M. Waide

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Tribes And Race: The Court’S Missed Opportunity In Adoptive Couple V. Baby Girl, Christopher Deluzio

Pace Law Review

Part I of this article will provide an overview of the legal doctrines implicated in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl. First, Part I will discuss both Indian Child Welfare Act’s text and purpose and scholarly attention given to the law. Second, Part I will examine the law of putative fathers insofar as relevant to understanding ICWA’s application in Adoptive Couple. Part II provides insight into the Court’s equal protection jurisprudence with a particular emphasis on considerations of race in adoption and laws implicating Indian tribes. This Part introduces the limited scholarly treatment afforded to the equal protection issues implicated by …

Sela V. Yehieli, Uzi Vogelman, Esther Hayut, Neal Hendel

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.]

Facts:    An appeal of the decision of the Haifa Administrative Affairs Court, dismissing the petition of the Appellants and holding that the court should not intervene in the decision of the Kfar Vradim local council according to which a women’s mikve (ritual bath) would not be constructed in the town in the near future.

Held:     As a rule, a local council enjoys broad discretion …

Hey Uncle Sam! Maybe It's Time To Stop Condoning Child Abductions To Mexico, Antoinette Newberry Wood

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The End Of The Road: The Late Anna Nicole Smith’S Quest To Inherit Is Over, Joanna L. Grossman

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

Twenty years. Five times the length of the human relationship. Almost twenty times the length of the marriage. That’s the duration of the litigation about whether Anna Nicole Smith should share in the estate of her husband J. Howard Marshall II. The parties are long dead—J. Howard’s death at age 90 in 1995 gave rise to the estate and litigation over it; Anna Nicole died of a drug overdose at 39 in 2007; and J. Howard’s son (and Anna Nicole’s nemesis), Pierce Marshall, died at age 67 in 2006. Yet the litigation waged seven years after all the parties were …

The Virtue Of Obscurity, Colin Starger

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

This essay is the third in a series exploring the implications of the recent landmark Supreme Court case, United States v. Windsor. Specifically, this essay responds to the first essay in this series, SOMETHING TO (LEX LOCI) CELEBRATIONIS, by Megan Penrose. This discussion was inspired by Meg Penrose’s article, UNBREAKABLE VOWS: SAME-SEX MARRIAGE AND THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO DIVORCE, published in Volume 58:1. The series is meant to serve as an open forum for scholars and practitioners to weigh in on one of the most significant Supreme Court decisions of the 21st century.

Querying Edith Windsor, Querying Equality, Jeffrey A. Redding

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

This essay is the second in a series exploring the implications of the recent landmark Supreme Court case, United States v. Windsor. Specifically, the essay intends to “sound some skepticism…about the majority opinion…and especially the vision of equality articulated by it.” This discussion was inspired by Meg Penrose’s article, UNBREAKABLE VOWS: SAME-SEX MARRIAGE AND THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO DIVORCE, published in Volume 58:1. The series is meant to serve as an open forum for scholars and practitioners to weigh in on one of the most significant Supreme Court decisions of the 21st century.

Something To (Lex Loci) Celebrationis?, Meg Penrose

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

This essay is the first in a series exploring the implications of the recent landmark Supreme Court case, United States v. Windsor. This discussion was inspired by Meg Penrose’s article, UNBREAKABLE VOWS: SAME-SEX MARRIAGE AND THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO DIVORCE, published in Volume 58:1. The series is meant to serve as an open forum for scholars and practitioners to weigh in on one of the most significant Supreme Court decisions of the 21st century.

United States V. Windsor And The Future Of Civil Unions And Other Marriage Alternatives, John G. Culhane

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

This essay is the fourth in a series exploring the implications of the recent landmark Supreme Court case, United States v. Windsor. Specifically, this essay focuses on the future of civil unions. This discussion was inspired by Meg Penrose’s article, UNBREAKABLE VOWS: SAME-SEX MARRIAGE AND THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO DIVORCE, published in Volume 58:1. The series is meant to serve as an open forum for scholars and practitioners to weigh in on one of the most significant Supreme Court decisions of the 21st century.