Family Law Commons^™

Education Connection: A Need For Improved School Lunches, Cemeen Khodavandi

Children's Legal Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Education Connection: Twitter Hacks, Football Field Prayers And Campus Speech Climate: Today's First Amendment Issues In Education, Mehgan Keeley

Children's Legal Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

A Spotlight On: Advocating For The Stateless: The Work Of Professor Katherine Kaufka Walts, Samantha Schatko

Children's Legal Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Legislative Update Family First Prevention Services Act: An Overhaul Of National Child Welfare Policies, Fabiola Villalpando

Children's Legal Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Statistically Speaking: Developing Stronger Support: The Impact Of Trauma-Informed Advocacy, Katharine Czinke

Children's Legal Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Family Law: Above And Beyond The Call Of Duty, Marianne Cristina Gonzalez

Intercultural Human Rights Law Review

Family law practitioners play a delicate and important role in the lives of clients and their families. As lawyers, we have a duty and an obligation to listen to and understand the client's legal needs, while competently advocating to meet their goals and expectations. But how often do we really pay attention to the mental and spiritual needs of our clients to achieve their goal? Chances are we generally do not, since our own emotional baggage has been left unchecked. We have mastered the skill of tuning out the "red herrings" by trimming the excess, non-essential emotional noise that not …

Punishing Families For Being Poor: How Child Protection Interventions Threaten The Right To Parent While Impoverished, David Pimentel

Articles

No abstract provided.

Em>Mama Tried: Shifting Thinking (And Practice) In Child Welfare Cases When A Parent Is Incarcerated, Brent M. Pattison

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Properly Accounting For Domestic Violence In Child Custody Cases: An Evidence-Based Analysis And Reform Proposal, Debra Pogrund Stark, Jessica M. Choplin, Sarah Elizabeth Wellard

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Promoting the best interests of children and protecting their safety and well-being in the context of a divorce or parentage case where domestic violence has been alleged has become highly politicized and highly gendered. There are claims by fathers’ rights groups that mothers often falsely accuse fathers of domestic violence to alienate the fathers from their children and to improve their financial position. They also claim that children do better when fathers are equally involved in their children’s lives, but that judges favor mothers over fathers in custody cases. As a consequence, fathers’ rights groups have engaged in a nationwide …

Properly Accounting For Domestic Violence In Child Custody Cases: An Evidence-Based Analysis And Reform Proposal, 26 Mich. J. Gender & L. 1 (2019), Debra P. Stark, Jessica M. Choplin, Sarah Wellard

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

Promoting the best interests of children and protecting their safety and well-being in the context of a divorce or parentage case where domestic violence has been alleged has become highly politicized and highly gendered. There are claims by fathers’ rights groups that mothers often falsely accuse fathers of domestic violence to alienate the fathers from their children and to improve their financial position. They also claim that children do better when fathers are equally involved in their children’s lives, but that judges favor mothers over fathers in custody cases. As a consequence, fathers’ rights groups have engaged in a nationwide …

Getting To Equal: Resolving The Judicial Impasse On The Weight Of Non-Monetary Contribution In Kenya's Marital Asset Division, Benedeta Prudence Mutiso

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Marital property law reforms and changing international human rights standards in the late 20th and early 21st century prompted Kenya to end certain discriminatory practices against women, especially in the area of property rights. For 50 years, Kenya relied on England’s century-old law, the Married Women’s Property Act of 1882, to regulate property rights. In 2010, Kenya adopted a new Constitution that called for equality between men and women, and in 2013, Kenya enacted independent legislation in the form of the Matrimonial Property Act (MPA). The MPA provides a basis for trial courts to divide marital property upon divorce. Specifically, …

Adding Insult To Injury: The Unconscionability Of Alimony Payments From Domestic Violence Survivors To Their Abusers, Amanda Nannarone

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reynolds V. United States, Rewritten, Laura T. Kessler

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

In Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145 (1878), Chief Justice Morrison Waite, writing for a unanimous Supreme Court, upheld the federal Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act outlawing polygamy in the federal territories and providing criminal penalties for it. This is a re-writing of that opinion, presented in the form of a dissent, available in Feminist Judgments: Family Law Opinions Rewritten (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2020). Unlike the Court’s opinion, this dissent concludes that religious practice, as well as belief, is protected by the First Amendment. It therefore holds that a religious duty to engage in an unlawful practice may be a …

Police Surveillance Of Cell Phone Location Data: Supreme Court Versus Public Opinion, Emma W. Marshall, Jennifer L. Groscup, Eve Brank, Analay Perez, Lori A. Hoetger

Center on Children, Families, and the Law: Faculty Publications

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution protects individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures. As technology evolves, courts must examine Fourth Amendment concerns implicated by the introduction of new and enhanced police surveillance techniques. Recent Supreme Court cases have demonstrated a trend towards reconsidering the mechanical application of traditional Fourth Amendment doctrine to define the scope of constitutional protections for modern technological devices and personal data. The current research examined whether public opinion regarding privacy rights in electronic communications is in accordance with these Supreme Court rulings. Results suggest that cell phone location data is perceived as more private …

Front Matter

Canadian Journal of Family Law

No abstract provided.

Les Amoureux Sur Les Bancs Publics : Le Traitement Juridique Du Polyamour En Droit Québécois, Michaël Lessard

Canadian Journal of Family Law

L’auteur offre un tour d’horizon des manières dont le droit québécois désavantage les relations polyamoureuses. Dans la première partie, l’auteur définit le polyamour, le monoamour et certaines notions connexes. Dans les sections subséquentes, il avance une catégorisation du traitement juridique du polyamour. Selon son analyse, quatre angles sont exploités pour orienter les relations conjugales vers le monoamour et hors du polyamour : (1) limiter à deux le nombre de parents par enfant (biparenté vs pluriparenté), (2) faciliter la prestation de soins de conjoint·e à conjoint·e, (3) protéger les conjoint·es contre des vulnérabilités économiques, et (4) prohiber certains comportements polyamoureux (criminalisation …

Case Comment: Mccain V Mccain And Barton V Sauvé: A New Approach To Autonomous Domestic Contractual Bargaining In Ontario, Mark Cornish

Canadian Journal of Family Law

This case comment explores the tension between principles that guide domestic contractual bargaining and interpretation in Ontario with reference to two recent trial-level decisions. The courts’ analyses in McCain and Barton suggest a way to reconcile the apparent tension between principles of autonomy and fairness. In light of these decisions, and drawing on the literature in this area, the paper suggests a two-pronged approach for courts to adopt when deciding whether to set aside a domestic contract. This approach attempts to ensure that courts only uphold domestic contracts that are negotiated by truly autonomous parties.

In Memoriam: The Canadian Research Institute For Law And The Family, 1987–2018, John-Paul E. Boyd

Canadian Journal of Family Law

No abstract provided.

Faire Valoir Ses Droits À La Chambre De La Jeunesse : État Des Lieux Des Barrières Structurelles À L’Accès À La Justice Des Familles, Emmanuelle Bernheim, Marilyn Coupienne

Canadian Journal of Family Law

S’il est convenu que l’intervention en protection de la jeunesse constitue en soi une atteinte aux droits fondamentaux des parents, il est souvent pris pour acquis que les droits des parents et des enfants s’opposent autour de notions telles que l’intérêt supérieur de l’enfant et le projet de vie permanent. Au Québec, dans un contexte où les mères vivant dans la pauvreté, et plus particulièrement les mères autochtones ou issues de minorités visibles, sont surreprésentées en protection de la jeunesse et où le nombre de dossiers judiciarisés a cru de 20% depuis les années 1990, il apparaît non seulement pertinent …

Relationally Speaking: The Implications Of Treating Embryos As Property In A Canadian Context, Kathleen Hammond

Canadian Journal of Family Law

In July 2018, the Ontario Superior Court, in S.H. v D.H., dealt with a dispute between a recently separated couple over a frozen embryo that the couple had created. In his judgment, Justice Del Frate stated that the embryo should be conceived of as property. This was the cause of uproar among feminist legal scholars who were concerned with the possible repercussions for cisgender women of labeling embryos as property. The Superior Court decision was subsequently overturned by the Ontario Court of Appeal this past May (2019). However, given the likelihood that embryos will be treated as property in …

Autonomous Motherhood In The Era Of Donor Linking: New Challenges And Constraints?, Fiona Kelly

Canadian Journal of Family Law

The number of single mothers by choice (SMCs), that is, unpartnered women who choose to conceive a child that they intend to raise on their own; has grown rapidly in Australia, where they now represent the largest user group of clinic-based donor sperm. Despite the growing visibility of SMCs, constraints remain for women who wish to parent autonomously from a partner. This article explores a complex new challenge for Australian SMCs: whether to participate in the increasingly popular phenomenon of “donor linking,” defined as the process by which parents who use donated gametes to conceive seek access to the donor’s …

All Families Are Equal, But Do Some Matter More Than Others? How Gender, Poverty, And Domestic Violence Put Quebec's Family Law Reform To The Test, Suzanne Zaccour

Canadian Journal of Family Law

Who needs family law? While it is tempting to answer “everyone”, the stakes are not the same for all. I propose to evaluate family law rules in terms of how they address high-stakes situations—that is, the condition of vulnerable women. Thus, the test of good family law should be how well it deals with poverty and domestic violence, factors that directly constrain women’s ability to negotiate fair outcomes.

To explore this method, I take the example of a recent proposal, developed by Alain Roy’s reform committee (the “Comité consultatif sur le droit de la famille”), and regarding which the Quebec …

Hong Kong's Children Proceedings (Parental Responsibility) Bill: Comparative Family Law Reform And Multidisciplinary Collaboration, Katherine Lynch

Canadian Journal of Family Law

Many comprehensive reviews of family justice systems have been undertaken in common law jurisdictions over the past 20 years, all seeking to provide more meaningful affordable access to justice for families and children. Hong Kong is also under pressure to enact legislative reforms originally proposed in 2002-2005 which deal with children’s matters and more broadly, with family and matrimonial issues. Legislative reform was anticipated when the Government announced the long awaited Children’s Proceedings (Parental Responsibility) Bill (“Children’s Bill”) in 2015. After significant public consultation, however, the Government announced in 2018 that it would delay implementation of this draft legislation. Unfortunately, …

Front Matter

Canadian Journal of Family Law

No abstract provided.

Introduction To The Special Issue: Shifting Normativities, Régine Tremblay, Erez Aloni

Canadian Journal of Family Law

On May 9 and 10, 2019, we held an international and interdisciplinary conference entitled Shifting Normativities: Families, Feminisms, Laws—Celebrating the Work of Professor Susan B. Boyd. This event, cohosted by the Centre for Feminist Legal Studies and the Canadian Journal of Family Law, brought together to the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia scholars from different countries and disciplines. It had three principal goals. First, celebrating the work of Professor Susan B. Boyd; second, producing cutting-edge scholarship in under-researched fields, namely, family studies and feminist theory; and third, creating new networks of …

Intent To Parent Is What Makes A Parent? A Comparative Analysis Of The Role Of Intent In Multi-Parenthood Recognition, Nola Cammu

Canadian Journal of Family Law

In most jurisdictions, the two-parent rule does not take into account the social reality of intentional multiple-parent families where more than two parents share parenting tasks from a child’s birth. Many cases show that children in non-traditional parenting constellations are emotionally attached to all parental figures and perceive them as true parents. Unfortunately, the law does not adequately acknowledge multiple parenting practices, and thus a discrepancy exists between the social and the legal reality of (often young) children in intentional plus-two-parent families. This article argues that the law should aim to rectify this discrepancy by legally accommodating multiple parenthood, preferably …

Divorce, Domicile, And The Constitution, Mark Strasser

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Searching The Legacy Of The Reformation For Lutheran Responses To Modern Family Law, Marie Failinger

Faculty Scholarship

This article builds upon historical work on changes in the law of marriage, divorce and the family after the Reformation, and describes how modern Lutheran theology, formed during the Reformation, evaluates modern trends in American family law. From the key Lutheran theological insight that God is creatively ordering human activity as a partner with human beings, the Lutheran tradition approaches issues such as no-fault divorce and same-sex marriage with both trust and challenge.

Restructuring Rebuttal Of The Marital Presumption For The Modern Era, Jessica Feinberg

Articles

The marital presumption of paternity, which arose from English common law, has served as a core component of the law governing parentage in the United States since the nation’s inception. Pursuant to the marital presumption, a husband is presumed to be the legal father of any child born to or conceived by his wife during the marriage. Historically, the marital presumption was extremely difficult to rebut, generally requiring proof of the husband’s non-access to his wife during the time of conception, the husband’s sterility or impotence, or adultery on the part of the wife. As these early grounds for rebuttal …

Keeping It In The Family: Minor Guardianship As Private Child Protection, Deirdre Smith

Faculty Publications

Due to the opioid use epidemic and an overwhelmed public child protection system, minor guardianship is an increasingly important tool for relative caregivers seeking to obtain legal authority regarding the children who come into their care because of a parent’s crisis. Yet minor guardianship originated in colonial law for an entirely different purpose: to protect legal orphans who had inherited property. Today’s guardianship laws are still based on this “orphan model” which does not fit today’s reality. This Article is the first to analyze how these outdated guardianship laws are being used as a form of “private child protection” and …