Family Law Commons^™

Domestic Violence, Precarious Immigration Status, And The Complex Interplay Of Family Law And Immigration Law, Janet Mosher

Articles & Book Chapters

Survivors of domestic violence must frequently navigate multiple legal processes, as well as the various administrative systems that provide crucial supports and resources. For women with precarious immigration status, navigation is made all the more challenging not only because immigration and/or refugee law processes are added to the array of legal domains to be navigated, but because their access to supports and resources is both restrictive and in flux, shifting along with the changes in their immigration status.

Drawing from interviews with experienced lawyers and case law searches, I explore many of the intersections between family law and immigration law …

Nestlé V. Doe: A Death Knell To Corporate Human Rights Accountability?, Phillip Ayers

Seattle University Law Review

The Supreme Court in Nestlé v. Doe held that foreign plaintiffs who claimed to be victims of overseas tortious conduct by corporate defendants had no jurisdiction to sue in federal courts using the Alien Tort Statute. This Comment looks at the history of the Alien Tort Statute, from its inspiration, long dormancy, and recent reinvigoration beginning in the 1980s. The Comment then explores the background of Nestlé and its issues with child slavery in its cocoa supply chain. From there, the Comment analyzes the Nestlé v. Doe decision, and posits an alternative outcome. Finally, this Comment looks for a new …

Mezini V. Mezini, 268 A.3d 1171 (R.I. 2022), Maya Maldonado-Weinstein

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tenancy By The Entirety Property And Transfers To Trusts, Julie M. Cheslik

Faculty Works

Lawyers practicing in the area of matrimonial law encounter the structuring of property transactions as their clients contem­plate marriage, during the marriage, and upon dissolution of the marriage. At all three periods in the life of a marriage, whether for creditor asset protection purposes, estate planning purposes, or dissolution purposes, whether and how to deviate from the state's default property laws is of utmost concern for the matri­monial lawyer. Of special concern is how default laws intended to protect the spouses' marital estate from creditors - including the tenancy by the entirety estate - may be implicated or abro­gated by …

A Child’S Constitutional Right To Family Integrity And Counsel In Dependency Proceedings, Rachel Kennedy

Emory Law Journal

Since the child welfare system’s inception, abuse and neglect laws have conflated poverty-related neglect with active parental violence and willful neglect. The ensuing state surveillance has disproportionately harmed poor children and children of color. Pursuant to the state’s expansive parens patriae authority, countless families are investigated, and thousands of children are separated from their caretakers each year—only to be returned within days or weeks after a finding that the reasons for removal were unsubstantiated. Other children risk drifting in foster care limbo until they experience the termination of parental rights—an adjudication so severe that some courts call it the “civil …

The Expected Risks And Exacerbations Of Poverty, Mental Health Disorders, And Maternal Mortality From Abortion Bans: A Comparative Literature Analysis, Daniel J. Francisco

All Master's Theses

Background. Early termination of a pregnancy (hereinafter referred to as an “abortion”) has been debated in the United States (U.S.) for decades, without much regard to the negative outcomes that forced pregnancies have for those assigned female at birth regarding poverty, mental health and maternal mortality. In 1973, access to safe abortions was protected so long that the procedure was done within the legal gestational period and/or was necessary for the health and safety of the patient (Blackmun, 1972). Unfortunately, in 2022, the Supreme Court took that protection away and made it legal for states to determine the reproductive rights …

The Indian Child Welfare Act In The Multiverse, M. Alexander Pearl

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl By Matthew L.M. Fletcher and Kathryn E. Fort, in Critical Race Judgments: Rewritten U.S. Court Opinions on Race and the Law 452, 471. Edited by Bennett Capers, Devon W. Carbado, R.A. Lenhardt and Angela Onwuachi-Willig.

Rich Dad, Gay Dad: The Wealth Traps Of Gay Fatherhood, Aloni Erez

All Faculty Publications

While legal and societal progress has enabled gay fathers to form families, there remains a critical blind spot in our understanding of their financial wellbeing. Specifically, there are indications that a wealth gap may exist among gay father households. This article introduces a novel taxonomy of the mechanisms that likely contribute to a wealth gap for these households, including surrogacy and adoption costs, legal recognition expenses, parental leave policies, discrimination in housing and borrowing, and limited support from families of origin. These obstacles reflect the structural features and prejudices that disproportionately affect households led by non-heterosexual fathers. The article highlights …

Pregnant Workers Fairness Acts: Advancing A Progressive Policy In Both Red And Blue America, Deborah Widiss

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Pregnant workers often need small changes—such as permission to sit on a stool or to avoid heavy lifting—to stay on the job safely through a pregnancy. In the past decade, twenty-five states have passed laws that guarantee pregnant employees a right to reasonable accommodations at work. Despite the stark partisan divide in contemporary America, the laws have passed in both Republican- and Democratic-controlled states. This Essay offers the first detailed case study of this remarkably effective campaign, and it shows how it laid the groundwork for analogous federal legislation, passed in December 2022, that ensures workers across the country will …

Mandatory Child Custody Mediation: A Call On California To Protect Domestic Violence Survivors, Anne M. Sidwell

University of San Francisco Law Review

No abstract provided.

Disrupting Carceral Logic In Family Policing, Cynthia Godsoe

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families and How Abolition Can Build a Safer World, By Dorothy Roberts.

Corporate Governance And Gender Equality: A Study Of Comply-Or-Explain Disclosure Regulation, Aaron A. Dhir, Sarah Kaplan, Maria Arabella Robles

Seattle University Law Review

In 2020, the Nasdaq Stock Market filed a proposal with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission seeking permission to adopt a board diversity-related disclosure requirement for its listed companies. In 2021, the SEC approved the proposal, thus entrenching Nasdaq’s position as the most significant stock exchange to date to mandate listing rules that reflect the intention of diversifying corporate boardrooms. Nasdaq’s movement into the diversity space is not the first attempt to address homogeneous boards in the U.S. In 2009, the SEC adopted a rule requiring publicly traded firms to report on whether they consider diversity in identifying director nominees. …

Judicial Ethics And The Eradication Of Racism, Dontay Proctor-Mills

Seattle University Law Review

In 2020, the Washington Supreme Court entrusted the legal community with working to eradicate racism from its legal system. Soon after, Washington’s Commission on Judicial Conduct (hereinafter the Commission) received a complaint about a bus ad for North Seattle College featuring King County Superior Court Judge David Keenan. Along with a photo of Judge Keenan’s face, the ad included the following language: “A Superior Court Judge, David Keenan got into law in part to advocate for marginalized communities. David’s changing the world. He started at North.” The Commission admonished Judge Keenan for violating the Code of Judicial Conduct, in part …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Why Corporate Boards Should Include Lgbtq+ People, Jeremy Mcclane, Darren Rosenblum

Seattle University Law Review

Corporate boardrooms sit at the heart of most of society’s most consequential decisions but fall far short of the diversity of our society. The current movement toward board diversification aims to remedy the underrepresentation of marginalized groups on corporate boards. More recently, some efforts have included LGBTQ+ people, even though the basis for their inclusion on corporate boards remains largely unstated. This Article examines both the normative and instrumental bases for LGBTQ+ inclusion in board diversity initiatives, articulating unspoken assumptions and linking LGBTQ+ people to the broader inclusion effort. In so doing, it begins to surface the unique issues LGBTQ+ …

Out Of Bounds?: Abortion, Choice Of Law, And A Modest Role For Congress, Susan Frelich Appleton

Scholarship@WashULaw

This invited contribution to a symposium on the multiple intersections of family law and constitutional law grapples with the emerging problems of jurisdictional competition and choice of law in interstate abortion situations in the wake of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—as abortion-hostile states seek to impose restrictions beyond their borders and welcoming states seek to become havens for abortion patients, regardless of their domicile. Grounded in a conflict-of-laws perspective, the essay lays out the interstate abortion chaos invited by Dobbs and the threat to our federal system that it presents, given Congress’s failure to codify a national right to …

Reflections On “Personal Responsibility” After Covid And Dobbs: Doubling Down On Privacy, Susan Frelich Appleton, Laura A. Rosenbury

Scholarship@WashULaw

This essay uses lenses of gender, race, marriage, and work to trace understandings of “personal responsibility” in laws, policies, and conversations about public support in the United States over three time periods: (I) the pre-COVID era, from the beginning of the American “welfare state” through the start of the Trump administration; (II) the pandemic years; and (III) the present post-pandemic period. We sought to explore the possibility that COVID and the assistance programs it inspired might have reshaped the notion of personal responsibility and unsettled assumptions about privacy and dependency. In fact, a mixed picture emerges. On the one hand, …

Are Parents More Than Money? Proposing Reform Of North Carolina's Wage Imputation Doctrine In Child Support Cases, Scott Daubenspeck

Campbell Law Review

North Carolina's child support regime exists as a composite of three sources of law: statutes, case law, and the North Carolina Child Support Guidelines. These sources have not evolved in tandem to produce a coherent synthesis of policy rationales. One aspect of the law that implicates conflicting policy goals is the use of a parent's potential income instead of their actual income at the time oftrial (a practice often referred to as "wage imputation'). The Guidelines are a synthesis ofstatutes and case law predicated on the "income shares" model, the ostensible goal of which is to provide children with the …

Abortion—A Question Of Human Rights, Geoffrey Bennett, Christina M. Lyon

Journal Articles

Unlike the American Supreme Court which has been prepared to acknowledge, confront, and attempt to resolve the many problems associated with abortion, the European Commission of Human Rights in two cases that have only recently been reported has disappointingly side-stepped many of the difficult issues involved, and raised more questions than it answers. Furthermore, the reasoning in these decisions, which are concerned with the interpretation of several of the Articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, is at times vague and curiously ill-argued. The two decisions are first a German case, Bruggeman and Scheuten v Federal Republic of Germany …

Just And Equitable, But Not Practicable: The Problems Of A Loosely Factored Spousal Support Framework In Oregon And Potential Solutions, Aime Lee Ohlmann

Lewis & Clark Law Review

Spousal support in Oregon, as in many states, is based upon a loosely factored framework that allows wide judicial discretion and limited predictability for practitioners. This makes routine settlement of the issue of spousal support challenging and increases litigation. Many states and organizations have developed frameworks for spousal support “calculators” or “formulas” that provide more predictable and consistent results for families and practitioners and better meets the established goals of spousal support. This Note explores the problems of a loosely factored framework, what solutions exist in other states, and what solutions may be implemented in Oregon.

Lacera V. Department Of Children, Youth, And Families, 272 A.3d 1064 (R.I. 2022), Hilary L. Levey Friedman

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

In Re Lucas D., 272 A.3d 109 (R.I. 2022), Kat L. Mccorkle

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

In Re Mandy M., 239 A.3d 1152, 1155 (R.I. 2020), Jacklyn Henry

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Dischargeability Of Money Judgements Versus Property Interests In Arbitration Awards For Domestic Contributions In The Context Of Unmarried Couples, Gabriella Hansen

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

A debt which arises prior to the filing of the petition for discharge in bankruptcy is dischargeable unless it can be categorized as one of the statutory exceptions to discharge listed in section 523(a) of title 11 of the United States Code (the “Bankruptcy Code”). Section 523(a)(5) of the Bankruptcy Code prohibits the discharge of awards of domestic support due to a debtor’s spouse, former spouse, or child. Accordingly, maintenance, alimony, and child support, often awarded in divorce proceedings, fall under the federal bankruptcy law statutory exceptions to discharge for domestic support obligations.

When an unmarried couple separates and …

Parens Patriae After The Pandemic, Meredith Johnson Harbach

Law Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted extraordinary state action to protect American children. Acting in its longstanding role as parens patriae, the state stepped in to protect children and their families from the ravages of the pandemic as well as from the dramatic upheaval it precipitated. This Article will evaluate the state’s pandemic response vis-à-vis children and their families, mining the experience for lessons learned and possible ways forward. Specifically, this project will argue that the state’s pandemic response represented a departure from the state’s conventional approach to parens patriae. Conventional practice prior to the pandemic was characterized by a state model …

The Rights Of Stateless Children Born From Cross-Border Reproductive Care, Carson Cook

Emory International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Are Children's Rights Enough?, Clare Ryan

American University Law Review

Are parental rights or children’s rights better for protecting children and vindicating their interests? In this ongoing debate, American family law scholars and advocates are deeply divided. Children’s rights proponents often criticize the United States for failing to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child and for denying children constitutional family rights. This critique of U.S. family law assumes that incorporating children’s rights would result in better outcomes for children. This Article challenges the assumption that children’s rights are enough to vindicate children’s interests. Instead, this Article identifies how current conceptions of children’s rights present structural barriers to …

The Rise And Fall Of A Reproductive Right: Dobbs V. Jackson Women’S Health Organization, Carol Sanger

Faculty Scholarship

Although the phrase “Post-Roe Era” is still used by those who want to underscore the loss wrought last June by Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, it is only a matter of time before the present state of reproductive constitutionalism solidifies into the more authoritarian “Dobbs Era.” In these early days of transition, states are still figuring out what they want the legal status of abortion to be, ever since Dobbs overruled both Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, thus tossing the issue of abortion’s legality back to the states for …

Pragmatic Family Law, Clare Huntington

Faculty Scholarship

Family law is a central battleground for a polarized America, with seemingly endless conflict over abortion, parental control of school curricula, gender-affirming health care for children, and similar flash points. This is hardly surprising for an area of law that implicates fundamental concerns about equality, bodily autonomy, sexual liberty, gender norms, parenting, and religion. Polarization poses significant risks to children and families, but centering contestation obscures another important reality. In many areas of doctrine and policy, family law has managed to avoid polarization, even for politically and socially combustible issues. Instead, states are converging on similar rules and policies, working …

Family Law For The One-Hundred-Year Life, Naomi Cahn, Clare Huntington, Elizabeth S. Scott

Faculty Scholarship

Family law is for young people. To facilitate child rearing and help spouses pool resources over a lifetime, the law obligates parents to minor children and spouses to each other. Family law’s presumption of young, financially interdependent, conjugal couples raising children privileges one family form — marriage — and centers the dependency needs of children.

This age myopia fundamentally fails older adults. Families are essential to flourishing in the last third of life, but the legal system offers neither the family forms many older adults want nor the support of family care older adults need. Racial and economic inequities, accumulated …