Family Law Commons^™

New Hampshire Got It Right: Statutes, Case Law And Related Issues Involving Post- Secondary Education Payments And Divorced Parents, Ryan C. Leonard

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “Divorced parents in New Hampshire can rest a little easier these days. While there are a myriad of economic reasons why a divorce can become contentious, financing a child’s college education can no longer be included among those reasons. In January 2004, in a rather bold and unconventional move, the New Hampshire legislature overruled years of legal precedent and enacted a new statutory amendment that should alleviate some of the financial pressures divorced parents inevitably face. The amendment, RSA § 458:17(XI-a), is a victory for divorcees across the state because it prohibits superior court judges from issuing orders forcing …

Review Of Fathers Under Fire: The Revolution In Child Support Enforcement, By Irwin Garfinkel, Sara S. Mclanahan, Daniel R. Meyer, And Judith A. Seltzer, Ryan E. Spohn

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The title of this book adequately reflects its timely focus on nonresidential fathers facing increased child support enforcement, examining how child support contributions (or failure to meet child support obligations) affect the lives of children as well as the fathers themselves. As the authors suggest, nonresident fathers have generally been treated as financial resources, with little attention paid to their rights as parents or their needs as providers for their children. A particular focus of this collection of studies is the role of indigent nonresident fathers and their role as parents and providers. Consequently, the scope of study adopted by …

To Protect And Defend: Assigning Parental Rights When Parents Are Living In Poverty, Karen Czapanskiy

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Legal Images Of Fatherhood: Welfare Reform, Child Support Enforcement, And Fatherless Children, Jane C. Murphy

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article analyzes the issue of paternity disestablishment, an issue courts and legislatures have been struggling with over the last several years. For a variety of reasons explored in this Article, an increasing number of fathers have filed requests to set aside paternity orders seeking to be relieved of the legal obligations of fatherhood. As a result families have been destabilized and children are becoming fatherless. The implications for the future of the family are profound. Although some scholars have examined this phenomenon, none have addressed the link between paternity disestablishment and welfare reform.

This Article explores the law's evolving …

The Aaml Model For A Parenting Plan, Mary Kay Kisthardt

Faculty Works

The American Law Institute's Principles on the Law of Family Dissolution were published in 2002. These principles, which were developed over nearly a decade, reflect the thinking of prominent family law scholars, practitioners and judges concerning the legal consequences of marital dissolution: child custody, child support, distribution of marital property and compensatory payments to former spouses. The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers undertook the process of reviewing the ALI Principles concerning the Allocation of Custodial Decision-Making Responsibilities for Children and drafting a model parenting plan that would reflect the spirit of the ALI Principles relating to parenting plans without reference …

Making Work Pay: Promoting Employment And Better Child Support Outcomes For Low-Income And Incarcerated Parents, Ann Cammett

Scholarly Works

The New Jersey Institute for Social Justice prepared this report in response to concerns about child support debt—in particular as it creates a barrier to employment for low-income parents and works at cross-purposes with the goals of the child support program. Drawing on examples from other states, this report identifies a range of policies that inform child support practice in New Jersey and offers administrative, legislative, and programmatic solutions to address child support arrears owed by low-income and incarcerated parents.

Legal Images Of Fatherhood: Welfare Reform, Child Support Enforcement, And Fatherless Children, Jane C. Murphy

ExpressO

This Article analyzes the issue of paternity disestablishment, an issue courts and legislatures have been struggling with over the last several years. For a variety of reasons explored in this Article, an increasing number of fathers have filed requests to set aside paternity orders seeking to be relieved of the legal obligations of fatherhood. As a result families have been destabilized and children are becoming fatherless. The implications for the future of the family are profound. Although some scholars have examined this phenomenon, none have addressed the link between paternity disestablishment and welfare reform.

This Article explores the law's evolving …

Breaking The Cycle Of Defeat For 'Deadbroke' Noncustodial Parents Through Advocacy On Child Support Issues, Daniel L. Hatcher, Hannah Lieberman

All Faculty Scholarship

The child support system is not serving low-income families well. Custodial parents are not receiving the child support they need. Enforcement of child support for lowincome parents receiving welfare primarily benefits the state because the payments are owed to the government. Low-income noncustodial parents face unrealistically high child support orders and large arrearages take so much of their wages that they cannot support themselves. They go to jail-often recurrently-because they cannot meet their obligations and thereby lose the opportunity to keep a job. Their driver's licenses are suspended because they have not paid their support. To evade this punitive cycle, …

Prohibiting Procreation: A Step In The Right Direction To Protect The Children Of Deadbeat Dads; An Analysis Of The Court Decision In State V. Oakley, Andrea C. Kryszak

Journal of Law and Health

This note will entail an in-depth analysis of the Wisconsin Supreme Court's majority opinion and the dissent. This note will also provide support for the majority opinion by evaluating how the court's decision will help protect the children of individuals like Oakley, who intentionally refuse to support them. While some may claim that the probation condition to prohibit Oakley from procreating was a drastic measure, it was the appropriate measure for the court to take. This sentence will serve as a deterrent to Oakley and other fathers who intentionally refuse to support their children. The probation condition will prevent any …

Building A Doll's House: A Feminist Analysis Of Marital Debt Dischargeability In Bankruptcy, Peter C. Alexander

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Family Law, Elizabeth P. Coughter, Ronald R. Tweel

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Sexual Regulation Dimension Of Contemporary Welfare Law: A Fifty State Overview, Anna Marie Smith

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

In this article, Smith will attempt to demonstrate that welfare policy has become a prominent site of sexual regulation; that the rights of poor single mothers are at stake in this respect; and that given the precise structure of contemporary American welfare reform, we must pay especially close attention to the laws and regulations adopted at the state level. First, Smith will place contemporary sexual regulation-oriented welfare law in an historical context by considering its precedents in English and American public policy traditions (Part I). Using original qualitative analyses of the states' statutory codes and administrative regulations, Smith will then …

To Pay Or Not To Pay, That Is The Question: Should Ssi Recipients Be Exempt From Child Support Obligations?, Angela F. Epps

Journal Publications

This article will explore whether it is legally permissible for state courts to order Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients to pay child support. As background, the history of the SSI program, showing its genesis in a perceived need for uniformity, will be reviewed along with its current requirements. A discussion of federal child support laws will provide additional background.

Although many feel that every parent should be required to pay child support or argue against further federal subsidies, this article proposes an alternate solution. First, SSI recipients should be exempt from payment of child support. Next, the federal government, through …

Rights And Responsibilities, Arthur S. Leonard

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

Ali Child Support Principles: A Lesson In Public Policy And Truth-Telling, Karen Czapanskiy

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Eliminating Consideration Of Parental Wealth In Post-Divorce Child Custody Disputes, Carolyn J. Frantz

Michigan Law Review

There may be no story as old as that of the child of privilege, spoiled in the things of the world, who finally achieves happiness through coming to appreciate the simple charms of working-class life. But equal in strength are the real life stories of American parents: their drive for the accumulation of personal wealth, so frequently justified as "for the children." The place of wealth in the good life of a child is deeply controversial, and it should surprise no one to see it played out in child custody law. Under the statutes of almost all states, custody disputes …

Second Chances: Insuring That Poor Families Remain Intact By Minimizing Socioeconomic Ramification Of Poverty, Cynthia R. Mabry

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Interstate Establishment, Enforcement, And Modification Of Child Support Orders, Patricia W. Moore

Faculty Articles

Intended to improve the collection of child support across state lines, the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act has now been in effect in all fifty states for approximately three years. This Article examines the history and operation of this statute and its companion federal statute, the Full Faith and Credit For Child Support Orders Act. Following UIFSA's structure, the Article details the provisions governing the establishment, enforcement, and modification of child support orders in the interstate context and explains which federally-promulgated forms to use in each situation. Analyzing the abundant case law already decided under these statutes, the article concludes …

Tax Treatment Of Defaulted Child Support: The Better Approach, Richard C.E. Beck

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

Collecting Child Support: A History Of Federal And State Initiatives, Jane C. Murphy, Naomi R. Cahn

All Faculty Scholarship

In this article we sketch an overview of the increasing federal involvement in the child-support area. Because the federal role has grown so dramatically over the past 25 years, family law practitioners need to understand the different federal programs and requirements that affect state management of child-support programs. While for many low-income parents state agencies handle child-support establishment and collection, the federalization of child support has practical implications when it comes to both establishing and enforcing child support. For example, as the time limits of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act begin to have their effects, child support …

Joint Custody And Strategic Behavior, Saul Levmore

Indiana Law Journal

Symposium: Law and the New American Family Held at Indiana University School of Law - Bloomington Apr. 4, 1997

Bonding After Divorce: Comments On Joint Custody: Bonding And Monitoring Theories, Ann Laquer Estin

Indiana Law Journal

Symposium: Law and the New American Family Held at Indiana University School of Law - Bloomington Apr. 4, 1997

Legal Images Of Motherhood: Conflicting Definitions From Welfare "Reform," Family And Criminal Law, Jane C. Murphy

All Faculty Scholarship

Part I of this Article explores the traditional idealized view of motherhood that child placement statutes and court decisions reflect. These laws include statutes and case law in custody disputes between parents and in child protection proceedings under civil and criminal laws where the dispute is between the parent and the state. Part II contrasts the legal construct of motherhood that child placement laws embody with the legal image of mothers in child support and welfare law.

Part III examines the impact of these conflicting images of motherhood on a particular group of mothers -- battered women. Battered women illuminate …

Marriage As Relational Contract, Elizabeth S. Scott, Robert E. Scott

Faculty Scholarship

The evolution of marriage from a relationship based on status to one that is regulated by contractual norms achieved a milestone of sorts recently with the enactment of the Louisiana Covenant Marriage Act. Under this statute, couples entering marriage can choose to have the termination of their relationship regulated under conventional no-fault divorce rules, or they can voluntarily undertake a greater commitment to their marriage. For couples who select covenant marriage, either party can terminate the relationship on fault grounds, but unilateral termination of the marriage is available only after a substantial waiting period. The principal impact of the statute …

Kentucky Law Survey: Family Law, Louise Everett Graham

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Cases

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Child Support Arrearages: What Statute Of Limitations (If Any) Applies, Harry Truman Moore

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Critical Applications And Proposals For Improvement Of The Uniform Interstate Family Support Act And The Full Faith And Credit For Child Support Orders Act, Patricia W. Moore

Faculty Articles

The problems inherent in interstate child and spousal support enforcement have been lamented for at least a half century. The federal and state governments have taken numerous steps to enhance interstate establishment and collection of support. Two of the latest steps in this process were the 1992 promulgation of the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act ("UIFSA") and the 1994 adoption of the federal Full Faith and Credit For Child Support Orders Act ("FFCCSOA"). The 1996 federal "welfare reform" bill' affected both of these statutes by requiring the states to pass UIFSA by January 1, 1998 and by amending FFCCSOA …

Lessons From The New English And Australian Child Support Systems, J. Thomas Oldham

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In the last decade, both England and Australia have reformed their child support systems. While both nations desired to shift the financial burden of child support in single-parent families from society to absent parents, England and Australia enacted different administrative schemes to achieve this goal. In this Article, the author first explores the features of the English and Australian child support systems. The author then proceeds to analyze the merits of the two systems and the implications for other nations in light of the two nations' relative ability to achieve underlying policy goals.

West Virginia Child Support Guidelines: The Melson Formula, Charles T. Berry

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.