Family Law Commons^™

Breaking The Bank: Revisiting Central Bank Of Denver After Enron And Sarbanes-Oxley, Celia Taylor

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Child Laundering: How The Intercountry Adoption System Legitimizes And Incentivizes The Practices Of Buying, Trafficking, Kidnapping, And Stealing Children, David M. Smolin

ExpressO

This article documents and analyzes a substantial incidence of "child laundering" within the intercountry adoption system. Child laundering occurs when children are taken illegally from birth families through child buying or kidnapping, and then "laundered" through the adoption system as "orphans" and then "adoptees." The article then proposes reforms to the intercountry adoption system that could substantially reduce the incidence of child laundering.

Rhetorical Holy War: Polygamy, Homosexuality, And The Paradox Of Community And Autonomy, Gregory C. Pingree

ExpressO

The article explores the rhetorical strategies deployed in both legal and cultural narratives of Mormon polygamy in nineteenth-century America. It demonstrates how an understanding of that unique communal experience, and the narratives by which it was represented, informs the classic paradox of community and autonomy – the tension between the collective and the individual. The article concludes by using the Mormon polygamy analysis to illuminate a contemporary social situation that underscores the paradox of community and autonomy – homosexuality and the so-called culture wars over family values and the meaning of marriage.

Home As A Legal Concept, Benjamin Barros

ExpressO

This article, which is the first comprehensive discussion of the American legal concept of home, makes two major contributions. First, the article systematically examines how homes are treated more favorably than other types of property in a wide range of legal contexts, including criminal law and procedure, torts, privacy, landlord-tenant, debtor-creditor, family law, and income taxation. Second, the article considers the normative issue of whether this favorable treatment is justified. The article draws from material on the psychological concept of home and the cultural history of home throughout this analysis, providing insight into the interests at stake in various legal …

Who's Your Daddy?: Challenging The Application Of The Best Interest Of The Child Standard To Adults And In The Context Of An Intestate Estate, Tyler E. Heffron

ExpressO

This article includes a discussion of (1) whether the best interest of the child standard should apply to an adult, (2) whether the best interest of the child standard should apply in the context of an intestate estate, and (3) whether the Kansas Probate Code should defer heirship challenges to the Kansas Parentage Act. The article, following case law from New Mexico and statutes from Georgia, concludes that the best interest of the child standard should not apply to an adult or in the context of an intestate estate. The article proposes an amendment to the Kansas Probate Code.

For The Sake Of All Children: Opponents And Supporters Of Same-Sex Marriage Both Miss The Mark, Nancy Polikoff

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Lesbian And Gay Parenting: The Last Thirty Years, Nancy Polikoff

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

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 …

Lawmaking By Public Welfare Professionals, Margaret F. Brinig

ExpressO

In an era of shrinking state and local resources for domestic violence prevention and detection, governments face a critical question of how to best allocate scarce funds. This paper suggests some answers for treating violence by caregivers and presents a model for evaluating other programs. To reach our conclusions, we analyzed data and survey results supplied by more than 1700 county-level adult protective services (APS) authorities.

We found that some expensive programs produce very few results in terms of reporting, investigating, and substantiating elder abuse. For example, requiring a specific education or experience level (and therefore guaranteeing higher salaries) or …

Rescuing Children From The Marriage Movement: The Case Against Marital Restrictions On Adoption And Assisted Reproduction, Richard F. Storrow

ExpressO

Much of the current cultural debate about marriage in the United States focuses on the need for children to be raised by heterosexual married couples. In the current atmosphere, it is important to examine how marriage functions in contexts where parent-child relationships are determined by more than just genetics and marital presumptions. This Article argues that the favoritism toward marriage in adoption and assisted reproduction relates neither to the purposes of marriage nor to child welfare. Part I subjects marital restrictions on assisted reproduction to an interpretivist microscope, and Part II undertakes a comprehensive comparison of step-parent adoption and second-parent …

The Alley Behind First Street, Northeast: Criminal Abortion In The Nation's Capital 1873-1973, Douglas R. Miller

ExpressO

The thirtieth anniversary of Roe v. Wade found our country no less divided over abortion than it was during the era of its prohibition. As the bitter struggle over judicial nominations throughout the present administration suggests, abortion’s future remains at the forefront of American political debate.

In their push for increased limitations, abortion opponents generally overlook the historical consequences of prohibition. Abortion rights proponents often invoke history in their opposition to new restrictions, but tend to do so superficially, and only in a manner that supports their position.

This article attempts a more complex study of criminal abortion’s legal and …

Achieving Batterer Accountability In The Child Protection System, Leigh Goodmark

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

“Which One Of You Did It?” Criminal Liability For “Causing Or Allowing” The Death Of A Child, Lissa Griffin

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

The Right To Family Life And Civil Marriage Under International Law And Its Implementation In The State Of Israel, Yuval Merin

ExpressO

The article deals with the protection of the right to family life under international law and its implementation in the State of Israel on three levels: protection of the family cell as a single unit; protection of the individuals comprising the family unit; and protection of the family in special circumstances (e.g., immigration rights).

The article begins by analyzing the characteristics of the right to family life and examining various definitions of the “family” under international and Israeli law. It also examines what it is that the right to family life encompasses and how it should be classified within the …

International Child Abductions: The Challenges Facing America , Charles F. Hall

ExpressO

International child abductors often escape domestic law enforcement and disappear without consequence or resolution. International child abductions occur too frequently; in the United States alone, the number of children abducted abroad every year has risen to over 1,000. Currently, 11,000 American children live abroad with their abductors. These abductions occur despite international treaties and the Congressional resolutions that have significantly stiffened the penalties for those caught. Effectively combating international child abductions requires drafting resolutions that are acceptable across the diverse societies and cultures of the international community. Without such resolutions to fill the gaps of current treaties this problem will …

Debts, Divorce And Disarray In Bankruptcy, Margaret M. Mahoney

ExpressO

The article addresses a point of intersection between federal bankruptcy law and state family law. Specifically, I deal with the various issues that arise when a former spouse to whom pre-existing marital debts were allocated at the time of divorce subsequently declares bankruptcy. A review of the legal literature reveals very little attention paid to the rights of the third-party marital creditor, the obligated spouse, and the other former spouse as to allocated debts, when the obligated spouse declares bankruptcy. While there is a significant body of work dealing generally with the treatment of divorce-related debts in bankruptcy, none of …

When Daddy Doesn't Want To Be Daddy Anymore: An Argument Against Paternity Fraud Claims, Melanie B. Jacobs

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Relative Burdens: Family Ties And The Safety Net, Lee Anne Fennell

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Same-Sex Unions And Conflicts Of Law: When "I Do" May Be Interpreted As "No, You Didn't"!, Kathy T. Graham

ExpressO

This article is about the conflicts of law issues that will arise regarding recognition of same-sex unions across state lines. With Vermont's recognition of same-sex unions and Massachusetts soon to follow, it is just a matter of time until the conflict of laws issue will arise in other states's courts. The article discusses how the context in which the conflict arises will impact whether the same-sex relationship is given recognition in another state.

Foster Care Placement: Reducing The Risk Of Sibling Incest, David J. Herring

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Bargaining Or Biology? The History And Future Of Paternity Law And Parental Status, Katharine K. Baker

All Faculty Scholarship

In practice, paternity rulings are remarkably unimportant. With the exception of state welfare authorities pursuing mostly impoverished biological fathers, few paternity actions are brought, few mothers want to bring them and (even with state-sponsored pursuit) very few dollars get transferred to children as a result of them. In theory, however, paternity judgments are very and perniciously important because they keep alive the biological fatherhood ideal, an ideal that has never been reflected in law or fact and that is inconsistent with the emerging law of parental rights and responsibilities. This article challenges the biological fatherhood ideal and suggests that contract, …

Lawrence And Same-Sex Marriage Bans: On Constitutional Interpretation And Sophistical Rhetoric, Mark Strasser

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

A Taxonomy Of Children's Existing Rights In State Decision Making About Their Relationships, James G. Dwyer

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Domestic Relations, Robin Jean Davis, Louis J. Palmer Jr.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Marriage And Belonging, Ann Laquer Estin

Michigan Law Review

Marriage is a quintessentially private institution. Justice Douglas put the point this way in 1965, writing for the Supreme Court in Griswold v. Connecticut: "We deal with a right of privacy older than the Bill of Rights - older than our political parties, older than our school system. Marriage is a coming together for better or for worse, hopefully enduring, and intimate to the degree of being sacred. It is an association that promotes a way of life, not causes; a harmony in living, not political faiths; a bilateral loyalty, not commercial or social projects. Yet it is an association …

Domestic Partnership And Erisa Preemption, Jeffrey G. Sherman

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Alternative Caretaking And Family Autonomy: Some Thoughts In Response To Dorothy Roberts, Katharine K. Baker

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Dialectics And Domestic Abuse, Katharine K. Baker

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Enlightenment Case For Vouchers, John O. Mcginnis

Articles

No abstract provided.

Why Lesbians And Gay Men Should Read Martha Fineman, Nancy Polikoff

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.