Family Law Commons^™

Exploring The Boundaries Of Obergefell, Andrew J. Pecoraro

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Marriage Equality And Family Diversity: Comparative Perspectives From The United States And South Africa, Holning Lau

Fordham Law Review

This Article proceeds in two parts. Part I examines the United States’s and South Africa’s competing approaches to same-sex marriage. Both countries’ highest courts ruled that excluding same-sex couples from marriage is unconstitutional, but they took divergent paths to reach that conclusion. This Article contends that the Constitutional Court of South Africa paved a better road for other countries to follow because it developed a superior conceptualization of the right to marry. Part II looks beyond same-sex marriage to explore new frontiers for reforming laws to address family diversity both in the United States and in South Africa. Specifically, Part …

Grasping Fatherhood In Abortion And Adoption, Malinda L. Seymore

Faculty Scholarship

Biology makes a mother, but it does not make a father. While a mother is a legal parent by reason of her biological relationship with her child, a father is not a legal parent unless he takes affirmative steps to grasp fatherhood. Being married to the mother at the time of conception or at the time of birth is one of those affirmative steps. But if he is not married to the mother, he must do far more before he will be legally recognized as a father. Biology is often presented as a sufficient reason for this dichotomy--it is easy …

Have Prenup, Will Travel: Why England’S Law On Marital Agreements Has Attracted Forum Shoppers And How The Courts Can Fight Back, Karina Vanhouten

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

This Note examines the English judiciary’s reluctance to fully accept marital agreements, and the disruptive effect this has in the global legal arena. In our increasingly international world, the fundamental events of family life—marriage, divorce, and death—often no longer occur in the same jurisdiction. In recent years, prospective divorcées from around the globe have flocked to England to take advantage of the country’s matrimonial law, which generally favors the party seeking to invalidate or minimize a marital agreement. This forum-shopping phenomenon is problematic because English courts regularly disregard foreign marital agreements that would be valid and binding in other jurisdictions, …

The New Phoenix: Maine's Innovative Standards For Guardians Ad Litem, Dana E. Prescott

Maine Law Review

In a 2014 article in the Maine Law Review, the author reviewed the historical and legal foundations for guardian ad litem (GAL) appointments by judges on behalf of children in Maine. GALs are appointed to provide the court with investigative facts and recommendations concerning the best interest of a child. The implications and frustrations expressed during political and policy discussions reflect a broader national debate deeply rooted in the power of family law courts when child custody or abuse and neglect are alleged. Whether in the form of child protection or child custody litigation, the sheer volume and complexity of …

Agree To Disagree: Moving Tennessee Toward Pure No-Fault Divorce, Evan Wright

Lincoln Memorial University Law Review Archive

This Note addresses Tennessee's no-fault divorce statute. Currently, married couples are forced to either agree on all issues or prove at least one fault ground. This author contends that the current law imposes an unnecessary burden on litigants, which wastes precious resources that Tennessee families could use for more productive purposes. Moreover, pure no-fault states have not seen a disproportionate rise in divorce rates. Last, pure no-fault divorce better reflects current societal trends and the evolving effect of religious affiliation on how a younger generation defines morality.

Zoning For The Elderly And Family Rights, Ralph J. Libsohn

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Marriage, Millennials, And Massive Student Loan Debt, Victoria J. Haneman

Concordia Law Review

The purpose of this Essay is to explore the idea that the student loan indebtedness bearing down upon the majority of today’s college graduates creates economic insecurity that forces borrowers to reject or significantly delay marriage, and that burden, taken together with an already lukewarm Millennial attitude, may not bode well for the future of the institution. Record numbers of Millennials have rejected the traditional path of marriage-homeownership-children, and the percentage of Millennials who will marry by age 40 is projected to fall lower than the figure for any previous generation of Americans. To the extent that marriage is an …

A Longitudinal And Experimental Study Of The Impact Of Knowledge On The Bases Of Institutional Trust, Lisa M. Pytlikzillig, Christopher D. Kimbrough, Ellie Shockley, Tess M.S. Neal, Mitchel Herian, Joseph A. Hamm, Brian H. Bornstein, Alan Tomkins

Lisa PytlikZillig Publications

This study examined a knowledge-centered theory of institutional trust development. In the context of trust in water regulatory institutions, the moderating impact of knowledge was tested to determine if there were longitudinal changes in the bases of institutional trust as a function of increases in knowledge about a target institution. We hypothesized that as people learn about an institution with which they were previously unfamiliar, they begin to form more nuanced perceptions, distinguishing the new institution from other institutions and relying less upon their generalized trust to estimate their trust in that institution. Prior to having specific, differential information about …

Domestic Violence And Enforcement Of Protection From Abuse Orders: Simple Fixes To Help Prevent Intra-Family Homicide, Nicole R. Bissonnette

Maine Law Review

Domestic violence has long been recognized as a pressing law enforcement and societal concern, and both federal and state governments have continued to pursue strategies to address the issue. Beyond the criminal threatening, assaults, batteries, and other physical atrocities that victims face, domestic violence provides an added horror—“obliterating personhood, suspending identity and nullifying any notion of personal autonomy.” To address these concerns, legislatures created Protection from Abuse Orders (hereinafter PFAs), to protect those that have been subject to abuse from trusted family members or dating partners. Unfortunately, victims then place their trust in the system, which often fails to deter …

Petit V. Adrianzen, 133 Nev. Adv. Op. 15 (Apr. 13, 2017), Skyler Sullivan

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court considers, as a matter of first impression, the standard of proof to be applied by district courts in resolving initial naming disputes of a child of married parents. The focus should be on the best interest of the child and neither parent should have the burden of proof. The Court held the district court determined the child’s name should be hyphenated to include both parent’s surnames and, in doing so, considered the best interests of the child and, thus, the order is affirmed.

Recognizing Gestational Surrogacy Contracts: "Baby-Steps" Toward Modern Parentage Law In Maine After Nolan V. Labree, Adam Quinlan

Maine Law Review

In Nolan v. LaBree, a husband and wife filed a complaint seeking a judgment declaring their legal parentage of a newborn child born via gestational surrogacy. All parties surrounding the birth of this child entered into a surrogacy contract and are in agreement that the genetic mother and father bringing this suit should be declared as the legal parents. When the child was born, however, the birth certificate did not reflect the intentions of the contract, listing the parents as the surrogate mother and the surrogate mother’s spouse. The trial court, following an uncontested hearing, declared the requested paternity determination …

"In Sickness And In Health, Until Death Do Us Part": An Examination Of Fmla Rights For Same-Sex Spouses And A Case Note On Obergefell V. Hodges, Jasmine Foo

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

This note discusses the history of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) struggle for equal rights alongside the Supreme Court's recent ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges and uses this to examine the potential effect on the rights granted to same-sex spouses by the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Part II records the jurisprudence that has slowly evolved over the past forty to fifty years to make the present a more hospitable era for same-sex marriage to take root today. Part III gives a general overview of the FMLA's history and current form. Part IV reviews the facts prompting the …

Will Focusing On Men's Moral Calculus Make Abortion Less "About" Gender?, Linda C. Mcclain

Faculty Scholarship

Decades ago, feminist leader Gloria Steinem quipped that, “if men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.” As President Trump reinstates restrictions on women’s reproductive rights that the Obama Administration lifted (such as the “global gag rule”), the visual imagery of Trump signing executive orders while surrounded by an audience of white men raises – once again – the question of how gender shapes the abortion issue. In the recent unsuccessful Republican effort to repeal “Obamacare,” when Kansas Senator Pat Roberts was asked whether he supported removing the mandate that insurance companies cover “essential health benefits” such as maternity …

Sealed Records In Adoptions: The Need For Legislative Reform, Patricia Gallagher Lupack

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Marriage Contracts For The Mentally Retarded, John B. Murray

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Commitment To And In Marriage, Leon Salzman

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Homosexuality And Validity Of Matrimony - A Study In Homo-Psychosexual Inversion, John Rogg Schmidt

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Parental Blame Frame: An Empirical Examination Of The Media's Portrayal Of Parents And Their Delinquent Juveniles, Ashley Wellman, Eve Brank, Katherine Hazen

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

The most recent study discussed in this article examines how the media report issues of parental responsibility and blame regarding acts of juvenile delinquency. To accomplish this goal, we examined the frequency, context, and framing of parental responsibility in local and national print media via two content analyses. The results demonstrate that national media sources depict the notion of parental responsibility, whereas local media stories rarely mention parents. The national stories offer distant, more global statements of parental responsibility, while the local, specific stories tend to avoid any parental blame. The findings in this paper mirror public opinion polls that …

Anchoring More Than Babies: Children's Rights After Obergefell V. Hodges, Susan Hazeldean

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Collaborative Divorce: What Louis Brandeis Might Say About The Promise And Problems?, Susan Saab Fortney

Faculty Scholarship

If you ask legal ethics scholars what they remember about Louis D. Brandeis's judicial confirmation hearings, most would point to the manner in which he responded to questions about his representation of persons with perceived conflicts of interest. Louis Brandeis responded to challenges by stating that he was "counsel for the situation. Some use this comment when examining problems associated with a single lawyer representing multiple clients in the same transaction. Others believe that Brandeis may have been referring to a type of intermediary role in which lawyers attempt to adjust the rights and interests of multiple clients with potentially …

Taking Aim At Family Violence: A Report On The Dallas County Gun Surrender Program, Laura Choi, Rachel Elkin, Monica Harasim, Natalie Nanasi

Hunter Center Publications

The Dallas County Gun Surrender Program (“the program”) provides domestic violence offenders who are legally barred from possessing firearms a safe and secure way to surrender any guns they own. Existing state and federal laws prohibit offenders from possessing firearms for a statutorily-specified period of time; offenders who violate the law by possessing guns also expose themselves to criminal penalties. However, prior to the launch of the Program, offenders in Dallas County had few ways to comply with these laws or were unaware that they were required to surrender their firearms. As a result, many offenders continued to possess firearms …

Children Crossing Borders: Internationalizing The Restatement Of The Conflict Of Laws, Louise Ellen Teitz

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Editorial Notes: April 2017, Barbara A. Babb

All Faculty Scholarship

This issue of Family Court Review (FCR) begins by honoring the life and memory of Ruth Stern, former Managing Editor of Family Court Review, who passed away in October, 2016. Her husband, Professor Herbie DiFonzo, offers glimpses into Ruth's life and their life together. Coming from a baseball family myself, I am particularly moved by Ruth's and Herbie's mutual passion for the New York Mets. It is obvious from the details Herbie graciously shares that theirs was a love and a life of unique tenderness and togetherness. I am deeply grateful to Herbie for allowing us the privilege to publish …

Time To Hold Last Rites For Martial-Rape Immunity, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

When Minister for Social and Family Development Tan Chuan-Jin said earlier this month in Parliament that the Government was “actively reviewing” a husband’s limited immunity from marital rape, he asserted that a married woman should have equal protection against sexual violence as an unmarried woman.

The Law Demands Process For Rehomed Children, Sally Terry Green

Arkansas Law Review

This article argues that the same administrative or judicial process that protects children under established state law principles must also safeguard rehomed children. The states should be compelled to enact specific prohibition against the practice of rehoming. For instance, the adoption statutes should be expanded to require an administrative process where adopted children suffering from attachment disorders are identified and supported by specially staffed post adoption service agencies.

Since these disorders are often the bedrock of rehoming, this article highlights in Part II a rehoming anecdote involving severe attachment disorder of older adopted children. Part III discusses the advent of …

Treatment For Misbehaving Minors, Barbara P. Gertel

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Child Placement: Law And Theory, Joel B. Savit

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Obergefell’S Impact On Functional Families, Raymond C. O'Brien

Catholic University Law Review

More than forty percent of children born in America are born to unmarried parents and only half of all cohabitating adults in America are currently married. While many children are born to single parents, others are part of the two-person unmarried cohabiting functional family paradigm. What is the status of these children?

This article examines the changing paradigm of parental status, specifically vis-à-vis homosexual couples with children, and the rights of the non-biological parent after separation. This article examines the changes in law in regards to unmarried parents leading up to the Uniform Parentage Act. It describes the equitable remedies …

Video: Elder Law For Beginners, Arlene Lakin, Gail Fisher

NSU Law Seminar Series

This particular seminar is designed to educate attorneys about how to be an elder law attorney. Practitioners will learn the various skill sets involved: estate and incapacity planning as well as protection of assets in order to qualify for, or remain qualified for, public benefits such as Medicaid and veteran’s pension with aid and attendance.

1. How to work with senior citizens and their families in a clinical as well as legal format
2. How to determine capacity of elderly clients to execute legal documents
3. How to analyze family relationships
4. How to design an estate and incapacity plan …