Family Law Commons^™

A Baby Step: The Status Of Surrogacy Law In Wisconsin Following Rosecky V. Schissel, Joshua J. Bryant

Marquette Law Review

Surrogacy is an ancient and rapidly expanding industry in the United States and abroad. Despite this, the legal landscape governing surrogacy contracts remains tenuous in a majority of states—including Wisconsin. In 2013, the Wisconsin Supreme Court took the first step in developing surrogacy contract law in Wisconsin. Absent legislative guidance, the court fashioned a reasonable foundation for surrogacy contracts. However, its decision does little to ensure that intending parents and surrogate mothers who enter into such agreements fully understand their responsibilities and have assurances that their expectations will be met. This Comment does not seek to argue, as many others …

When An Ex Can Take It All: The Effect—And Non-Effect—Of Revocation On A Will Post-Divorce, Molly Brimmer

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Newsroom: Pbc: Safe Passage Through Guardianship, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Should Divorce Be More Taxing?: Structuring Tax Reduction To Reduce Inequality, Stephanie H. Mcmahon

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

Current law makes divorce a time for minimizing some couples’ taxes. The group who benefit from the reduction are unlikely to be those in greatest financial need following divorce. Existing divorce-related taxation focuses on shifting the tax burden between spouses, the implicit and explicit elections that enable this shifting, and the classification of who should be entitled to this tax reduction. This article argues that Congress should focus tax reduction on those with minimal resources following divorce to ensure an equitable distribution of the nation’s tax burden. This article proposes an alternative tax regime more consistent with mitigating inequality. Instead …

Same-Sex Couples - Comparative Insights On Marriage And Cohabitation, Macarena Sáez

Books

This book shows six different realities of same-sex families. They range from full recognition of same-sex marriage to full invisibility of gay and lesbian individuals and their families. The broad spectrum of experiences presented in this book share some commonalities: in all of them legal scholars and civil society are moving legal boundaries or thinking of spaces within rigid legal systems for same-sex families to function. In all of them there have been legal claims to recognize the existence of same-sex families. The difference between them lies in the response of courts. Regardless of the type of legal system, when …

A V. B, Daphne Barak-Erez, Zvi Zylbertal, Elyakim Rubinstein

Translated Opinions

An application for leave to appeal a judgment by the District Court concerning the fixing of a time limit for spousal support awarded the Applicant despite the fact that the Rabbinical Court did not rule that she is a ”recalcitrant wife.” The application was heard as an appeal.

The parties were married to each other for over 35 years. The Applicant was rarely employed outside the home during the marriage, and the Respondent was the sole supporter. The parties have been separated since 2011, and have conducted various legal proceedings related to the separation – divorce proceedings, proceedings concerning the …

“Alimony For Your Eggs”: Fertility Compensation In Divorce Proceedings, Katelin Eastman

Pepperdine Law Review

This Comment explores the history and reasoning behind divorce in the United States, examines contemporary alimony jurisprudence, and assesses the viability of fertility compensation in divorce proceedings, arguing that there is, in fact, a legal basis for awarding such reparation upon divorce. Part II surveys divorce at common law and details the impact of the Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act (UMDA) and its introduction of no-fault divorce. Part III discusses alimony under New Jersey state law, with particular emphasis on reimbursement alimony after the Reiss trilogy, the Crews marital standard of living, and the impact of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) …

Fearing The Bogeyman: How The Legal System's Overreaction To Perceived Danger Threatens Families And Children, David Pimentel

Pepperdine Law Review

In the last generation, American parenting norms have shifted dramatically, reflecting a near obsession with child safety and especially the risk of stranger abduction. A growing body of literature shows, however, that the threats to children are more imagined than real, and that the effort to protect children from these “bogeymen” may be doing more harm than good. Advocates of “Free-Range” parenting argue that giving children a long leash can help them learn responsibility, explore the world outside, get physical exercise, and develop self-sufficiency. But the State, usually acting through Child Protective Services (CPS), is likely to second-guess parents’ judgments …

Eliminating Financiers From The Equation: A Call For Court-Mandated Fee Shifting In Divorces, Bibeane Metsch-Garcia

Michigan Law Review

Divorce can be prohibitively costly. Many struggle or simply cannot afford to pay divorce attorneys’ fees, and the economic effects of divorce on women are particularly acute. In the past few years, financing firms have emerged to fund nonmonied spouses, mostly women, who cannot afford to litigate divorces from their wealthy spouses. The services provided come with a hefty price tag: firms take large fees, and their involvement may lead to unethical and potentially damaging practices. This Note explains what third-party divorce finance firms are and why the use of firms is problematic, and offers an alternative, more equitable method …

Impact Of The “Nirbhaya” Rape Case: Isolated Phenomenon Or Social Change?, Tina P. Lapsia

Honors Scholar Theses

In December 2012, a twenty-three year old college student, who was given the pseudonym “Nirbhaya” (“fearless”), was fatally gang-raped on a private bus in Delhi, India, galvanizing the country to swiftly adopt new legislative measures and catapulting the issue of violence against women in India into the international spotlight. Although assault and rape cases have made India infamous for its high volume of crimes against women, the reaction to this particular incident was much different from before. This paper investigates whether the governmental and societal responses represent social change, as indicated by changing attitudes towards violence against women in India. …

Digging Beneath The Equality Language: The Influence Of The Fathers’ Rights Movement On Intimate Partner Violence Public Policy Debates And Family Law Reform, Kelly Alison Behre

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

In 2004, a fathers’ rights group formed in West Virginia to promote “Truth, Justice, and Equality in Family Law.” They created a media campaign including billboards and radio spots warning about the dangers of false allegations of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse, even offering a $10,000 award to anyone who could prove false allegations of abuse were used against a parent in a custody case. In 2007, they released a study concluding that seventy-six percent of protection order cases were unnecessary or based on false allegations, and warned that protection orders were often filed to gain leverage in …

The Use Of Coercion In The Child Maltreatment Investigation Field: A Comparison Of American And Scottish Perspectives, Daniel Pollack, Kirsteen Mackay, Katie Shipp

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Dna By The Entirety, Natalie Ram

All Faculty Scholarship

The law fails to accommodate the inconvenient fact that an individual’s identifiable genetic information is involuntarily and immutably shared with her close genetic relatives. Legal institutions have established that individuals have a cognizable interest in controlling genetic information that is identifying to them. The Supreme Court recognized in Maryland v. King that the Fourth Amendment is implicated when arrestees’ DNA is analyzed, and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act protects individuals from genetic discrimination in the employment and health-insurance markets. But genetic information is not like other forms of private or personal information because it is shared — immutably and involuntarily …

"I Do For My Kids": Negotiating Race And Racial Inequality In Family Court, Tonya L. Brito, David J. Pate Jr., Jia-Hui Stefanie Wong

Fordham Law Review

    Socio-legal scholarship examining issues of access to justice is currently experiencing a renaissance. Renewed inquiry into this field is urgently needed. Studies confirm that only 20 percent of the legal needs of low- income communities are met and that the vast majority of unrepresented litigants are low income, creating what some call a “justice gap” that has become even more urgent in recent years. State tribunals that deal with high-stakes issues particularly relevant to low-income residents, such as family courts and housing courts, are seeing an increasing number of litigants, the majority of whom are unrepresented.

"First Food" Justice: Racial Disparities In Infant Feeding As Food Oppression, Andrea Freeman

Fordham Law Review

    Tabitha Walrond gave birth to Tyler Isaac Walrond on June 27, 1997, when Tabitha, a black woman from the Bronx, was nineteen years old. Four months before the birth, Tabitha, who received New York public assistance, attempted to enroll Tyler in her health insurance plan (HIP), but encountered a mountain of bureaucratic red tape and errors. After several trips to three different offices in the city, Tabitha still could not get a Medicaid card for Tyler. Tabitha’s city caseworker informed her that she would have to wait until after Tyler’s social security card and birth certificate arrived to get the …

A Legal And Policy Argument For Bail Denial And Preventative Treatment For Batterers In The United States, Dawn Beichner, Robbin Ogle, Anne Garner, Daniel Anderson

Women's and Gender Studies Program: Faculty Publications

Historically, battering has been a culturally and legally acceptable form of social control within the United States. This article provides an examination of how this legacy of social acceptance has influenced the development of laws and social policies related to battering. We provide a critique of our current approach to battering and our historical reliance on private or social helping agencies intended to hide and protect victims. We call for a transformation of our current policies that provides for the removal of the batterer—not the victim and her children—from the family home through a process of bail denial and preventative …

An Incurable Malaise: Commonwealth V. Australian Capital Territory And Baskin V. Bogan As Symptoms Of Early-Onset Dystopia, Neville Rochow

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Whose Fault Is It Anyway?: Analyzing The Role “Fault” Plays In The Division Of Premarital Property If Marriage Does Not Ensue, Arielle L. Murphy

Catholic University Law Review

Whenever an engagement comes to a premature end, the first question that seems to be asked is: “who gets the engagement ring?” This Comment seeks to answer this question. As societal views regarding marriage and a woman’s role within it began to change in the mid-twentieth century, courts started to recognize engagement rings as conditional gifts that were conditioned upon the marriage actually occurring. Even with this framework, states remain divided on whether fault should be included as part of the analysis in determining which party is entitled to the ring if an engagement ends before marriage occurs. This Comment …

Tracking Queer Kinships: Assisted Reproduction, Family Law And The Infertility Trap, Stewart Donnell Marvel

PhD Dissertations

The global advent of assisted human reproduction has brought with it an upheaval in social, cultural and legal norms of the family. The centrality of biological reproduction to the traditional heterosexual family has been challenged by reproductive intervention, further destabilizing nuclear family norms already unmoored by same-sex marriage, single mothers, unwed fathers, and increased access to divorce, contraceptives and abortion. As these challenges have shifted EuroAmerican social norms of family, the law has increasingly been called upon to preside over the re-organization of intimate life, operating as a central vehicle to reframe the relationship of the family to the state. …

More Than A Piece Of Paper: Same-Sex Parents And Their Adopted Children Are Entitled To Equal Protection In The Realm Of Birth Certificates, Shohreh Davoodi

Chicago-Kent Law Review

In Adar v. Smith, the Fifth Circuit held that Louisiana’s policy of refusing to issue accurate birth certificates to the children of out-of-state, same-sex adoptive parents does not deny those families equal protection of the law. This comment demonstrates that Louisiana’s policy does in fact violate the Equal Protection Clause. There are two ways Louisiana’s policy infringes on the rights of these families. First, the policy burdens fundamental rights stemming from the family autonomy of both parents and children. Second, the policy discriminates against out-of-state same-sex parents, treating them like second-class citizens. These concerns are strong enough that the …