Family Law Commons^™

Guardians Ad Litem Do Not Belong In Family Mediations , Suzanne J. Schmitz

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

A Guardiam Ad Litem (GAL) is valuable to the resolution of custody disputes because the GAL evaluates the facts concerning the dispute and recommends to the court what are the best interests of the child.5 Mediation is valuable because parents can determine their own decisions regarding their children. However, where appointing a GAL threatens the value of mediation, there is a risk to mediation. A simple solution to avoid this threat is to refrain from appointing a GAL until after mediation has been attempted or, if one is appointed prior to mediation, to excuse the GAL from mediation. This article …

Stumbling Down The Courthouse Steps: Mediators' Perceptions Of The Stumbling Blocks To Successful Mandated Mediation In Child Custody And Visitation , Sandra J. Perry, Tanya M. Marcum, Charles R. Stoner

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

Although many concerns and criticisms about the efficacy of family law mediation have been made by attorneys, judges, and psychologists, we seldom hear from the mediators themselves about how the process works. In this study, we examine the mediators' perceptions of the stumbling blocks to success in mandatory child custody mediation and make some recommendations about how the process might be improved.

For Heaven's Sake, Give The Child A Voice: An Adr Approach To Interfaith Child Custody Disputes , Charlee Lane

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

There has been ample study devoted to the problems that arise when courts are faced with custody disputes intertwined with issues of religion. Unfortunately, many of those studies conclude without proposing an effective solution or by suggesting an alternative without defining what that alternative might be. A solution must be employed that allows religious consideration in a forum more suitable to facilitating a resolution in the complete best interest of the child and parents. Mediation provides this forum by facilitating a negotiation in which parents are allowed to develop their own collaborative solutions to interfaith child custody disputes. Through techniques …

Teaching The Ethical Values Governing Mediator Impartiality Using Short Lectures, Buzz Group Discussions, Video Clips, A Defining Features Matrix, Games, And An Exercise Based On Grievances Filed Against Florida Mediators , Paula M. Young

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

Teaching Professional Ethics to Lawyers and Mediators Using Active Learning Techniques will serve as the first article in a series of articles I have planned on the use of active learning techniques to teach the core values of mediation: mediator impartiality, party self-determination, confidentiality, and quality of the process/mediator competence. This article is the second article in that series. In Section III, I summarize the first article in the series. In Section IV, I describe the role of mediator impartiality as a core value of the mediation field. I evaluate the definitions of mediation found in several ethics codes as …

The Mother-Love Myth: The Effect Of The Provider-Nurturer Dichotomy In Custody Cases, Kalie Caetano

The Macalester Review

This paper is a discursive analysis that evaluates the effect of gender stereotypes relating to parenting roles and how they have influenced custody cases. Specifically it looks at the historically gendered distinction between the provider (typically the father) and the nurturer (typically the mother) and speculates as to how those identities may have initially formed in US society, what changes they have undergone and how these stereotypes still affect family court outcomes in cases of divorce. Particular focus is given to an article appearing in Working Mother magazine entitled “Custody Lost,” detailing a new trend in custody cases, which allegedly …

"The Good Mother": Mothering, Feminism, And Incarceration, Deseriee A. Kennedy

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

As the rates of incarceration continue to rise, women are increasingly subject to draconian criminal justice and child welfare policies that frequently result in the loss of their parental rights. The intersection of an increasingly carceral state and federally imposed time-lines for achieving permanency for children in state care has had a negative effect on women, their children, and their communities. Women, and their ability to parent, are more adversely affected by the intersection of these gender-neutral provisions because they are more likely than men to be the primary caretaker of their children. In addition, incarcerated women have higher rates …

Nature And Nurture: Revisiting The Infant Adoption Process, Barbara L. Atwell

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

Adopted children constitute approximately two percent of the United States’ childhood population, but are disproportionately represented in mental health settings, where they make up an estimated four to fifteen percent of the population. Science suggests that for those adopted at birth, this discrepancy may be due in part to their abrupt removal from the biological parents. We are now beginning to understand the importance of the bonding that takes place in utero and the infant’s awareness at birth. This article suggests three changes to the infant adoption process to align it with scientific knowledge. First, all adults involved in the …

Secular Rights And Religious Wrongs? Family Law, Religion And Women In Israel, Pascale Fournier, Pascal Mcdougall, Merissa Lichtsztral

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

No abstract provided.

The Ninth Circuit's Perry Decision And The Constitutional Politics Of Marriage Equality, William N. Eskridge

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In Perry v. Brown, the Ninth Circuit ruled that California’s Proposition 8 violates the Equal Protection Clause. Reacting to the state supreme court’s recognition of marriage equality for lesbian and gay couples, Proposition 8 was a 2008 voter initiative that altered the state constitution to “restore” the “traditional” understanding of civil marriage to exclude same-sex couples. The major theme of the Yes-on-Eight campaign was that the state should not deem lesbian and gay unions to be “marriages” because schoolchildren would then think that lesbian and gay relationships are just as good as straight “marriages.”

Proposition 8 intended that gay …

Void Marriages, Maintenance, And Matrimonial Assets: Adp V Adq [2012] Sgca 6, Siyuan Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Do Singapore courts have jurisdiction under the Women’s Charter to order maintenance and the division of matrimonial assets when a marriage has been declared void? This was the novel issue presented in ADP v ADQ, and the Court of Appeal answered in the affirmative.

Summary Of Vaile V. Porsboll, 128 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 3, Thomas L. Chittum Iii

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court addressed an appeal from a district court post-divorce decree order setting fixed monthly child support payments and assessing arrearage and penalties.

Summary Of In Re Parental Rights As To S.M.M.D, 128 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 2, Richard A. Andrews

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court considered an appeal from a district court order denying a petition to vacate an earlier certification of relinquishment of parental rights.

Marriage In California: Is The Federal Lawsuit Against Proposition 8 About Applying The Fourteenth Amendment Or Preserving Federalism? , Charles M. Cannizzaro

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Gal-On V. Attorney General (Summary), Eliezer Rivlin, Asher Grunis, Miriam Naor, Elyakim Rubinstein, Hanan Melcer, Neal Hendel, Dorit Beinisch, Edmond E. Levy, Edna Arbel, Salim Joubran, Esther Hayut

Translated Opinions

By a majority of six justices out of a panel of eleven, the High Court of Justice rejected petitions challenging the constitutionality of the Citizenship and Entry to Israel Act. The majority justices acknowledged there was a constitutional right for family life, which derives from the right to human dignity, but held that the scope of the right does not extend to realizing the right specifically in Israel. It was also held that to the extent that constitutional rights have been violated, including the right to equality, it is a violation that passes muster under the test of the Limitations …

American Indian Women And Sexual Assault: Challenges And New Opportunities, Angela R. Gebhardt, Jane D. Woody

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

This article informs social workers about sexual violence against American Indian and Alaskan Native (AI/AN) women and the policy reforms in the 2010 Tribal Law and Order Act (TLOA). It describes the unmet needs of AI/AN survivors, reviews the TLOA reforms on sexual assault in relation to social work and public health principles, discusses the complementary roles for social workers and public health practitioners in reform efforts, and offers guidance for professional participation that emphasizes tribal sovereignty, indigenous capacity, and cultural competence.

It's Complicated: Privacy And Domestic Violence, Kimberly D. Bailey

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article challenges the notion that there is no role for privacy in the domestic violence context. Privacy is a complicated concept that has both positive and negative aspects, and this Article examines the value that more privacy could provide for domestic violence victims. While privacy was historically used as a shield for batterers, more privacy for domestic violence victims could protect their personhood, ensuring that they are treated with dignity and respect. In addition, current mandatory criminal justice policies have become so intrusive in many victims’ lives that limitations are needed to prevent the threat of state abuse. These …

Disabled Kids And Their Moms: Caregivers And Horizontal Equity, Karen S. Czapanskiy

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Clinical Cognitive Dissonance: The Values And Goals Of Domestic Violence Clinics, The Legal System, And The Students Caught In The Middle, Leigh S. Goodmark

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Surviving Castle Rock: The Human Rights Of Domestic Violence, Max D. Siegel

Student Articles and Papers

In 2005, the Supreme Court of the United States decided Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales and held that Jessica Gonzales did not have a constitutional right to police enforcement of a restraining order. The decision highlighted the Court’s reluctance to recognize citizens’ affirmative rights, fortifying a deeply ingrained conceptualization of the Constitution of the United States as a “Negative Constitution” that creates a government with restraints on its actions and extremely limited obligations to its citizens. In August 2011, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights released a report publicizing its finding that by failing to take affirmative measures to …

My Daddy's Name Is Donor: Evaluating Sperm Donation Anonymity And Regulation, Mark Ballantyne

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

In Part I, this comment explores the debate on anonymous sperm donation and the current law in the United States. Part II surveys new developments in the regulation of sperm donation internationally and domestically. Part III reviews "My Daddy's Name is Donor" and how its findings relate to the anonymity debate. Part IV concludes with suggestions regarding the national registry and future regulation of sperm donation in the United States.