Family Law
Family Law Prof Blog 
Family law issues explored by law professors.
Post Frequency: 0.9/day Last Entry: November 20, 2009 at 15:21:00 Recent Entries: 285
By Barbara Glesner Fines, Robert E. Oliphant, and Nancy Ver Steegh (William Mitchell College of Law).
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Are Soap Operas Cruel Treatment?
Posted on November 20, 2009BBC News reports on a Indian case in which the court found that husband's refusal to allow wife to watch soap operas amounted to cruel treatment. Read the story here. AC
Franck: "'So Hedge Therefore, Who Join Forever?: Understanding the Interrelation of No-Fault Divorce and Premarital Contracts"
Posted on November 20, 2009Jens-Uwe Franck has posted 'So Hedge Therefore, Who Join Forever?: Understanding the Interrelation of No-Fault Divorce and Premarital Contracts, 23 International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family 235 (2009), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This article explores the...
Single ladies?if you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it?
Posted on November 19, 2009Recently, Timeline did this clip about the increased use of man-gagement rings?or engagement rings for men. This trend proves that engagement rings, often the subject of litigation battles upon broken engagements, have come far since their initial purpose of showing...
Gardina: "The Tipping Point: Legal Epidemics, Constitutional Doctrine, and the Defense of Marriage Act"
Posted on November 19, 2009Jackie Gardina (Vermont Law School) has posted "The Tipping Point: Legal Epidemics, Constitutional Doctrine, and the Defense of Marriage Act," 34 Vermont L. Rev. (2009) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Using Malcolm Gladwell's book "The Tipping Point" as a...
No Legislative Revival of Causes of Action in Illinois
Posted on November 18, 2009The Illinois Supreme Court has determined that the legislature cannot amend a statute of limitations so as to revive causes of action that had expired under a previous version of the legislature. This will no doubt impede the litigation of...
More Dads Getting Custody
Posted on November 18, 2009The NY Times reports on the impact more women in the work force is having on child custody rulings. There are now 2.2 million divorced women in the United States who do not have primary physical custody of their children,...
California Court Rules that, When a Child Support Obligor Remarries, in connection with a Motion to Modify the Court Should Consider 50% of the Income from Community Property Assets
Posted on November 17, 2009Until 1994, if a child support obligor remarried, a California court had the discretion to consider the income of a new spouse in connection with a motion to modify support. In 1994 this rule was changed so that the income...
How Big is that Tiffany?s Carat?
Posted on November 17, 2009Perhaps this is one question I would ask before dumpster diving and sifting through 10-tons of trash in search of a pair of wedding rings. However, one town in New Jersey left no garbage bag unturned in pursuit of a...
Kraft: Empirical Study of "Effect of Labor Division between Wife and Husband on the Risk of Divorce: Evidence from German Data"
Posted on November 16, 2009Kornelius Kraft (University of Dortmund, Department of Economics) and Stefanie Neimann have posted "Effect of Labor Division between Wife and Husband on the Risk of Divorce: Evidence from German Data" on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Using German panel data...
Developments in Polish Family Law
Posted on November 16, 2009In November 2008, in Poland, the Family and Guardianship Code of 25th February 1964 (hereinafter ?Family Code?) was changed. An amendment came into force on 13th June 2009, mainly concerning relations between children and parents and introducing significant changes in...
Georgia Clarifies that Disclosure of Financial Information Is Required for an Enforceable Premarital Agreement
Posted on November 15, 2009In Quarles v. Quarles, the Georgia Supreme court reversed a trial court's order granting the husband's motion for summary judgment that the premarital agreement was enforceable. The Supreme Court found that the evidence was disputed regarding whether the husband adequately...
Michelle Triola Marvin Dies at 76
Posted on November 14, 2009Michelle Triola Marvin, the oft-discussed litigant in family textbooks, died last week. Her 1979 California court case resulted in the coining of the term palimony?a court-ordered award of support given to one member of a nonmarital relationship. Her obituary is...
Writer's Block?
Posted on November 14, 2009Use this language calculator, found here. I certainly will, when I run into blogger's block. Because, of course, the reification of history as such opens a space for the discourse of the public sphere. Hat Tip: Natalie Brown MR
Divorce After a Cancer Diagnosis
Posted on November 13, 2009New research suggests that women receiving a diagnosis of a life-threatening illness are six times more likely to become divorced than their male counterparts receiving the same news. The study included diagnoses of both cancer and multiple sclerosis and found...
Threats from the Catholic Church on Gay Marriage
Posted on November 13, 2009The New York Times reports that Washington's Roman Catholic Archdiocese is beginning to make threats on the gay marriage issue. The fight over a proposed same-sex marriage law here heated up this week as the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington...
Yefit: "What's the Constitution Got to Do with It? Regulating Marriage in Pakistan"
Posted on November 13, 2009Karin Carmit Yefit has published What's the Constitution Got to Do with It? Regulating Marriage in Pakistan, 16 Duke Journal of Gender Law and Policy 347 (2009). Read the full article here. Here is an excerpt from the introduction: Pakistan?s...
She may walk in beauty, like the night?but don?t text it
Posted on November 12, 2009Technology is no stranger to alternative forms of procreation, see here and here, but now neither is it a stranger in the courtroom. Although this stranger is not tall, dark, and handsome, it is landing people in hot water nonetheless....
A Divorce Fair?
Posted on November 12, 2009Just what America needs? The city of romance got a lesson in love's hard knocks Sunday, as thousands flocked to the French capital's first divorce fair. The "New Start" trade fair aimed to tap into [a] booming market by bringing...
NY Senate Vote on Same Sex Marriage Delayed
Posted on November 11, 2009The New York Times reports that a vote on gay marriage in the New York legislature has been delayed indefinitely. Republicans and Democrats said that as of Tuesday afternoon, the measure was still several votes short of the 32 necessary...
Trafficking in Children - From the Adoptive Parent Perspective
Posted on November 11, 2009There have been a number of reports lately, from all over the globe, of children being kidnapped from their parents and sold or otherwise placed for adoption without their biological parents' consent. See, for instance, this article about Korean adoptees...
Bundles of Joy and, Now, Bounty
Posted on November 10, 2009Earlier, we noted here the financial incentives given to teenagers in North Carolina not to procreate. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Japanese government is incentivizing women to get pregnant as the country continues experiencing low birth rates...
Paying to Decrease Teen Pregnancy
Posted on November 10, 2009There is no question that financial gain can incentivize behavior. At 5, some kids may get a small allowance upon properly brushing their teeth. At 12, they may get a token amount upon taking out the garbage. In North Carolina,...
Court Orders Mom Not to Smoke in Front of Her Daughter
Posted on November 10, 2009An Ohio Court of Appeals has affirmed a district court judgment banning a mother from smoking in the presence of her ten year-old daughter. In the Warren County case, even with no evidence that Victoria suffers specific reactions or health...
Brunson: "Tax-Motivated Income-Shifting and the Kiddie Tax"
Posted on November 09, 2009Samuel D. Brunson (Loyola University Chicago School of Law) has posted Tax-Motivated Income-Shifting and the Kiddie Tax, Public Law & Legal Theory Research Paper No. 2009-0016, on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In 1986, concerned that wealthy parents were sheltering...
MacDowell: "When Courts Collide: Integrated Domestic Violence Courts and Court Pluralism"
Posted on November 09, 2009Elizabeth L. MacDowell (Chapman University School of Law) has posted When Courts Collide: Integrated Domestic Violence Courts and Court Pluralism, 1 Chapman Journal of Criminal Justice__ (2010), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Scholarship about domestic violence-related judicial system reform...
The Recession's Impact on Child Support
Posted on November 09, 2009States across the country are reporting substantially increased child support litigation. Cash-strapped obligors are seeking reductions in child support awards for employment difficulities and child support arrearages are increasing rapidly. The negative impact on children supported by those awards is...
Sedillo Lopez: "A Medical/Legal Teaching and Assessment Collaboration on Domestic Violence: Assessment Using Standardized Patients/Standardized Clients"
Posted on November 09, 2009Antoinette Sedillo Lopez (University of New Mexico School of Law) has posted A Medical/Legal Teaching and Assessment Collaboration on Domestic Violence: Assessment Using Standardized Patients/Standardized Clients, 14 International Journal of Clinical Legal Education 61 (2009), on SSRN...
Balding: "On Sex Selective Abortion"
Posted on November 07, 2009Christopher Balding (University of California Irvine) has posted On Sex Selective Abortion on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Abortion is a sensitive issue around the world. Acting as a clear dividing line in American politics, countries around the world treat...
Williams: "Sticky Expectations: Responses to Persistent Over-Optimism in Marriage, Employment Contracts, and Credit Card Use"
Posted on November 06, 2009Sean Williams (University of Texas School of Law) has posted Sticky Expectations: Responses to Persistent Over-Optimism in Marriage, Employment Contracts, and Credit Card Use, 84 Notre Dame L. Rev. 733 (2009), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Most people underestimate...
November is National Adoption Awareness Month
Posted on November 06, 2009Read about this year's theme here or visit this site for ideas on what you can do to help. AC
New Statistics on Teen Parents
Posted on November 05, 2009Contrary to popular belief, A new look at the characteristics of teen parents finds that most aren't from single-parent households nor are they from households in poverty, according to a data analysis released Tuesday. The study by the nonprofit Child...
Litigation Funds Fueling Divorce Litigation in Australia
Posted on November 05, 2009During a divorce in the United States, a party might have to pay attorneys fees for the other, often nonworking, spouse. However, one Australian article notes that wives challenging property division upon divorce are increasingly utilizing litigation funding?money fronted by...
Merrily We Roll Along
Posted on November 05, 2009While not strictly related to family law (although arguably so by virtue of illustrating life without familial and friend support), opening night was very enjoyable at the Georgetown Gilbert & Sullivan Society?s production of Stephen Sondheim?s Merrily We Roll Along...
Proposed Changes to Alimony Legislation
Posted on November 04, 2009The Wall Street Journal reports on political pressure building in some states to limit alimony in various ways, all getting at the core debate over the purpose of long-term alimony these days. The report mentions legislation being introduced in Massachusetts,...
Alstott: "Private Tragedies? Family Law as Social Insurance"
Posted on November 04, 2009Anne L. Alstott (Harvard Law School) has posted Private Tragedies? Family Law as Social Insurance, Harvard Public Law Working Paper No. 09-64, on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Family law is full of private tragedy. Case after case pits one...
Conference on families, fundamentalism, & the First Amendment in November at William & Mary Law School
Posted on November 03, 2009(Williamsburg, VA) - The Institute of Bill of Rights Law at William & Mary Law School will bring together scholars with expertise in the First Amendment; family and juvenile law; and law, religion, and culture at a conference, Nov. 6...
Campbell: "Exploring Judicial Appreciations of Parental Addiction in Child Custody and Access Decisions: Quebec as a Case Study"
Posted on November 03, 2009Angela Campbell (McGill University) has posted Exploring Judicial Appreciations of Parental Addiction in Child Custody and Access Decisions: Quebec as a Case Study, Windsor Review of Legal and Social Issues (forthcoming), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In all decisions...
Lost Embryos in Lousiana
Posted on November 02, 2009In continuing news of fertility clinic disasters, NPR reports that litigation proceeds in New Orleans against a fertility clinic that lost dozens? of couples embryos due to mislabeling. It is not clear what exactly happened to the embryos?some affected couples...
The best laid plans of mice and men...
Posted on November 02, 2009A New York church made famous by Irving's headless horseman tales recently refused to perform a couple's desired Halloween wedding ceremony, which included a black dress costume for the bride and theme music from "The Addams Family" and "The Munsters...
Adoption Agency Director Guilty of Grand Theft
Posted on November 02, 2009The former director of a Florida adoption agency pleaded guilty to first degree grand theft for bilking prospective adoptive parents out of more than $178,000. According to the investigation conducted by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, [Debra] West and...
Kindregan: "Considering Mom: Maternity and the Model Act Governing Assisted Reproductive Technology "
Posted on November 01, 2009Charles P. Kindregan, Jr. (Suffolk University Law School) has posted Considering Mom: Maternity and the Model Act Governing Assisted Reproductive Technology, 17 Am. U. J. Gender Soc. Pol'y & L. 601 (2009), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The traditional...
Obesity as a Basis for Losing Custody
Posted on October 30, 2009A recent case out of the U.K. has brought renewed attention to the issue of whether morbid obesity in children is a sign of abuse and neglect, such that the parents of those children should lose custody. The latest case...
Suicide Tourism Under Threat in Switzerland
Posted on October 30, 2009TimesOnline reports that two draft Bills will be offered for public debate in Switzerland to tighten regulation of euthanasia clinics in Switzerland. Dignitas and Exit, two of the most prominent Swiss euthanasia clinics spurring Europeans to engage in suicide tourism,...
New Frontiers: Scientists Make Sperm and Eggs from Stem Cells
Posted on October 29, 2009Yesterday's online edition of Nature revealed that researchers at Stanford have determined the genes that coax human embryonic stem cells into becoming cells that form eggs and sperms. As a Reuters article explains, researcher Dr. Kehkooi Kee was able to...
New Issue of Family Law Quarterly Addresses International Enforcement of Child Support
Posted on October 29, 2009Volume 43, number 1 of the Family Law Quarterly contains an article summarizing the 2008 suggested amendments to UIFSA (the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act), as well as a number of articles about international child support enforcement. To look at...
ABA Family Law Section to Offer the Trial Advocay Institute in May 2010
Posted on October 29, 2009For some time the ABA Family Law Section has offered a Trial Advocacy Institute for lawyers with some experince who want to become better trial lawyers. During this intensive week-long experience students are tutored by some of the best family...
Are the Dodgers Community Property?
Posted on October 29, 2009We'll find out soon enough. With the filing of a petition for divorce on Tuesday, Jamie and Frank McCourt have begun what seems likely to become a long and bitter divorce battle. Among the issues raised in the petition for...
Gay Marriage Accepted in Norway
Posted on October 28, 2009As of January 1, 2009 gay couples have had the right to marry in Norway. Another change in the law accepted at the same time was an amendment to the Biotechnology Act to give cohabiting or married lesbians access to...
Australia Passes New Legislation affecting De Facto Couples
Posted on October 28, 2009Australia has now joined New Zealand by passing legislation treating certain de facto couples like married couples when the relationship breaks down. Like the New Zealand legislation, the Australian law (which become effective March 1 2009) directs courts to consider...
Study: Childhood Cancer Survivors Less Likely to Marry
Posted on October 28, 2009A recent study suggests that childhood cancer survivors are 20% to 25% less likely to marry compared with their siblings and the general American population. It is suspected that some of the lingering effects of radiation?such as issues with thinking...
Octomom's Fertility Doctor Expelled from a Medical Society
Posted on October 27, 2009While the legal profession continues pondering the appropriate limits of fertility treatment, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine has recently expelled Dr. Michael Kamrava?the doctor who implanted 6 embryos (2 of which split in utero) last year in 33-year-old Nadya...
Racial Bias in Adoption
Posted on October 27, 2009This story describes the work of one advocacy group to call attention to racial bias plaguing the domestic adoption system. Focusing on Texas, the article notes that: Black and Hispanic children account for more than two-thirds of all Texas youngsters...
Ryznar and St?pie?-Sporek: "To Have and to Hold, for Richer or Richer: Premarital Agreements in the Comparative Context"
Posted on October 26, 2009Margaret Ryznar (yours truly, in the interest of disclosure) and Anna St?pie?-Sporek (University of Gda?sk) have posted To Have and to Hold, for Richer or Richer: Premarital Agreements in the Comparative Context, 13 Chapman Law Review__(2010), on SSRN...
Fun for your Monday morning - Will California Soon Ban Divorce?
Posted on October 26, 2009The Los Angeles Times reports on a proposed constitutional amendment to ban divorce. California Secretary of State Debra Bowen today authorized the backer of an initiative that would ban divorce to begin collecting signatures to put the proposed constitutional amendment...
European Family Law Conference - Call for Papers
Posted on October 24, 2009The 4th Conference of the Commission on European Family Law will be held at the University of Cambridge on April 8-10, 2010. The conference will focus primarily on marital property law, but the organizers have issued a call for papers...
Ohio Adoptees Kept in Cages File Suit
Posted on October 23, 2009The New York Times reports the latest in the case involving the Torrence family (read this older post about the early developments in the case): Two Ohio teenagers forced by their adoptive parents to sleep in cages have sued the...
Triger: "The Gendered Racial Formation: Foreign Men, 'Our' Women, and the Law"
Posted on October 23, 2009Zvi H. Triger (The College of Management School of Law) has posted The Gendered Racial Formation: Foreign Men, "Our" Women, and the Law, 30 Women's Rights Law Reporter__ (2009), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This article analyses the paradox...
Dwindling Funds for Ohio Domestic Violence Attorneys
Posted on October 22, 2009An Ohio newspaper article reports that the state will more than halve repayment rates for attorneys who work on domestic abuse cases from $150 to $60 an hour for court work and $30 an hour for travel. In 2008, Ohio...
Montana Supreme Court Recognizes Parental Interest in Non-Biological De Facto Parent
Posted on October 21, 2009In Kulstad v. Maniaci, the Montana Supreme Court recognized a parental interest, and thus upheld visitation, in a non-biological former lesbian partner (Kulstad) over the objection of the children's adoptive mother (Maniaci). The court ruled that Kulstad established a long-term...
Yablon-Zug: "Dangerous Gamble: Child Support, Casino Dividends and the Fate of the Indian Family"
Posted on October 21, 2009Marcia Anne Yablon-Zug (University of South Carolina School of Law) has posted Dangerous Gamble: Child Support, Casino Dividends and the Fate of the Indian Family, 36 Wm. Mitchell L. Rev.__(2009/2010) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Casino dividends have created...
Working Around Preemption of Community Property Rules
Posted on October 20, 2009When spouses in a community property regime hold certain federal assets, the doctrine of preemption often results in the inability of state community property law to step in to regulate their classification. The United States Supreme Court's decision in Boggs...
Child Protective Services to Investigate Balloon Boy's Home
Posted on October 20, 2009The media coverage of the Heene Family (of Wife Swap fame) continues endlessly, even more so now that the adrift balloon once suspected of carrying six-year-old Falcon Heene has been declared a hoax. Among the many questions being asked is...
Conference on Juvenile Justice in February
Posted on October 19, 2009Registration is now available for a juvenile justice conference in February sponsored by the University of Florida Levin College of Law. Children and youth become involved with the juvenile justice system at a significant rate. While some children move just...
Louisiana Court Rules that Unmarried Mom Can Recover Child Support from Dad for the Period They Were Living Together
Posted on October 19, 2009In Stanley v. Nicosia, a Louisiana trial court ruled that child support was due from an unmarried father during the period the father was living with the mother and the child. When the father appealed this ruling, the appellate court...
Military Pro Bono Project
Posted on October 19, 2009The Military Pro Bono Project is looking for our assistance to provide pro bono representation to service members in family law matters. The Project helps those who are sacrificing greatly for their country by moving pro bono referrals straight from....
Fellowship Opportunity in Reproductive Rights
Posted on October 18, 2009From Columbia Law School and the Center for Reproductive Rights: The Center for Reproductive Rights ? Columbia Law School Fellowship (?CRR-CLS Fellowship?) is a two-year, post-graduate fellowship offered by the Center for Reproductive Rights (?the Center?) and Columbia Law School...
Increased Use of Premarital Agreements in England
Posted on October 17, 2009We have recently covered (here and here) the preference in English law for equal property division between divorcing spouses. Of course, one way to avoid statutory and legislative defaults is through contract, in the form of premarital agreements. At the...
Important UIFSA Case Decided by the Indiana Supreme Court
Posted on October 17, 2009The Indiana Supreme Court has reversed a ruling by the court of appeals that the Full Faith and Credit for Child Support Orders Act preempted UIFSA as to rules for continuing jurisdiction to modify. The Supreme Court interpreted them in...
Symposium on Unmarried Couple Adoption Bans
Posted on October 16, 2009The Arkansas Law Review will host a symposium on the Unmarried Couple Adoption Ban on November 5, 2009, at the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The symposium will address the legal and political issues surrounding what....
Interracial Couple Denied Marriage License in Louisiana
Posted on October 16, 2009I thought I had seen it all in family law. But this one has still managed to shock me. The New York Times reports: A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an...
Spiritual, Not Medical, Treatment of Kids' Illnesses
Posted on October 15, 2009Wisconsin parents failing to seek medical attention for their 11-year-old daughter, who subsequently died from untreated diabetes, were convicted of second-degree reckless homicide and recently sentenced to 30 days in jail each year for the next 6 years, as well...
NYU Press Book Series on Families, Law, and Society - Proposals Sought
Posted on October 15, 2009NYU Press is beginning a new book series on Families, Law, and Society. The series will be edited by Nancy Dowd, the David Levin Chair in Family Law and Director of the Center on Children and Families at the University...
Marriage as a Lottery?
Posted on October 14, 2009Some people may think they win the lottery solely by marrying their soul mates. Others may think, in the age of high divorce rates, that to achieve life-long marriage is to hit the jackpot. A recent newspaper article in Bermuda,...
California Legislation Recognizes Some Same Sex Marriages
Posted on October 14, 2009CNN reports on a California bill quietly signed into law on October 11, 2009: California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed legislation that requires the state to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states while such marriages were legal in California...
University of Houston Conference on Children, Sex and the Law
Posted on October 13, 2009The University of Houston will offer a conference on children, sex and the law on October 23, 2009. Presenters will be Frank Zimring, Seth, Kreimer, Jenifer Drobac, Ellen Marrus and Sacca Coupet. http://www.law.uh.edu/center4clp/events/children-sex-law-2009/ T...
The Tender Years Presumption
Posted on October 13, 2009Courts and legislatures have rejected the presumption that mothers should win custody of their young children in the case of divorce. Such a presumption, the tender years? presumption, has been determined to be against public policy that strives to treat...
Reflections on Family Law Practice
Posted on October 12, 2009David Lat of Above the Law has just posted a thread on careers in family law firms. The post quotes Dahlia Lithwick, Slate?s Supreme Court correspondent, as saying that her time in family law practice ?bickering over the pots and...
Call for Papers on Adoption - FRIDAY deadline
Posted on October 12, 2009The Future of the Family: Modern Challenges in Adoption Law Sixth Annual Wells Conference on Adoption Law March 11, 2010 Capital University Law School Columbus, Ohio The conference is seeking proposals for presentations and papers emphasizing the following themes: v...
Why cant U teach me 2 read?
Posted on October 12, 2009Beth Fertig (senior reporter for WNYC Radio in New York and a regular contributor to National Public Radio) has published Why cant U teach me 2 read? (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, September 2009). This book examines the American public school...
Does the Polanski Case Reveal Anything about a Change in U.S. Attitude
Posted on October 12, 2009A New York Times article on October 11 states that the Polanksi case reveals how much American attitudes have changed regarding sexual relationships between adults and teenagers. Is this true? The article then refers to the movie Manhattan and its...
Developments in English Divorce Law
Posted on October 11, 2009Under English divorce law, there is no distinction between "property division" and "spousal support". Judges are given great discretion to achieve a "fair" result. During the past decade, high court judges have reevaluated what this means if the parties have...
Domestic Violence Resources
Posted on October 11, 2009Nat'l Coalition Against Domestic Violence ABA Commission on Domestic Violence The Child Abuse Prevention Network Nat'l Clearinghouse on Family Violence (NCFV) Int'l Abduction and Int'l Adoption Matters
Divorce Resources
Posted on October 11, 2009Divorce Support Divorce Online The Divorce Net Divorce Care Divorce Central
Civil Rights & Family Rights Resources
Posted on October 11, 2009Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund Nat'l Organization for Women Family Research Counsel
Child Support Resources
Posted on October 11, 2009Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement Child Support Guidelines Online
About Family Law Prof Blog
Posted on September 08, 2009If you are interested in serving as an editor of Family Law Prof Blog for the Law Professor Blogs Network, please contact Paul Caron and Joe Hodnicki by email.
Maine Supreme Court Upholds Adoption of Adult Partner
Posted on July 27, 2009Last week, in a long-running inheritance dispute, the Maine Supreme Court ruled that an adult adoption of a same-sex partner was legitimate. The dispute mostly surrounded a very large trust set up by one of the founders of IBM for...
Uniform Collaborative Law Act Approved by Uniform Law Commission
Posted on July 21, 2009Family Law Prof Andrew Shepherd, of Hofstra Law School, reporter for the Uniform Collaborative Law Act, reports that the Uniform Law Commission voted to adopt the Act on July 15th at its meeting in Santa Fe. The Act recognizes collaborative...
New Book: Same Sex Marriage and Religious Liberty
Posted on July 21, 2009ILaw Profs. Robin Fretwell Wilson, of Washington and Lee University, and Douglas Laycock, of the University of Michigan have published Same-Sex Marriage and Religious Liberty: Emerging Conflicts (Rowman & Littlefield 2008). According to their announcement of the book: This is...
Albany Law School Seeking Family Law Professor
Posted on July 17, 2009Albany Law School seeks candidates for, among other positions, a full-time, tenure track position teaching courses in Family Law and other related subjects. Albany Law School offers a vibrant scholarly environment while fostering and developing excellence in teaching...
Call for Papers: AALS Section on Family & Juvenile Law
Posted on July 16, 2009Section on Family and Juvenile Law Money, Intimacy, Law and the Contours of Inequality 2010 Annual Meeting New Orleans, LA Friday, January 8, 2010, 10:15 am-12:15 pm Increasingly, there is a call for restraint in or even abandonment of law's...
Resources for Following the Massachusetts DOMA case
Posted on July 10, 2009Some useful resources as you prepare to teach the issues surrounding the State of Massachusetts' suit against the federal government challenging the Defense of Marriage Act: The act - 1 USC §7 and 28 USC §1738(c) The complaint - filed...
Family Law Prof on Custody of Michael Jackson's Children
Posted on July 01, 2009University of Dayton Family Law Prof Pamela Laufer-Ukeles contends the nanny of Michael Jackson's children ought to have a legal claim for visitation or custodial rights to the pop star's children, but Grace Rwaramba's status as a paid caregiver will...
Marriage Stronger than Ever
Posted on June 29, 2009The New York Times summarizes a range of studies on the impact of infidelity on marriage and concludes that most marriage whether these storms and that the marriage tie is stronger than ever in today's society.
Case Law Development: Rude Behavior of Attorney Tipped the Scales in Favor of Protective Order Against Client
Posted on June 27, 2009In a good example of the lesson that rude or aggressive lawyering is not effective advocacy, a California trial court issued a protective order based on the aggressive conduct of examination by the defendant?s attorney. While the California Court of....
What New Family Law Attorneys Need To Know
Posted on June 27, 2009At a conference on the Future of Family Law Education yesterday, a group of attorneys and mental health professionals were asked to advise the law professors present on what new lawyers need to know about family law. Here is a...
Case Law Update: Voluntary Acknowledgement Wins in Competing Presumptions of Paternity
Posted on June 23, 2009In an extremely messy case involving dramatically differing stories from the parties and the intersection of four separate statutory provisions governing paternity, the California Court of Appeals held that a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity trumped the presumption created by holding...
Father's Day Facts
Posted on June 22, 2009New York Times Magazine columnist Lisa Belkin compiled a list of facts about contemporary fathers that provides a nice snapshot of the changing roles of fathers. Her column notes that fathers are more involved in their children's education and more...
Recession and Divorce
Posted on June 19, 2009While previous reports have noted that the recession may make divorce too expensive an option for some couples, the National Law Journal recently reports that high-end divorce attorneys are seeing an increase in their work despite the recession. The article...
Incarceration for HIV-Positive Pregnant Immigrant
Posted on June 19, 2009An immigrant woman from Cameroon was arrested for allegedly having false immigration documents. Shortly after her arrest, she learned she was both pregnant and HIV positive. On May 14, 2009, a US District Court Judge extended Ms. Tuleh's sentence to....
Sham Divorces
Posted on June 18, 2009Students sometimes come to the study of family law thinking that "no fault" divorce is the same as "on demand" divorce. These students need to be reminded of the necessity to prove "irreconcilable differences" or "irretrievable breakdown" in order to...
Case Law Development: Preference for "Traditional Family" Insufficient Justification for Removing Child from Foster Care Placement
Posted on June 16, 2009The West Virginia Supreme Court, writing for the first time on the issue of the propriety of same-sex parenting, granted a writ of prohibition against a trial court's order to remove a foster child from the home of a lesbian...
Facebook & Divorce
Posted on June 15, 2009Taking the time to address the use of electronic data in divorce in our classes and clinics is becoming increasingly important. A recent survey of American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers members indicated that 88% had noted an increase in the...
Case Law Development: Parent has no Right to Read Scripture to Kindergarten Class
Posted on June 12, 2009Mitchell H. Rubinstein at Adjunct Law Prof Blog notes the recent Third Circuit decision in Busch v. Marple Newton School District, No. 07-2967 (3d Cir. June 1, 2009), in which the Third Circuit held that a school district did not...
Case Law Development: Juvenile Curfew Held Unconstitutional
Posted on June 12, 2009The New York Court of Appeals found that the City of Rochester's curfew conflicted with more general state law and with the constitution. The court found that provisions of the curfew that applied to minors under the age of 17...
Call for Papers - Collaborative Law
Posted on June 05, 2009Hofstra Law Review has issued a call for papers for an upcoming special symposium issues on Collaborative Law and the Uniform Collaborative Law Act: Opportunities, Challenges, and Questions for the Future In addition to featuring the Uniform Collaborative Law Act,...
New Hampshire Allows Same-Sex Marriage
Posted on June 03, 2009For an analysis, see Constitutional Law Professor Blog here. RR
Reactions to Murder of Doctor Tiller
Posted on June 02, 2009One of the most difficult aspects of teaching family law is helping students to explore issues such as abortion, marriage, parenting and the like in a manner that advances understanding of the issues while also being prepared to be effective...
Stetson Family Law Professor Ruth Fleet Thurman Retires
Posted on May 29, 2009On May 31, family law scholar Ruth Fleet Thurman will retire from her full-time position at Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, Fla., leaving behind a legacy that began almost five decades ago. As her son began kindergarten in...
CDC Reports Increase in Unmarried Birth Rates
Posted on May 19, 2009The Center for Disease Control has issued a new report tracking births to unmarried mothers and found: Childbearing by unmarried women has resumed a steep climb since 2002. Births to unmarried women totaled 1,714,643 in 2007, 26% more than in...
CFP: Children and the Law Junior Faculty Workshop Call for Papers
Posted on May 11, 2009Children and the Law Junior Faculty Workshop July 16 -17, 2009 The Frances Lewis Law Center at Washington & Lee University is sponsoring a workshop for junior scholars working on legal issues related to children. The workshop will be held...
Case Law Development: Parental Access to Child's Mental Health Records in Custody Actions
Posted on April 28, 2009The Iowa Supreme Court recently held that a parent?s statutory right to access to her child?s mental health records could be limited by the child?s best interest. In that case, Mother had pled guilty to assaulting one of the children...
Case Law Development: Access to Parental Mental Health Records in Custody Actions
Posted on April 28, 2009In the continuing battle over the role of psychological experts in custody actions, courts have been called upon to examine the balance between the broad scope of discovery in these actions and the right of privacy in mental health records....
Undocumented Immigrants and the Battle for Custody
Posted on April 23, 2009The New York Times reports today on the legal struggles faced by immigrants caught up in enforcement raids, who then face a loss of custody of their children. As the article characterizes the problem, "crackdowns against illegal immigrants thrust local...
Recent Scholarship: Women's Reproductive Health as a Protectable Interest
Posted on April 20, 2009Beth Burkstrand-Reid, Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois College of Law's article: "The Invisible Woman: Availability and Culpability in Reproductive Health Jurisprudence" will appear in a forthcoming issue of the Colorado Law Review...
Marriage Abolition?
Posted on April 19, 2009Douglas Kmiec of Pepperdine appeared on the Colbert show advocating a position akin to marriage abolition. See more on ConLawProf here. RR
Fewer Children In Foster Care In NC County Promotes Child Welfare and Saves Money
Posted on April 17, 2009Guilford County (North Carolina) has employed a multi-prong approach to family preservation, and has reduced the number of children in foster care by 31%. In this Greensboro (NC) News-Record article, county officials and national experts agree that the children who...
Recent Scholarship: Tax Time & Divorce
Posted on April 15, 2009For your tax time reading, some recent scholarship on taxes and families: Professor Michael Waggoner of the University of Colorado Law School, argues that similar tax treatment should extend to other support payments, including child support, in his article, "IRC...
Second Parent Adoption, DOMA, and Genetic Child
Posted on April 15, 2009This case presents important questions about the ways in which a child?s ?parents? are defined and legally constituted, and how the parent/child relationship can be protected in a transient, cross-border society. Answers implicate assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) and an out-dated...
Conference: CHANGING FAMILIES
Posted on April 14, 2009Conference at: "Our Changing Families" Dedicated To The Influential Work of former [NY Ct of Appeals] Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye Date: Friday, April 17, 2009 Time: 8:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. Location: Albany Law School, 1928 Building, Room 200...
Same-Sex Marriage: New York
Posted on April 14, 2009According to a NY Times blog here, New York's Governor Paterson will announce on Thursday morning that he intends to introduce a same-sex marriage bill in the NY Legislature. States bordering New York have legalized same-sex marriage. RR
Case Law Update: Tax Time and Divorce
Posted on April 13, 2009Tax day is around the corner and you and your students may be turning your syllabus to tax issues upon divorce. One often-litigated issue is the tax treatment of alimony payments. The tax code provides that alimony will be deductible...
Case Update -- Termination of Parental Rights Vacated Because Counsel Appointed for Parent Only Two Weeks Before Trial
Posted on April 10, 2009The Michigan Supreme Court issued a decision in In Re Hudson/Morgan Minors on April 8, 2009. (MIF 4-10-2009)
Science and the Drug Exposed Infant
Posted on April 07, 2009As part of a program at New York University School of Law recently on Drugs, Pregnancy and Parenting: What the Experts in Medicine, Social Work and Law Have to Say, Dr. Deborah A. Frank, Professor of Pediatrics at Boston University...
Stimulus Funds Available To Prevent Foster Care Placements Due To Inadequate Housing
Posted on April 05, 2009The National Center for Housing and Child Welfare (NCHCW) has published an issue brief identifying more than $2 billion in stimulus funding available for emergency housing to prevent placement of children in foster care. Trade journal Youth Today summarizes the...
Same-Sex Marriage in Iowa
Posted on April 03, 2009Although the Iowa Supreme Court website has "crashed" due to traffic, the first "twitter" reports are that the Iowa Supreme Court has declared the state's opposite-sex only marriage law unconstitutional. UPDATE: The opinion is now available as pdf here...
Same-sex Marriage Updates
Posted on April 01, 2009It is being widely reported that the Swedish Parliament, in a 261-22 vote, approved same-sex marriage. Meanwhile in the United States, the Vermont Legislature is set to vote on a same-sex marriage bill, a bill which the Governor has stated...
New York City allows two-moms on birth certificate
Posted on March 26, 2009As NY 1, among others, reported: Married lesbian couples in the city can now be listed as parents on their children?s birth certificates. The city Board of Health voted in favor of the change yesterday. Previously, women would have to...
Michigan Cuts Prevention Funds
Posted on March 20, 2009Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm has proposed a human services budget that cuts child welfare prevention and family preservation services, and increases funding for out-of-home care. The Blog's March 13, 2009 entry provides a link to a study of Florida's child...
Juvenile Justice Project and Conference Announcement
Posted on March 20, 2009The Center on Children and Families at the University of Florida Levin College of Law is launching the Juvenile Justice Project, an effort to benefit children locally, statewide and nationally by focusing on the juvenile justice system. The project will...
Marriage: (re) defined
Posted on March 19, 2009Many courts resort to the dictionary when trying to decide the "common meaning" of a word, including a word such as "marriage." According to the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary here: Note definition 1a(2): the state of being united to a person...
Marriage Developments - - - abolition or inclusion?
Posted on March 18, 2009Perhaps the solution to the "marriage wars" is the abolition of marriage? It's a proposal that has been made from different theoretical perspectives in years past, but of late it has been garnering attention. TIME MAGAZINE picked up a piece...
Florida Reports Success Via Community-Based Care Title IV-E Waiver
Posted on March 13, 2009A report prepared by University of South Florida researchers describes Florida's use of a federal waiver on expenditure of Title IV-E funds. Since October 2006, Florida has redirected monies from out-of-home care (i.e., foster care and group home placements) by...
Orders Prohibiting Reproduction
Posted on March 09, 2009In his forthcoming article, "Child Welfare and Future Persons", Carter Dillard, Westerfield Fellow, at Loyola University, New Orleans takes on the questions raised by State v. Oakley, 629 NW2d 200 (Wis. 2001) that we find in most of our family...
Workshop -- Comparative Family Law
Posted on March 06, 2009On March 20-21, the Women and International Law Program at American University Washington College of Law will hold a workshop titled "Comparative Family Law: What Is the Global Family? Family Law in Decolonization, Modernization and Globalization." According to the workshop...
Protective order in Rhianna v. Chris Brown
Posted on March 06, 2009For those of you who like to incorporate celebrity family law disputes in your teaching, a copy of the actual restraining order issued against Chris Brown can be found at http://www.etonline.com/documents/et_cbrown_minuteandprotectiveorder_090306.pdf bgf
Money Matters During Marriage
Posted on March 06, 2009Associate Professor Alicia Brokars Kelly of Weidener University School of Law has posted to SSRN her article, Money Matters in Marriage: Unmasking Interdependence in Ongoing Spousal Economic Relations, forthcoming in the Louisville Law Review (2008). Her abstract of the article...
Report -- Youth Transitioning Out of Foster Care
Posted on March 06, 2009States require youth to leave foster care at ages that vary from 18 to 21. Abundant research shows that children who are "emancipated" directly from foster care to adulthood are at "high risk for a number of adverse outcomes during...
Limiting Reproduction
Posted on February 26, 2009An editorial by Professor Naomi Cahn of George Washington University School of Law and Adam Pertman, executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute discuss a new research-based report by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, "Old Lessons for...
Domestic Violence and the Family Pet
Posted on February 25, 2009A Bill introduced in the state of Washington, HB 1148, would protect animals from domestic violence. The introduction to the Bill states:The legislature finds that considerable research shows a strong correlation between animal abuse, child abuse, and domestic violence...
Case Law Update -- Domestic Violence -- Supreme Court
Posted on February 24, 2009The Supreme Court released U.S. v. Hayes this morning. The issues and holding in the case are summarized in the first paragraph of Justice Ginsburg's 7-2 opinion: "The federal Gun Control Act of 1968, 18 U. S. C. §921 et...
Same-Sex Marriage Op-Ed
Posted on February 22, 2009An interesting op-ed in the New York Times on same-sex marriage - - - and what makes it interesting is its authors:David Blankenhorn is president of the Institute for American Values and the author of ?The Future of Marriage.? Jonathan...
Racism in Child Welfare -- National Public Radio
Posted on February 20, 2009NPR's Michel Martin aired a segment this week about racial disproportionality and disparity in the child welfare system, a topic addressed previously on this Blog (including in an entry dated January 27, 2009). Guests included Kristen Weber of the Center...
Case Law Development: Limits of Right of Parent/Guarians to Refuse Medical Treatment for Adult Incompetent Child/Ward
Posted on February 16, 2009The Pennsylvania Superior Court, in a case of first impression, explored the limits of a parent/guardian's right to refuse medical treatment for their adult incompetent child. The case involved a 50-year-old man with profound mental retardation. After a court had...
Case Update -- NY Courts Define "Intimate Relationship"
Posted on February 12, 2009Pursuant to the New York State Family Court Act, domestic violence civil protection orders are available to "members of the same family or household," including those "who are or have been in an intimate relationship." Two recent New York state...
Case law Development: Contractual Liabliity for Failing to Represent in a Professionally Responsive Manner
Posted on February 10, 2009In a case that reminds family law attorneys to carefully review what they promise in retainer agreements, the Maryland Court of Appeals held that an attorney's representations regarding the quality of their legal services may be enforceable under contract principles...
Rural Domestic Violence
Posted on February 09, 2009Professor Sara Benson, fellow LawProf blogger, and currently visiting assistant professor at the University of Illinois College of Law, has posted to SSRN a draft of her article: "Failure to Arrest: A Pilot Study of Police Response to Domestic Violence...
Call for Papers: Midwest Family Law Consortium Conference
Posted on February 09, 2009The Midwest Family Law Consortium is soliciting proposals for presentations and papers for its annual conference. The 2009 conference theme is "The Future of Family Law Education? Do you have family law teaching ideas that you are willing to share?...
Tort Claim Against Hospital for Denial of Visitation for Dying Same-Sex Partner
Posted on February 07, 2009The Miami Herald reports that a federal judge in the Southern District of Florida will decide whether the tort case against a Miami hospital for failure to allow visitation to a same-sex parent could proceed to trial. The surviving woman,...
Conferences -- Adoption and Child Welfare
Posted on February 06, 2009According to the Children's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the following conferences about adoption and child welfare are scheduled to occur in the next few months:March 2009 BACW 2009 Annual Conference Bridging the Gap for...
Surviving Same -Sex Partner in Canadian marriage ruled "spouse"
Posted on February 03, 2009In a brief opinion, a Surrogate Judge in New York recognized a Canadian same-sex marriage for probate purposes, declaring the surviving partner the "surviving spouse and sole distributee" and thus not requiring process to other members of the decedent's family...
Ohio adopts rules for Guardians Ad Litem
Posted on February 02, 2009Completing a process begun in 2001, the Supreme Court of Ohio has adopted new rules governing the requirements for guardians ad litem in juvenile and domestic child custody cases. The new rule 48 provides that courts must enter an order...
Florida Bar Association votes to file amicus in favor of adoption by gay couples
Posted on February 02, 2009The National Law Journal reports that Florida Bar's board of governors voted unanimously to file an amicus brief before the 3rd District Court of Appeal supporting a Miami-Dade circuit judge's ruling that declared unconstitutional the state's ban on gay adoptions...
Colombia Constitutional Court" same-sex marriage
Posted on January 31, 2009For a discussion of this week's decision on same-sex relationships by the Colombia Constitutional Court, see my post on Constitutional Law Professors blog here. RR
Legislation update -- New York considers bill to protect children from "failure to protect" charges
Posted on January 30, 2009In response to U.S. District Judge Weinstein's findings in Nicholson v. Williams, 203 F.Supp.2d 153 (E.D.N.Y. 2002), the New York State legislature will consider Bill A01440, designed to "prevent further trauma to a child whose custodial parent is a victim...
Conference - Drugs, Pregnancy and Parenting
Posted on January 30, 2009Drugs, Pregnancy and Parenting: What the Experts in Medicine, Social Work and the Law Have to Say Wednesday, February 11, 2009, New York City People working in the field of criminal law, family law, and child welfare often have cases...
Same-sex marriage, New York, and recognition of out of state marriages
Posted on January 29, 2009Although New York's highest court, the New York Court of Appeals, found there was no state constitutional right to same-sex marriage, Hernandez v. Robles, a recent lower appellate court recognizes same-sex marriages entered into in states where such marriages are...
Sexual Orientation & Adoption
Posted on January 27, 2009Two commentaries today on the subject of so-called "gay adoption" which we've blogged previously here, are worth reading: First, FamilyLawProf Julie Shapiro blogs on the subject here, with useful links. She ponders about the possibility of a national trend toward...
Racial Disproportionality in Child Welfare -- New Report
Posted on January 27, 2009The Center for the Study of Social Policy has issued a report describing pervasive racial disproportionality and disparity in Michigan's child welfare system. Titled "Race Equity Review: Findings From A Qualitative Analysis of Racial Disproportionality and Disparity for African American...
Hastings Symposium on Liability for Reproductive Technology
Posted on January 26, 2009Hastings Law Journal just completed its symposium on Creating Children with Disabilities: Commentaries on Parental Tort Liability for Preimplantation Genetic Interventions. The symposium was sparked by Professor Kirsten Smolensky's article, Creating Children with Disabilities: Parental Tort Liability for Preimplantation Genetic...
Presidential Family Agenda
Posted on January 21, 2009The new Presidential website - - - www.whitehouse.gov - - - complete with its own blog, is a wealth of information regarding the new Administration's family law agenda. It has some specific proposals and ideas, which might inform classroom discussions,...
Case Law Development: False Statements in Divorce regarding Paternity Do not Equal Extrinsic Fraud on the Court
Posted on January 21, 2009The Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court's dismissal of an action claiming extrinsic paternity fraud regarding children alleged in a 2005 divorce judgment to be born of the marriage. However, the court found that the dismissal could not...
Case Law Development: Nonrefundable Retainer Fee in Divorce Approved
Posted on January 20, 2009The Rules of Professional Conduct in most states prohibit family law attorneys from charging contingent fees for fear that this would provide an incentive for attorneys to discourage reconciliation. The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyer's Bounds of Advocacy, while arguing...
Test Tube Families - new book
Posted on January 16, 2009Family Law Prof Naomi Cahn of George Washington has a new book from NYU Press: TEST TUBE FAMILIES. Here's a bit from the publisher's materials: Incorporating real-life stories to illustrate her arguments, Cahn provides specific suggestions for legal reforms...
British conference on Family Law/Bioethics
Posted on January 15, 2009CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008: New Directions in Biolaw and Bioethics A CentreLGS Workshop on Monday 30 March 2009 @ Keele University Confirmed speakers include: Emily Jackson, London School of Economics; and Human Fertilisation and Embryology...
Kidney as marital asset?
Posted on January 14, 2009In a case from NY that sounds like an examination question, the legal issue might be expressed as whether a kidney is a marital asset. According to the BBC, He said he had not only given his heart to his...
Kinship Care vs. Foster Care
Posted on January 13, 2009In the current issue of Families In Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, see "Matched Comparison of Children in Kinship Care and Foster Care on Child Welfare Outcomes," by Winokur, Crawford, Longobardi, and Valentine: "The documented growth of kinship...
Mothering, Sarah Palin & CFP
Posted on January 13, 2009Call for Papers The Palin Factor: Political Mothers and Public Motherhood in the 21st Century Editors: Andrea O?Reilly and Deirdre M. Condit The nomination of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as the Republican party Vice Presidential nominee in the 2008 U...
Proposition 8 - Two Panels at AALS
Posted on January 11, 2009The AALS Conference on Friday featured two panels discussing California's controversial Proposition 8 (limiting marriages to those between a man and a woman) passed last November and being challenged before the California Supreme Court. I've posted a synopsis of the...
Call for Workshops -- Parent Representation Conference
Posted on January 05, 2009The National Project to Improve Representation of Parents in the Child Welfare System and the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law will offer the first National Parent Attorney Conference in Washington, D.C. on May 13 - 14th,...
AALS Section on Family & Juvenile Law Program
Posted on January 04, 2009A reminder that at this week's Annual Meeting of the AALS in San Diego, the AALS Section on Family & Juvenile Law will present a program on Thursday, January 8, 2009 at 8:30 ? 10:15 am. entitled "The Growing Disconnect...
Case Law Development: Husband who has no title to family home may not claim homestead exemption in bankruptcy
Posted on January 03, 2009Teaching in a common law property state, I am struck by how often my students have difficulty separating out property title systems during the marriage from those used in divorce. They want to apply "marital property" characterizations during the marriage,...
2008 in Review/ Predictions for 2009
Posted on January 01, 2009A trip around the web reveals a number of lists looking back to 2008 and forward to 2009 in family law: Carrie Craft's Adoption Blog on About.com has a poll taking votes on the top 10 adoption stories of 2008...
LGBT - Elder Law Scholarship
Posted on December 18, 2008"LGBT Elder Law: Toward Equity in Aging" by Nancy Knauer of Temple U will be published in the next volume of Harvard Journal of Law and Gender. Here's the abstract from ssrn: This Article argues for broad based reform to...
conference - ADOPTION
Posted on December 10, 2008Save the Date! Sixth Annual Adoption Policy Conference Friday, March 6, 2009 New York Law School New York, New York On Friday, March 6, 2009, the Center for Adoption Policy, New York Law School's Justice Action Center, and Harvard Law...
conference
Posted on December 10, 2008Some interesting family law issues here: "Gender and the Law: Unintended Consequences, Unsettled Questions" Thursday, March 12, 2009?Friday, March 13, 2009 Thursday 2?5 p.m., Friday 9 a.m.?5:30 p.m., Radcliffe Gymnasium, 10 Garden Street, Radcliffe Yard, Harvard 617-495-8600 This event is...
The Crimes of Family Status
Posted on December 10, 2008Punishing Family Status, 88 B.U. L. Rev. 1327 (2008), by Jennifer M. Collins (Wake Forest), Ethan J. Leib (UC-Hastings), and Dan Markel (FSU), is a thoughtful new article linking the ways in which family status interacts with the criminal justice...
Updates on Same-Sex Marriage: Iowa, NJ, California
Posted on December 10, 2008The news from IOWA: As the New York Times reports on Iowa's same-sex marriage case argued on December 9: The legal core of the case, Varnum v. Brien, is whether the state?s 10-year-old law defining a ?valid? marriage as only...
President Bush signs new child welfare legislation
Posted on December 01, 2008According to the Children's Bureau of the federal Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families: "On October 7, 2008, President George W. Bush signed into law H.R. 6893, the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions...
Florida adoption ban unconstitutional - again
Posted on November 25, 2008Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman held Florida's bar to "homosexuals" adopting children unconstitutional. The ban, a product of Anita Bryant's "Save Our Children" Campaign in the late 1970s, has been challenged numerous times, with trial judges finding it unconstitutional, see Family...
Same-Sex Marriage - California Prop 8
Posted on November 20, 2008The California proposition amending the state constitution to define marriage as limited to one man and one woman will be heard by the California Supreme Court. I have discussed this issue on the ConLawProf blog here. RR
Responsibility for the Elderly
Posted on November 20, 2008The subject of so-called "filial responsibility" laws is a fascinating one. It is always sure to provoke an interesting class discussion. A few casebooks in Family Law include a case; most include a note discussing the issue and citing one...
Pres-Elect Obama & Family Law
Posted on November 19, 2008The Obama Transition has been releasing materials on its change.gov website, many of which are important for Family Law Profs. The "Family" page includes proposals on the FMLA and taxes. Under "Civil Rights," the portion addressing "Support for the LGBT...
Divorce Actions by Guardians of Incompetents
Posted on November 18, 2008The Dallas Morning News reported yesterday a case in which a son is seeking a guardianship for his 87-year-old father and to bring a divorce action on his behalf. The news report provides plenty of details on the facts of...
Conference Announcement: New Approaches to Domestic Violence
Posted on November 14, 2008The Journal of Legal Commentary of St. John's University School of Law will present its 16th Annual Symposium on Friday March 20, 2009 with the theme "Thinking Outside the Box: New Challenges and New Approaches to Domestic Violence." Speakers include...
Recent Scholarship on Safe Haven Laws
Posted on November 14, 2008Recent articles addressing Safe Haven laws include: Carol Sanger, Infant Safe Haven Laws: Legislating In The Culture Of Life, 106 Colum. L. Rev. 753 (2006) available on SSRN A comprehensive article that addresses safe haven in a larger context of...
FAQ on Nebraska Safe Haven Law
Posted on November 14, 2008At last count 34 children have been left at Nebraska hospitals under the state's safe haven law. While the legislature is meeting in special session today to amend the law to put an age limit in place, family law professors...
Hurricane Katrina -- Urban Institute report on consequences for low-income children and families
Posted on November 10, 2008The Urban Institute released a November 5, 2008 report, "Understanding the Consequences of Hurricane Katrina for ACF Service Populations." According to the Urban Institute, "This report is an analysis of alternative datasets and research approaches to assess the effects of...
Ballot Initiatives
Posted on November 05, 2008In yesterday's voting across the nation, several states had ballot initiatives relating to family law. Florida, Arizona & California each presented constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage. Florida and Arizona both passed the amendment and, in California, with more than 95%...
Teen Pregnancy
Posted on October 27, 2008Family Law Prof Blog previously drew your attention to an interesting op-ed by two Family Law Prof colleagues, June Carbone of University of Missouri-Kansas City and Naomi Cahn of George Washington University, in STLtoday.com, from St. Louis. (September 5, 2008)...
New Scholarship on Child Support
Posted on October 24, 2008This looks like a fascinating forthcoming article reconceptualizing child support: Adrienne Lockie, "Multiple Families, Multiple Goals, Multiple Failures," 32 Harvard Journal of Law and Gender ____ (2009). The abstract posted on ssrn provides: Current child support laws are based on...
Traditional Families Favor Technology
Posted on October 20, 2008In a new report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, the authors focused on families and found: The internet and cell phones have become central components of modern family life. Among all household types, the traditional nuclear family...
Nebraska's Safe Haven Law - Controversies
Posted on October 20, 2008Nebraska's "safe-haven" law which allows parents to abandon children at hospitals without being prosecuted has been garnering lots of news. The reason? While other states have similar laws, other states also have an age-limit. Nebraska's law does not...
Juvenile Rights: Sex Offender for Nude Photos of Self?
Posted on October 13, 2008An Ohio newspaper is reporting a 15 year old girl who may be adjudicated a sex offender and who has been charged with illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material, a second-degree felony; and possession of criminal tools, a...
Call for Papers -- University of Baltimore Second Annual Feminist Theory Conference
Posted on October 13, 2008This call for papers seeks submissions for the University of Baltimore School of Law's Second Annual Feminist Legal Theory Conference, "Applied Feminism: How Feminist Legal Theory is Changing the Law." The conference will be held at the University of Baltimore...
Case Law development: Connecticut Supreme Court decides same-sex marriage case
Posted on October 10, 2008The Connecticut Supreme Court has just released its opinion in the state same-sex marriage case, Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health, SC 17716 (October 10, 2008), with three dissenting opinions. The Court held the state's opposite-sex marriage requirement UNCONSTITUTIONAL under...
Case Law Development: Trial Court follows dissent to allow co-parent claim
Posted on October 08, 2008According to LawProf Art Leonard: New York County Supreme Court Justice Harold B. Beeler has allowed NY Court of Appeals Chief Judge Judith Kaye's dissent in the 1991 case of Alison D. v. Virginia M. To guide his steps in...
News: Domestic Violence and Asylum
Posted on October 07, 2008A press release from the CENTER FOR GENDER & REFUGEE STUDIES at UC-Hastings College of Law entitled " New Ruling by Attorney General Mukasey May Endanger Rights of Women Asylum Seekers." In a move that could change the course of...
Proposed Adoption Ban Opposed by Judges
Posted on October 07, 2008Arkansas judges - - - well, a panel of 13 retired judges including retired justices from the state's highest court - - - said they are opposed to a ballot measure banning unmarried persons from becoming foster or adoptive parents....
Polygamy Scholarship
Posted on October 06, 2008Polygamy is a "hot topic" in family law scholarship (as well as in the popular media). A few great looking articles with their SSRN abstracts: "'They Ain't Whites; They're Mormons': An Illustrated History of Polygamy as Race Treason" MARTHA M....
Secrecy in Child Welfare Questioned
Posted on October 05, 2008Responding to a recent incident in which children were found dead in their adoptive mother's home, the Washington Post's Marc Fisher argues for "transparency" of child welfare records. (last visited by MIF 10-05-08)
Case Law Development: First Same-Sex Partner Custody Case in Montana
Posted on October 04, 2008According to the Washington Blade, attorneys for both sides call it the first same-sex parental rights trial in Montana: A district judge on Monday ruled in favor of a Turah woman who sought parental rights to children adopted by her...
Adoption in Florida - continued
Posted on October 02, 2008Florida's "homosexual" adoption ban, as codified in Florida Statute section 63.042, providing "No person eligible to adopt under this statute may adopt if that person is a homosexual," is again the subject of litigation. This time, it's a hearing in....
Call for Papers
Posted on September 29, 2008Writing on Domestic Violence? Juvenile Justice? Sex Offenses? Focused on NYC? New York City Law Review: A Call for Papers The Legal System?s Response to Violence in New York City The New York City Law Review -- a student-run law...
Conference Announcement
Posted on September 27, 2008The Center for Children, Law & Policy announces Child Centered Jurisprudence and Feminist Jurisprudence: Exploring The Connections And The Tensions Friday, November 14, 2008 @ the University of Houston Law Center View Conference Announcement Featured Speakers § Prof...
Scholarship: "Sex Offender Registration in Indian Country"
Posted on September 26, 2008VIRGINIA DAVIS, National Congress of American Indians, and KEVIN K. WASHBURN, University of Arizona - James E. Rogers College of Law have authored "Sex Offender Registration in Indian Country" forthcoming in Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law. They have posted...
South Africa: Virginity Testing and the Constitution
Posted on September 26, 2008From The Washington Post: The debate over virginity testing is an example of the clash common throughout Africa as governments try to regulate traditional practices that have long held sway, particularly in rural areas. Legal experts say the topic is...
Research Sources
Posted on September 17, 2008Bibliographies - - - especially annotated ones - - - are a great source for professors for scholarship and teaching, as well as a great source for practitioners. Here are a few published in 2008: Nancy Levit, Family Law In...
CALL FOR PAPERS
Posted on September 17, 2008Working on a paper about family law & feminist implications? CFP: Applied Feminism: How Feminist Legal Theory is Changing the Law This call for papers seeks submissions for the University of Baltimore School of Law?s Second Annual Feminist Legal Theory...
Texas FLDS Update: Ongoing Problems for State, Amidst Widespread Discovery Violations and Dismissal of "More Than Half" of Seized Children's Cases
Posted on September 16, 2008Texas Child Protective Services "wants a do-over," according to the Deseret News. Employing a metaphor from the world of golf, a Texas Child Protective Services attorney admitted that the State had failed to provide discovery materials to lawyers for parents...
DC Foster Care Alleged In Contempt of Federal Court Order
Posted on September 13, 2008Plaintiffs in LaShawn A. v. Fenty, the long-running federal court class-action case involving the District of Columbia's Child and Family Services Agency, have filed a contempt motion, alleging widespread violations of the Court's 1993 modified Final Order and 2007 Amended...
Red State/ Blue State Conference
Posted on September 12, 2008The University of Missouri Kansas City School of Law is hosting ?Red State v. Blue State: The Judicial Role in an Era of Partisanship? and family law is taking center stage in the presentations. The program has been put together...
Case Law Development: Florida's "Homosexual" Adoption Ban
Posted on September 12, 2008A Florida Circuit Court judge in Key West has allowed a gay man to adopt a child and has declared unconstitutional a portion of Florida Statute section 63.042 that provides "No person eligible to adopt under this statute may adopt...
This is news?: Money Matters in Marriage
Posted on September 10, 2008From the New York Times (the financial section) is this insight: "Today, while most of us marry for romantic reasons, marriage at its core is still a financial union." The link to the article is here. In an article last...
Missouri Supreme Court Approves Collaborative Law Practice
Posted on September 09, 2008The Missouri Supreme Court recently issued a formal ethics opinion approving collaborative law practice. Missouri joins the majority of states having addressed the issue. The formal opinion (one of only six issued since 1996) concluded that, as a type of...
Teen Pregnancy: Op Ed by Family Law Professors
Posted on September 05, 2008An interesting op-ed by two Family Law Prof colleagues, June Carbone of University of Missouri-Kansas City and Naomi Cahn of George Washington University, in STLtoday.com, from St. Louis. Carbone and Cahn argue: Bristol Palin's pregnancy illustrates that there are many...
Case Law Development: New York court upholds Executive Order to recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages
Posted on September 03, 2008A judge in New York has upheld the Executive Order of New York Governor David Paterson requiring government agencies to recognize same-sex marriages performed outside the state. The opinion in Golden v. Paterson is available as a pdf file here....
Case Law Development - Phillipines Supreme Court finds husband's homosexuality insufficient to declare marriage void
Posted on August 30, 2008The Phillipines Supreme Court's 3rd Division, in a twenty page decision, reversed a lower court's ruling declaring an eleven year opposite-sex marriage void because of the husband's homosexuality. The Supreme Court found the trial court erred by only considering the...
Texas Drops 56 More Cases -- 253 Now Dismissed
Posted on August 29, 2008According to the Deseret News (Utah), Texas has dropped 56 additional cases involving children taken from their homes at the FLDS Yearning For Zion ranch, raising to 253 the total number of cases dismissed. One child has been returned to...
Tribal Same-Sex Marriage Law
Posted on August 29, 2008"Kitzen and Jeni Branting -- Kitzen legally took Jeni's last name three years ago -- signed up for the domestic partnership registry in their home state of Washington, but Kitzen Branting said getting married under tribal law means more to...
Racial Disparities in Maryland Foster Care and Nationwide
Posted on August 24, 2008Advocates for Children and Youth (Maryland), reports here that "African-American children in Maryland are in out-of-home placement at 5.3 times the rate of white children, more than 50 percent higher than the national gap. African-American children are being removed from...
Texas Drops 150 FLDS Cases
Posted on August 23, 2008Brooke Adams of the Salt Lake Tribune reports today that on Friday, August 22, Texas dropped 49 child abuse allegations involving children from the FLDS ranch. Texas now has asked for the dismissal of 150 cases, with 290 remaining pending....
National Coalition for Child Protection Reform Releases "Due Process Agenda for Children and Families"
Posted on August 20, 2008On August 11, 2008, The National Coalition for Child Protection Reform released "Civil Liberties Without Exception: NCCPR's Due Process Agenda for Children and Families". Setting forth sixteen recommendations, the report urges states to "enact . . . meaningful due process...
Case Law Development: Access to Fertility Treatments by Lesbians
Posted on August 19, 2008The California Supreme Court has unamiously ruled medical personnel?s claims to First Amendment rights (based on religion and speech) must yield to the state?s anti-discrimination law in the provision of medical services, including fertility treatments...
Political Platforms on Family Law Issues
Posted on August 16, 2008The political parties are in the process of drafting their national party platforms for the 2008 election and, as expected, there is some attention to family law issues. The draft 2008 Democratic National Platform is interesting both for what it...
Case Law Development: K visa applicants may adjust immigration status even if they divorce
Posted on August 16, 2008A recent ninth circuit court of appeals opinion describes nicely the process by which immigrants can become eligible for lawful permanent residence based on marriage. Faculty may find it a useful outline to give to students interested in this aspect....
Case Law Development: Paternity Acknowledgment and Child Support Order = Parent Status
Posted on August 15, 2008The New Hampshire Supreme Court, interpreting the word "parent" in its custody statute, found that a trial court erred in dismissing a man's petition for parental rights and responsibilities of the six-year-old child he had helped raise since birth, despite...
The Feral Child?
Posted on August 15, 2008From FEMINIST PHILOSOPHERS BLOG: "The Feral Child is an object of fascination for many theorists. The very idea of one raises speculations about what the human being apart from civilization would be like. But the actuality can be horrible, tragic,...
Case Law Development: Standard for Granting Protective Order based on Threats
Posted on August 10, 2008The Ohio Court of Appeals reversed the grant of a protective order based on repeated communications during a divorce. Husband's communications threatened no actual physical harm. The trial court found that, while the statements would not cause imminent fear of...
Unbundling Begins in Missouri
Posted on August 09, 2008The Missouri Bar Family Law Conference this week hosted a session explaining Missouri's new Supreme Court rule on unbundling of legal services. The rule provides for express approval of attorney provisions of limited task representation and provides, in the comments,...
Case Law Development: Parental Rights trump student First Amendment rights
Posted on August 07, 2008The Eleventh Circuit has upheld Florida's statute allowing a student to be excused from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance ONLY with a "written request" from the student's parent. In Frazier v. Winn, the three judge panel reversed the district judge...
Professor Robson reviews "Beyond Straight and Gay Marriage"
Posted on July 30, 2008Ruthann Robson (our newest contributing editor at Family Law Prof Blog) reviews Nancy Polikoff new book Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage: Valuing All Families Under The Law. As Professor Robson notes The same-sex marriage debate is actually two debates...
Ruthann Robson Joins Family Law Prof Blog
Posted on July 30, 2008We are pleased to announce that Ruthann Robson of Professor of Law and University Distinguished Professor at CUNY Law School will be joining the Family Law Prof Blog as a contributing editor. Professor Robson teaches in the areas of constitutional...
Special Issue of Family Court Review Featuring Domestic Violence and Family Courts Available Online
Posted on July 17, 2008"The July 2008 issue of Family Court Review featuring outcomes from the AFCC and NCJFCJ Domestic Violence and Family Courts Project is available for free online for a limited period of time at Link. The highly anticipated special issue features...
Child Protection to Appeal Texas Ruling
Posted on May 23, 2008"Child Protective Services has notified the Texas Supreme Court that the state plans to appeal a ruling that it had no right to seize hundreds of children from a polygamous religious sect, a court spokesman said today. "As I understand...
Texas court of Appeals rules in Polygamy case
Posted on May 22, 2008The Texas appeals court had said that authorities had no right to seize more than 440 children in a raid on the splinter group's ranch last month. The court held the state failed to show the youngsters were in any...
California Supreme Court Issues Decision on Same-Sex Marriage
Posted on May 15, 2008"In the present case, it is readily apparent that extending the designation of marriage to same-sex couples clearly is more consistent with the probable legislative intent than withholding that designation from both opposite-sex couples and same-sex couples in favor of...
Remember Stepmothers on Mother's Day
Posted on May 08, 2008"Mother's Day and motherhood sometimes aren't all they're cracked up to be - especially for stepmothers, the unsung heroes of blended families. Parenting always is a challenge, especially in the face of resentment by children who assume that the new....
Post-divorce Parenting
Posted on May 08, 2008"For children of divorce, what happens after their parents split up may be just as important to their long-term well-being as the divorce itself. A new study found that children who lived in unstable family situations after their parents divorced...
Mildred Loving Dies
Posted on May 06, 2008The New York Times has a lovely story today about Mildred Loving - of Loving v. Virginia fame - who passed away May 2 at age 68. Read the story (last visited May 6, 2008) bgf
You-Tube as Teaching Tool
Posted on April 17, 2008Family Law Profs may be able to make good use of a bad idea: Former actress and playwright Tricia Walsh-Smith' prepared a YouTube video in which she discusses her divorce case, in particular the pre-nuptial agreement she signed, and then...
Report on AFCC & NCJFCJ Wingspread Conference on Domestic Violence and Family Courts
Posted on March 23, 2008"The Report from the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC) and National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) Wingspread Conference on Domestic Violence and Family Courts is now available online. Written by conference reporters, Professors Nancy Ver...
Commercial Surrogacy in India
Posted on March 23, 2008"An enterprise known as reproductive outsourcing is a new but rapidly expanding business in India. Clinics that provide surrogate mothers for foreigners say they have recently been inundated with requests from the United States and Europe, as word spreads of...
Double-Proxy Wedding
Posted on March 23, 2008"The blushless bride wears a hooded sweatshirt of red, offset by a bored expression that says she?s done this dozens of times before. The distracted groom wears a sweatshirt-and-cap ensemble of matching olive, offset by his ? not their ?...
AFCC eNews
Posted on March 04, 2008"The Report from the Wingspread Conference on Domestic Violence and Family Courts is now available on the AFCC Web site. Written by Conference Reporters, Professors Nancy Ver Steegh and Clare Dalton, the Report will be the centerpiece of a special...
California Supreme Court Considers Same-Sex Marriage
Posted on March 04, 2008"The California Supreme Court peppered both sides of the same-sex marriage debate with questions today in a 3½-hour hearing into whether the state law defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman is constitutional. The hearing dealt...
Recruiting Caseworkers
Posted on March 03, 2008"Wanted: men and women willing to walk into strange buildings in dangerous neighborhoods, be screamed at by unhinged individuals ? perhaps in a language you do not understand ? and, on occasion, forcibly remove a child from the custody of...
Family Members Provide Child Care
Posted on March 03, 2008"Grandparents serve as the primary caregivers for about 20 percent of the 11.3 million preschool children with employed mothers, according to data released Thursday by the Census Bureau. Fathers provide slightly less child care than grandparents, the bureau found...
China Reconsiders One-child Restriction
Posted on March 03, 2008"China is studying how to move away from the country?s one-child-per-couple restriction, but any changes would come gradually and would not mean an elimination of family planning policies, a senior official said Thursday. The official, Zhao Baige, vice minister of...
Payment for Broken Engagement?
Posted on February 26, 2008"Mexican brides and grooms who get cold feet before walking down the aisle will have to pay their significant other for the inconvenience, if a proposal by a local congressman is adopted. . . . Jose Antonio Zepeda, a city...
Open Adoption
Posted on February 26, 2008". . . While there are no national statistics, open adoption is increasingly common, according to Harold Grotevant, a University of Minnesota professor who is one of the leading experts in the field. He?s been doing research with 35 adoption...
Domestic Violence Offender Website?
Posted on February 18, 2008"Web sites that promise to give the dirt on prospective dates abound. A guy has a roving eye? Look him up on DontDateHimGirl.com. But a California lawmaker says the background checks can be far more serious. The lawmaker, Assemblywoman Fiona...
Vietnamese Adoptions
Posted on February 18, 2008"Eyes like black pearls, the softest skin and little tufts of hair made it totally easy to fall in love at first sight. And that is what Julie Carroll ? and Jewel McRoberts and Tommi-Lynn Sawyer ? did when they...
Story of Turkish Lawyer
Posted on February 18, 2008FOR Fatma Benli, a Turkish lawyer and women?s rights advocate, the controversy over Islamic head scarves has the irritating sound of a broken record. Ms. Benli, who is 34, wears one herself. (On Wednesday, it was light brown with a...
Case Law Development: Child's Opinion Should Be Considered in Custody Battle over Circumcision of Adolescent
Posted on February 11, 2008The Oregon Supreme Court held that a custodial father?s decision to have his 12-year-old son circumcised so the child can convert to Judaism may provide a basis for a change in circumstances allowing a custody modification if the boy opposes...
Case Law Development: Termination of Parental Rights Does not End Child Support Obligation
Posted on February 11, 2008In an unpublished opinion, the Illinois Supreme Court has held that the termination of parental rights does not extinguish a child support obligation unless the child is being adopted. The court relied on the language of the Illinois statute, which...
Case Law Development: Alabama Supreme Court Clarifies Change of Custody Standard
Posted on February 11, 2008The Alabama Supreme Court has reversed two of its previous decisions regarding the standard for change of child custody, emphasizing that the standard under Alabama law requires a party seeking a change in custody to show that the change "will...
Case Law Development: Burden of Proof of Indian Child Welfare Act Element of "Active Efforts" to Reunite
Posted on January 22, 2008The Nebraska Supreme Court joins those states that interpret the Indian Child Welfare Act to require only clear and convincing proof that "active efforts have been made to provide remedial services and rehabilitative programs" 25 U.S.C. 1912(d) in order to...
Case Law Development: No Collateral Attacks on Second Parent Adoptions
Posted on January 22, 2008Alexander Rhoads of the Iowa Divorce & Family Law Blog reports on the Iowa Supreme Court decision in Schott v. Schott, in which the court held that a trail court could not collaterally attack the validity of a second parent...
Case Law Development: Errors in Appointing GAL Subject to Harmless Error Analysis
Posted on January 19, 2008The California Supreme Court resolved a split among the courts of appeals in holding that a juvenile court's error in the procedure used to appoint a guardian ad litem for a parent in a dependency proceeding is subject to harmless...
Scholarships Available for AFCC?s 45th Annual Conference in Vancouver
Posted on January 18, 2008The Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC) is offering scholarships to its 45th Annual Conference, Fitting the Forum to the Family: Emerging Challenges for Family Courts, May 28-31, 2008 at the Weston Bayshore in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Twenty-five conference...
Culturally Sensitive Shelters
Posted on January 18, 2008"After enduring seven years of beatings from her husband, a young Yemeni-American woman recently fled to a local shelter, only to find that the heavy black head scarf she wore as an observant Muslim provoked disapproval. The shelter brought in...
Case Law Development: Can Delays Caused by Child Protective System Provide Basis for Adoption Outcome?
Posted on January 15, 2008Justices of the California Court of Appeals disagreed over the effect of a two-year delay in terminating a mother's parental rights and in preventing the child's transfer to Florida to reside with her aunt. The majority opinion provides a detailed...
Case Law Development: Child Born As Result of Implantation of IVF Embryo After Father's Death Not Entitled to Inheritance Rights
Posted on January 15, 2008Answering a certified question from the US District Court, the Arkansas Supreme Court has held that A child born in a test tube and implanted in his mother's womb after his father's death cannot necessarily be considered as an heir...
Story of Twins who Married Fuels Legislative Debate & Final Exams
Posted on January 14, 2008By now you've all had a student bring you the news reports of the twins separated at birth who later married not knowing they were siblings. (My students were sending me the article in droves because the fact situation formed...
Case Law Development: Virginia Court Distinguishes Abandonment in Divorce and Elective Share Analysis
Posted on January 14, 2008The Virginia Supreme Court found that the trial court did not err in ruling that an estranged husband was not eligible for an elective share of the spouse's augmented estate. The court noted that the record shows that both before...
Lessons from Brittany
Posted on January 12, 2008Some time ago, the editorial staff of Family Law Prof decided we would no longer cover celebrity family law problems as a routine matter. However, Professor Joanna Grossman has provided a lovely essay on the Britney Spears family law saga...
Why People Divorce
Posted on January 12, 2008A commissioned poll by an online divorce site (Divorce360.com) examines the reasons people divorce. The number one reason people gave for divorce is abuse. More than one in three (36%) divorced Americans cited either verbal or physical abuse as the...
New York Child Welfare System Overwhelmed, New Report Finds
Posted on January 11, 2008A recent report by two research institutions, the Center for New York City Affairs at the New School and the Center for an Urban Future reports that the New York Family Court system has been ?overwhelmed? by a flood of...
Case Law Development: Loss of Child Custody Results from Failure to Appear at Status Conference
Posted on January 11, 2008The Maine Supreme Court disagreed over whether a default judgment was appropriate for a father's failure to appear at a Magistrate's status conference. The majority affirmed the trial court's entry of default judgment awarding mother custody based on father's failure...
Case Law Development: Poverty Not A Basis for Termination of Parental Rights
Posted on January 11, 2008The California Court of Appeals has issused an unpublished opinion that is an excellent case study of the relationship between poverty and termination of parental rights. A presumed father's parental rights had been terminated because he was unable to provide...
US Supreme Court Refuses to Review Alienation of Affections Case
Posted on January 10, 2008The United States Supreme Court on Monday refused to review a Mississippi Supreme Court's decision affirming a $750,000 damages award for "alienation of affection." The plaintiff Johnny Fitch divorced his wife Sandra after she became pregnant and a paternity test...
Case Law Development: DNA Testing and Dismissal of Paternity Actions
Posted on January 10, 2008The Supreme Court of Wyoming, in a case of first impression, interprets its state paternity statute regarding the impact of a DNA test excluding paternity. The disputed provision reads: "If the scientific evidence resulting from the genetic tests conclusively shows...
Case Law Development: Default Administrative Child Support Order Does not Establish Paternity Sufficient to Support Criminal Non-Support Action
Posted on January 10, 2008The Supreme Court of Missouri has issued a number of decisions this past year relating to paternity -- requiring greater process to prove or disprove paternity. In its latest decision, the court concluded that the state's child support administrative system...
Case Law Development: Damages in Palimony Actions
Posted on January 09, 2008The New Jersey Court of Appeals details a "classic palimony" case this week -- a thirty-year relationship between Rosemary Connell and Edward Diehl. Diehl had told Connell that they did not need to get married because they would simply tell...
Case Law Development: Divorce Litigant's Threats to Kill Judge and Attorneys Not Protected by Attorney-Client Privilege
Posted on January 08, 2008This case is a window on the divorce attorney's worst nightmare - the client who threatens violence in retaliation for divorce. A divorce attorney heard her client make repeated threats to kill the judges and opposing counsel. The content of...
Case Law Development: Temporary Custody Change During Parent's Deployment Becomes Permanent Custody Change
Posted on January 08, 2008Mother and Father had a joint custody arrangement regarding their child from ages 2 to 10, with child living primarily with Mother in New York with her husband and their child and having substantial visitation with Father in Virginia. When...
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Haw can I join with my family who live in the USA?
Only you are allowed to can join your sister....
How to collect a personal loan from a spouse?
You local court will probably have someone to offer you some assistance as you p...
My husband's Grandmother died intestate. She had one sole heir, my husband's Father. He and his wife kept paying taxes on the property.Then he also died intestate. Now, my Mother-in-law wants to sell this property. Accor
Based on my research, his wife would have a 1/3 interest in the property. The ot...
How to make a landlord honor an option to buy provision in the lease (OH)?
Most leases are written as a one year agreement, if neither party elects to form...
I am an only daughter, and my brother will not give me my mothers jewelry that she wanted to go to me . Can I sue to get what is rightfully mine?
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