Family Law Prof Blog: Family Law

Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Family Law Blogs

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

Family Law

Family Law Prof Blog

Family law issues explored by law professors.
By Barbara Glesner Fines, Robert E. Oliphant, and Nancy Ver Steegh (William Mitchell College of Law).

Post Frequency: 12.6/day

Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 15:18:00

Case Law Development: Nonrefundable Retainer Fee in Divorce Approved

Posted on January 20, 2009
The 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, 2009
Family 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, 2009
CONFERENCE 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, 2009
In 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...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Kinship Care vs. Foster Care

Posted on January 13, 2009
In 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, 2009
Call 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, 2009
The 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, 2009
The 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, 2009
A 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, 2009
Teaching 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, 2009
A 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, 2008
Save 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, 2008
Some 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, 2008
Punishing 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
According 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, 2008
Circuit 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
Recent 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, 2008
At 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, 2008
The 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, 2008
In 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, 2008
Family 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, 2008
This 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, 2008
In 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...

Previous | Next

Related Law Bulletins

John Ritter’s Family Takes $67 Million Wrongful Death Lawsuit to Court
Jury selection in the wrongful death of actor John Ritter began in...

Emotional Costs of Medical Errors - Patient, Family, Physician
An editorial in The New England Journal of Medicine examines the i...

$1.2M Verdict for Family of Woman Who Died After Hernia Operation
Evidence showed that poor nursing care at Pennsylvania Hospital of...

Dead Man's Family Calls NY Malpractice Lawyer First Before Burying Him
THIS IS A TRUE STORYA call came in the other day. A hysterical wom...

Palestinian Family Finally Released From Prison
As an update to a previous post about the ridiculous imprisonment ...