Family Law Prof Blog

CA Litigation

Litigants in the family law context in California are challenging the Vexatious Litigant Statute (VLS).  Read the federal court complaint here.

MR

New Cohabitation Law in British Columbia

From CTV News:

Cohabitating couples in British Columbia should start thinking about splitting debt and property and potentially paying out spousal support as the province rolls out new family laws.

The updated legislation, which takes effect Monday, erases the line between marriage and common law partnerships in B.C.

Read more here.

MR

Florida's Alimony Law

Proposed changes to Florida's alimony law are discussed here.

MR

Same-Sex Marriage in France

From Jurist:

France's Senate [official website, in French] on Thursday commenced debate of a bill [text, in French] that would legalize same-sex marriage [JURIST backgrounder] and allow same-sex couples to adopt children.

Read more here.

MR

Hat Tip: Angelique Devaux

Guest Post by Jennifer Smith--Family Law: In the Event of an UnSafe Parent

A divorce is an unforgettable event to a child as they will feel pain and emotional conflict having to choose which parent they to whom they side and the idea that the individuals that pronounce their undying love will no longer stay present in their daily lives. The child will feel as if they are stuck between the conflict, and may see the event as a result of their doing which creates deep psychological imprints on the child.

The child, however, may not realize that the divorce is due to the result of an unfit parent. One of the parents may not provide adequate safety and security to the child which puts them at risk.

This break in safety could be the result of any number of factors:

• Inadequate home security to defend the child from home intrusion (read more about these items and how to protect on securitychoice.com)
• A parent that has little or no self-control due to addictions
• An unfit environment from the friends and relatives of the parent

Family law had been a streamlined process that allowed either parent to make their case and the result being some or no visitation rights but this is beginning to change and become difficult to conduct.

The child will generally be placed under temporary custody to one of the parents or a third-party within the family unit during the divorce process.

The custody of the child will result in the four following arrangements:

• Legal – A parent is given the responsibility for a child’s health and welfare.
• Physical – The child will go with one of the parents and may have an option for joint custody or visitation rights.
• Joint – The child has the opportunity to interact with both parents because they share custody.
• Sole – A child goes to one of the parents that makes the daily decisions of the child (but may still have joint legal custody).

The court will use a number of factors to determine which type of arrangement will come to process based on many factors such as the financial stability of a parent, location, general well-being, and safety.

Safety can be show through a variety of actions:

• Being consistent in emotions and physical contact
• Showing patience with the child
• Avoiding acquisitions and blaming
• Being forgiving
• Not being a victim of one’s lifestyle

The most important factors a family court will use in the case greatly rely on the history of violence, destructive behavior, drug/alcohol use, mental issues, or neglect. It’s unfortunate but many parents will use minor faults, or even the child, to gain custody when it’s apparent that both are fit for the job; it’s generally the result of a bitter breakup.

The child, too, may come as a factor within the decision for which parent gains custody; these factors will be taken into account and used to determine the best outcome for the child.

In all, the legal ramifications of a divorce will ripple through the lives of each individual involved and the children caught between the conflicts. The end result will find closure based on the cases presented by both sides and the history of each individual involved. A child’s well-being and mental stability should become one of the main aspects to cater throughout the process as it will have a profound impact on the child throughout their later years.

Lotto Winner with Child Support Bill

A man from New Jersey, Pedro Quezada, winner of the fourth-largest Powerball lottery drawing (held on Tuesday, March 26), settled for the one-lump sum payment of $211 million, instead of taking the $338 million prize in installments.  The day after, sheriff deputies from Passaic County knocked on his door, confronting him with his overdue child support bill (Quezaka owes $29,000 in payments).    Quezada has, so far, been unreachable, and it is not clear which or how many of his children are involved.  He did say he was going to assist his relatives with his winnings, and Sheriff Richard H. Berdnik advises Quezada to pay off the debt he owes sooner than later because his winnings could be withheld until the debt is settled, or he could be arrested.

Read more here.

MR

 

Ohio Adoptions

Proposed Ohio legislation would help adoptees get access to medical information (as well as other information) from adoption files.  House Bill 61 would allow most Ohio individuals who were adopted access their original adoption files once they become adults.  Birth parents would be able to provide family health information that would be released to the adoptee upon request; if the legislation is approved, it will not go into effect for one year “to give birth parents time to fill out the contact forms.”

As of right now, Ohio law is inconsistent with birth records for some adoptees.  Currently, people adopted before January 1, 1964 have complete access to their adoption file once they become adults; they only have to request the file and pay a $20 fee.  Those adopted from January 1, 1964 until September 18, 1996 are unable to obtain their birth certificates without a court order.

Read more here.

MR

Children's Rights in UK

From Family Law Week:

In a judgment which strongly upheld children's rights under the UNCRC, Lord Justice Moses (sitting with Mr Justice Parker) has held that the UK government's practice of treating 17 year olds as adults, the failure to inform the parents of their child's arrest and the failure to provide an independent, appropriate adult to 17 year old children when detained and questioned at a police station about alleged criminal offences is "inconsistent with the UNCRC and the views of the United Nations Committee of the Rights of the Child."

Read more here.

MR

Child Support Collection Privatization

Two top Republicans are pushing for child support collection privatization in the state of Mississippi.  Austin Barbour, nephew of former Governor Haley Barbour, and Arnie Hederman are gearing “to put private firms on track to make big money by performing government services,” according to Democratic lawmakers.  According to statistics provided by these two Republicans, the number of child support cases in Mississippi hovers around 435,000, and the amount of overdue money hovers around $1.1 billion.  Barbour and Hederman are lobbying for YoungWilliams Child Support Services.

Read more here.

MR

Divorce & Child's Drug Use

Colorado lawyers Alexandra White and Carolyn Witkus highlight the possible issues to be raised when a divorce involves children and a parent's marijuana use.  They state that with the state's legalization of recreational marijuana, problems could arise when it comes to questioning a marijuana-using parent's responsibility during visitations.

Read more here.

MR

Same-Sex Marriage

From the Washington Monthly:

No one knows for sure how the Supreme Court will rule on the two high-profile gay marriage cases it is now considering. The betting, however, is that, regardless of the outcome, progress towards marriage equality will persist. A majority of the public now believes gays and lesbians should have the right to wed. Nine states and the District of Columbia have laws on the books conferring such rights.

Read more here.

MR

Hat Tip: Naomi Cahn

Gender Pay Gap

Professors Naomi Cahn and June Carbone write for the New York Times:

Over the last 20 years, any “progress” in diminishing the gender pay gap in this country has come largely from the losses in male income produced by globalization and the failure of the economy to produce enough new good jobs.

So there’s been no true progress. And now pay disparity between men and women is growing because of our dysfunctional economy. In 1990, highly educated women earned a higher percentage of male income than less-educated women. By 2008, the relationship between education and the wage gap had reversed.

Read more here.

MR

Happy Easter

Photo Shoot Spotlighting Adoption of Older Children

From Today Moms:

The face is angelic, the lighting soft and the subject is napping peacefully – just the way a newborn photo shoot should look. It took 13 years, but Latrell Higgins finally has his baby photos.

“Here's my sweet not so little newborn! His name is Latrell and weighs 112 lbs.,” his mom Kelli Higgins proudly announced on Facebook, where the boy’s simple wish created an online sensation.

Higgins and her husband adopted Latrell and his sister Chanya two years ago, welcoming the siblings to their home in Crestview, Fla. The family already had five biological children, with a sixth one on the way, but Higgins felt she had more love to give, especially to kids who would have a harder time finding a home because they were older. In the past decade, more older children have become available for adoption, experts say.

“These children, once they get past a certain age, they don’t find homes and they age out of foster care,” Higgins told TODAY.com.

Read more here.

MR

Prenups

As prenuptial agreements have become more mainstream, people have been surprised to find out they can have effects on long-term care.  A party can decide to exercise or waiver a right to elect against their spouse’s estate, regardless of the fact they are divorced from their first spouse.

Read more here.

MR

Divorce Granted

American Kim Lee was granted a divorce from her wealthy, famous Chinese husband Li Yang by a Beijing court on Sunday, February 3, 2013.  The case had kept Chinese citizens rivited for about a year because Ms. Lee publicly accused her husband of domestic violence.  The court also granted her a three-month protection order against her ex-husband "a first in the nation's capital."  Mr. Li, a multimillionaire and founder of "Crazy English," a way of learning English that involves shouting "to overcome inhibitions," stated on television that domestic violence was acceptable in China.  It appears the court did not agree; they expressed this view by granting Ms. Lee a protection order, by acknowledging domestic violence as grounds for divorce, and by ordering Li Yang to pay 50,000 renminbi in compensation for the violence.  Ms. Lee will receive 12 million renminbi and a fixed amount annually until her 3 daughters reach the age of 18.  However, many argue this amount shows the courts failed to uncover Li's true assets, because the sum was too low.

Read more here.

MR

Founder of Largest Adoption Agency Passes

Marguerite Bonnema, one of the last living founders of Bethany Christian Services (BCS), America's largest adoption agency, died recently, just days before her 100th birthday.  Bonnema co-founded BCS with Mary VandenBosch in the 1940s with the goal of establishing "a residence for homeless children.

Read more here.

MR

Regarding Religious Divorces

A Connecticut court “has affirmed the constitutionality of a Modern Orthodox-sponsored prenuptial agreement meant to protect agunot – Jewish women ‘chained’ by husbands who refuse to grant them a religious divorce.”  Rachel Light may be able to demand more than $100,000 from her soon-to-be-ex husband.  It stipulated Eben Light has to pay $100 for each day he refuses to grant his wife a Jewish divorce, known as a get.  Even though the two have been separated for several years, Mr. Light has not granted Rachel a proper divorce.

Read more.

MR

The Marriages & Lives of Supreme Court Justices

From the Washington Post:

There's a widow who was a poineer of the "modern marriage" and someone who never wed.  Two divorcees.

There is a husband who married relatively late in life and adopted two children. Another is a prolific procreator, with enough children to field a baseball team and enough grandchildren to form a basketball league.

One is in an interracial marriage, which would have been illegal in his state only 20 years before his wedding.

As the Supreme Court prepares to consider the American tradition of marriage, the justices display a wide range of personal choices reflective of the modern experience.

Read more here.

MR

Hat Tip: SH

FamilyScholars.Org Symposium

FamilyScholars.org recently hosted a symposium on What is Parenthood?  Reviewers included Nancy Dowd, Susan Appleton, Laura Rosenbury, Naomi Cahn, June Carbone, and several others.  See details here.

MR