Family Law Prof Blog

The First Southeast Asian Country to Legalize Same-Sex Partnerships

From Xtra Magazine:

Thailand is poised to become the first Southeast Asian country to legalize same-sex partnerships after a long-delayed bill was approved by its cabinet. However, the bill may or may not become the law before the end of government term.

Although it does not go as far as recognizing full marriage equality, the Civil Partnerships Bill unveiled by Thailand’s Council of Ministers on June 7 allows same-sex couples many of the same rights as heterosexual partners, according to the Bangkok Post. Under the proposed law, same-sex couples will be able to adopt, share rights of inheritance and make medical decisions on their partner’s behalf. The draft legislation also provides a pathway for legal separations and divorce for same-sex couples.

But even if Thailand passes either of the marriage bills currently under consideration, the country has a lot of work left ahead until LGBTQ+ people achieve full equality. Although its parliament passed a federal non-discrimination law in 2015, the legislation allowed generous loopholes in matters of “education, religion and the public interest,” as the Bangkok newspaper Prachatai reported at the time. There is no legal recognition for trans or non-binary people.

Read more here.

Biological Tie in Custody Dispute

From CBC.ca:

Biology is one of many factors to be considered in child custody cases, and not a major one, the Supreme Court of Canada said in written comments released Friday, involving a P.E.I. case that it had ruled upon in December. The court overturned a decision by the P.E.I. Court of Appeal and awarded custody to a boy's grandmother, rather than his father, who had been unaware of the child's birth until a P.E.I. official told him in 2019.

After the separation from marriage, the mother moved to P.E.I. without telling the child's father she was pregnant. The mother suffered from mental health issues. Later, she refused to allow her mother to have any more contact with the child. Accordingly, the child was placed under the care of child protection officials. The child protection services contacted the father. The father said he wanted the boy to live with him and began to prepare for parenthood. 

A P.E.I. judge granted permanent custody to the grandmother rather than the father, after weighing all the evidence presented and saying the claims of both parties were more or less equal. Given that, the judge said the decisive factor was which person was more likely to foster a relationship between the boy and the other side of his family.

Read more here.

Obstacles of Parents Providing Gender Affirming Care

From KCRA Sacramento:

Three Texas families have filed a lawsuit challenging the state's investigations into parents who provide their transgender children with gender-affirming healthcare procedures, according to attorneys on their behalf.

Gender-affirming care is medically necessary, evidence-based care that uses multiple approaches to help a person transition from their assigned gender — the one the person was designated at birth — to their affirmed gender, the gender by which they want to be known.

Major medical associations have agreed that gender-affirming care is clinically appropriate for children and adults with gender dysphoria, which according to the American Psychiatric Association is psychological distress that may result when a person's gender identity and sex assigned at birth do not align.

Read more here.

Divorce During Pregnancy

From WUSA9.com:

Do laws in Texas, Arizona, Arkansas, Missouri and Florida require a married couple to wait until a child is born to get a divorce? 

None of these states have any laws preventing someone from getting a divorce if they are pregnant. However, a judge can decide to hold off on finalizing a divorce until a baby is born for paternity, child support or custody reasons. This is common in Missouri and Texas, but less likely in Arizona, Arkansas and Florida.

So while the duration of a divorce proceeding is going to vary based on the couple, judge, state and circumstance, it's not true that there is any law in Texas, Arizona, Arkansas, Missouri and Florida that prevents a pregnant couple from getting divorced.

Read more here.

 

Custody Schedule in Summer

From Psychology Today:

If a divorcing couple has a settlement agreement, they can use it to determine who has the children when during the summer. Typically, there are set amounts of vacation time scheduled for each parent. A well-written settlement will also include the expenses that might be expected over the summer, from camps to additional childcare.

It's best for divorcing parents to do everything they can to avoid conflict in front of the kids and to always put their needs first. There are countless ways to make these case-by-case arrangements. The critical part is that both parents agree that the children are as happy with it as possible and that they have it in writing, preferably a legally sound agreement, in the event that there is an unexpected change in point of view.

Children should have access to both parents, so vacations and holiday weekend times may need to alternate.

Read more here.

Lawmakers Propose to Codify Same-Sex Marriage in Utah

From Deseret News:

State Sen. Derek Kitchen unveiled legislation Tuesday to codify the right to marry in Utah after a recent leaked draft from the U.S. Supreme Court has many worried about rights to marry, use contraceptives and receive in vitro fertilization.

Same-sex marriage is a personal issue to Kitchen, who was a plaintiff in the 2013 court case that helped Utah become the first state to recognize gay marriage after a federal ruling. In Kitchen v. Herbert, the court found Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional, citing previous rulings like Loving v. Virginia, which protected the right of interracial marriage.

Even as a member of the minority party in Utah, Kitchen thinks his bill has a chance to pass. He hasn’t spoken with Senate GOP leadership about the bill, he said, but has brought it up to Republican colleagues.

Read more here.

Overcoming Jealousy in a Polyamorous Relationship

See a perspective here in the Washington Post.

Parental Alienation in Child Custody

From Psychiatric Times:

Parental alienation is a pathological phenomenon in high-conflict divorces where 1 parent sabotages a child’s relationship with the other parent. If the offending parent is successful in their mission, the child totally rejects the targeted parent; this would be severe alienation. 

Short-term and long-term negative consequences have been found as a result of a child’s alienation. The alienating parent’s attorney will unabashedly encourage the alienating behavior because it is a “winning” strategy from a legal viewpoint. Most judges have little understanding of parental alienation and are often swayed by the combined voices of the GAL and the alienating parent’s attorney.

Parental alienation cases can be managed effectively. It requires an experienced and assertive mental health expert, open and thoughtful attorneys, and a truly interested judge.

Read more here.

In Croatia, Same-Sex Couples Are Now Allowed to Adopt Children.

From WION:

Croatia, which joined the European Union in 2013, is a devout Roman Catholic country where the church wields significant power in public life.

In a landmark decision that put an end to a six-year legal struggle, Croatia's high administrative court ruled that same-sex couples are eligible to apply for child adoption since any other treatment would be discriminatory and contrary to European tradition.

The court's decision effectively dismissed an appeal filed by the country's minister of demography, family, and social programmes, which attempted to overturn a similar verdict issued by the Zagreb administrative court in 2021.

Read more here.

High Rate of Child Marriages in Iran

From NCRI Women's Committee:

Although the legal age of marriage in Iran is 13, but the law allows a girl’s father or paternal grandfather to wed her even at younger age. And there have been many examples of girls being wed at age 9 and even as young as 5. The average rate of child marriage in Iran is 30% above the world average rate. Experts say this is the tip of an iceberg and the actual number of child marriages is 5 to 6 times greater.

The most common consequences of child marriage are: the child bride first drops out of school and cannot continue her education, and the child bride is exposed to all forms of violence and harassment by her husband. Another serious consequence of child marriage is suicide. Just in the past couple of months we had considerable news on child brides committing suicide.

An average of 375 to 450 honor killings are recorded every year in Iran and at least 8 women fall victim to honor killings every day. Honor killings account for about 20% of all murders in Iran and 50% of all homicides.

Read more here.

The Challenge of Online Ministers Performing Marriages

From Tennessean:

 A federal lawsuit challenging Tennessee's ban on online-ordained ministers performing marriages can go ahead, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week. The suit, which argues in part that a 2019 law violates religious protections of the First Amendment, has been mired in questions over a procedural tangle on sovereign immunity that could have killed the suit in early stages.

The 2019 law clarified criminal penalties — a Class E felony punishable by one to six years in prison and a $3,000 fine — could be levied against an online-ordained minister in some circumstances. 

Appellate judges ruled only on the immunity question, not the constitutionality of the law. The case will continue in the U.S. District Court in Middle Tennessee. 

Read more here.

 

Discussion of “The Children Act”

The Diane Rehm Book Club selection for May 2022 was “The Children Act” by Ian McEwan.

This 2014 novel, by the bestselling author of “Atonement,” tells the story of a British judge who must decide the fate of a 17-year-old cancer patient who has refused treatment based on his faith. While making this emotional decision, the judge faces upheaval and betrayal in her own life. In the end, “The Children Act” is both an exploration of religion versus science and the state, and a portrait of a woman whose orderly world seems to be falling apart.

Diane Rehm was joined by a panel of guests on Wednesday, May 25, 2022 for an in-depth conversation about this striking novel.

Diane was in conversation with Naomi Cahn, distinguished professor of law and co-director of the Family Law Center, University of Virginia School of Law; Barrie Hardymon, senior editor at NPR and frequent panelist for books on NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour; and Nathan K. Hensley, associate professor of English, Georgetown University.

View the conversation here.

Call for Papers

The Institute for Law Teaching and Learning is thrilled to be launching a new scholarly journal.  The Journal of Law Teaching and Learning will publish scholarly articles about pedagogy and will provide authors with rigorous peer review. We hope to publish our first issue in Fall 2023. 

If you have a scholarly article that might fit the needs of The Journal of Law Teaching and Learning, please consider submitting it directly to us via email at [email protected] or through the Scholastica platform.