This popular family law casebook engages students by presenting core family law doctrine while exploring significant transformations in American families and cutting-edge policy debates. It highlights the important role of constitutional law--and other areas of state and federal law--in shaping family law. The book invites students to consider questions of family definition and governmental regulation of families in light of family law's purposes. It charts family law's evolving approach to adult-adult and parent-child (and other caretaker-dependent) relationships, emphasizing that contemporary families take a variety of forms. The Sixth Edition updates all chapters to reflect the latest family law developments, such as the legal treatment of nonmarital families (including plural relationships) and nonbiological parenting as well as recent Supreme Court decisions. It integrates material previously covered in separate chapters on ethical issues in family law practice and jurisdiction into the contexts in which they arise, such as divorce, child custody, and division of marital property. The Sixth Edition has new material highlighting the intersection of family law with race, gender, class, immigration, sexual orientation, and gender identity. As with previous editions, the casebook contains ample problems for students to apply doctrine to realistic factual contexts and highlights practical dynamics of family law practice. The 6th edition: Thoroughly examines the impact of recent Supreme Court cases on family law, including Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (and provides teachers with shorter and longer versions of that case), and Golan v. Saada Includes attention to the role of race and racism in laws that shape and regulate the family, with case law addressing marriage, divorce, and inheritance rights of formerly enslaved persons and a post-Loving v. Virginia case challenging the continued requirement that couples disclose race on a marriage license Provides a restructured chapter on the legal consequences of marriage, spousal roles within marriage, and the gender revolution within family law and related fields Includes new developments on marriage requirements, including state minimum age laws and common-law marriage rules, and addresses First Amendment challenges, post-Masterpiece Cakeshop, to civil marriage equality and state antidiscrimination laws Includes new coverage of the intersection of immigration and family law Addresses changes in legal approaches to nonmarital families, including multi-adult domestic partnerships and the Uniform Cohabitants' Economic Remedies Act Provides updated treatment of custody and parenting time issues, including parenting gender-expansive children Provides a restructured chapter on intimate partner violence (IPV), including updates on various factors impacting IPV and shifting gun control statutes and caselaw affecting civil protection orders Provides new consideration of child support issues, including joint custody and subsequent families Provides revised problems in anticipation of the NextGen Bar Exam

This popular family law casebook engages students with the significant changes to the American family and the corresponding evolution of family law doctrine and policy. In the fifth edition, all 17 chapters are fully updated to reflect the latest family law developments, including ones that have occurred since Obergefell v. Hodges (2015). The book emphasizes that contemporary families take a variety of forms, including marital and nonmarital adult relationships, and that constitutional considerations play an increasingly important role in family law. The fifth edition preserves and builds on the approach of the earlier editions: presenting core substantive family law doctrine while also exploring ongoing and emerging policy debates and discussing the importance of cross-disciplinary collaborations with experts in fields such as psychology and accounting. A limited number of new cases replace older ones in most chapters, and the introductions to and notes and questions following each lead case, statute, or article have been thoroughly updated. In addition, problems for discussion in each chapter--including new and updated problems for this edition--enable students to apply doctrine in real-life settings that lawyers face. Contemporary Family Law also introduces the myriad issues central to family law practice and to a lawyer''s ethical and professional responsibilities. The book includes material on shifting paradigms in family law practice and the roles of family lawyers, and devotes separate chapters to professional ethics, alternative dispute resolution, and private ordering. The book addresses jurisdictional issues in one integrated chapter. In addition to providing a grounding in the historical and contemporary regulation of marriage, the book includes material throughout on the legal treatment of nonmarital couples and their children. The book also explores the diverse pathways to legal parentage and their impact on parent-child and co-parent relationships. Moreover, because child custody arrangements lead to some of the most acrimonious family disputes, this casebook devotes two chapters to custody: the first treats the initial custody decision, and the second explores continuing litigation concerning visitation, custody, and key childrearing decisions after the initial disposition, including disputes involving third parties such as cohabitants and grandparents. Both custody chapters include disputes involving nonmarital children. The fifth edition includes new and expanded material throughout, such as: Issues arising after Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), the Supreme Court''s decision on the fundamental right of same-sex couples to marry and to have every state recognize their marriage, and the decision''s ramifications throughout family law, including rules for entering marriage, parentage, domestic partnerships, civil unions, and other legal statuses. Changes in marriage regulation, including state bigamy and legal challenges to them and "child marriage," including legislative efforts to raise the minimum age of marriage, with examples of new legislation. Developments involving nonmarital couples, including Blumenthal v. Brewer''s affirmation of Illinois''s policy against allowing economic remedies for nonmarital couples. Changes in parentage law, including surrogacy legislation, the latest revision of the Uniform Parentage Act (2017), and the new Uniform Nonparent Custody and Visitation Act adopted in 2018. Extensive coverage of debt and family finances, new material drawn from numerous studies on the current economic climate (replacing the excerpt from Elizabeth Warren on bankruptcy), as well as new material on how the 2017 changes to federal tax law affect families; Discussion of Whole Woman''s Health v. Hellerstedt (S. Ct. 2016) and later developments in the courts and in state legislatures regulating access to abortion; New lead cases on moral fitness in custody adjudication and domestic violence in custody decisions with substantially revised notes; a new lead case on relocation by a custodial parent--here a male nurse--reflecting changes in the law in many jurisdictions; expanded notes on parental decisions involving transgender youth; and a new discussion of disputes over "custody" of animal companions, commonly known as pets. A full chapter containing updated materials about domestic violence and its harmful effects on marital and nonmarital households, and about intrafamily tort actions and family-related tort actions brought against family members by third persons. A full chapter on adoption, including the latest trends and practices in transracial adoption, international adoption by American parents, and adoption by same-sex couples. A fully updated chapter on the child support obligations of marital and non-marital parents.

In the fourth edition, all 17 chapters are fully updated to reflect the latest family law developments. Developments based on Obergefell v. Hodges are treated fully throughout the new edition. This popular family law casebook engages students with the significant changes to the American family and the corresponding evolution of family law doctrine and policy. The book emphasizes that contemporary families take a variety of forms, including marital and nonmarital relationships, and that constitutional considerations play an increasingly important role in family law. The fourth edition preserves and builds on the approach of the earlier editions: presenting core substantive family law doctrine while also exploring ongoing and emerging policy debates and discussing the importance of cross-disciplinary collaborations with experts in fields such as psychology and accounting. The book introduces the myriad issues central to family law practice and to a lawyer''s ethical and professional responsibilities. New cases have been substituted where appropriate, and the notes following each lead case, statute or article have been thoroughly updated. In addition, new Problems expand the number of opportunities for actively engaging students. Contemporary Family Law highlights the issues of professional and ethical responsibility that arise in family law, not only by using Problems that invite students to engage in role playing, but also by devoting separate chapters to legal ethics, alternative dispute resolution, and private ordering. While providing a grounding in the historical and contemporary regulation of marriage, the book also devotes chapters to nonmarital couples and to establishing parenthood. The book also emphasizes concrete aspects of legal practice and professional responsibility by, for example, including material at the end of the first chapter on shifting paradigms within family law practice and the roles of family lawyers, by addressing jurisdictional issues in one integrated chapter, and by presenting problems for discussion in each chapter that enable students to apply doctrine in real-life settings that lawyers face. Moreover, because child custody arrangements lead to some of the most acrimonious family disputes, this casebook devotes two chapters to custody: the first treats the initial custody decision, and the second explores continuing litigation concerning visitation, custody, and key childrearing decisions after the initial disposition, including disputes involving third parties such as cohabitants and grandparents. Both custody chapters include disputes involving nonmarital children. New and expanded material in the fourth edition includes full treatment of Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), the Supreme Court''s ruling on the fundamental right of same-sex couples to marry and to have every state recognize their marriage, and its ramifications throughout family law. This edition has added a separate chapter on nonmarital couples, including a section on domestic partnerships, civil unions, and other legal statuses in the wake of Obergefell; extensive coverage of debt and family finances, reflecting the current economic climate, as well as new material on how taxes affect families; substantially updated discussion of the impact of gender in child custody decisions and the current legal status of shared parenting; an expanded Section on the Hague Convention; detailed discussion of new and emerging reproductive technologies; and major revisions to the chapter on child support (including recent data on the central role of child support in low-income families). The chapter on private ordering integrates the new Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreements Act. Finally, the comprehensive 700-page teachers manual presents explanations and pedagogical strategies, including extended exercises, that will help new adopters design a rich course that meets their students'' needs and aspirations. For professors who have already used the book, the manual provides support on how to integrate new material into their existing lectures. The co-authors will share their Power Point slides with professors who adopt the book.

This volume examines the state of family law in America. Among its themes is the tension between individual autonomy and governmental regulation in all aspects of family law. It examines both conventional and new definitions of formal and informal domestic relationships.

This popular family law casebook engages students with the significant changes to the American family and the corresponding evolution of family law doctrine and policy. In the fifth edition, all 17 chapters are fully updated to reflect the latest family law developments, including ones that have occurred since Obergefell v. Hodges (2015). The book emphasizes that contemporary families take a variety of forms, including marital and nonmarital adult relationships, and that constitutional considerations play an increasingly important role in family law. The fifth edition preserves and builds on the approach of the earlier editions: presenting core substantive family law doctrine while also exploring ongoing and emerging policy debates and discussing the importance of cross-disciplinary collaborations with experts in fields such as psychology and accounting. A limited number of new cases replace older ones in most chapters, and the introductions to and notes and questions following each lead case, statute, or article have been thoroughly updated. In addition, problems for discussion in each chapter--including new and updated problems for this edition--enable students to apply doctrine in real-life settings that lawyers face. Contemporary Family Law also introduces the myriad issues central to family law practice and to a lawyer''s ethical and professional responsibilities. The book includes material on shifting paradigms in family law practice and the roles of family lawyers, and devotes separate chapters to professional ethics, alternative dispute resolution, and private ordering. The book addresses jurisdictional issues in one integrated chapter. In addition to providing a grounding in the historical and contemporary regulation of marriage, the book includes material throughout on the legal treatment of nonmarital couples and their children. The book also explores the diverse pathways to legal parentage and their impact on parent-child and co-parent relationships. Moreover, because child custody arrangements lead to some of the most acrimonious family disputes, this casebook devotes two chapters to custody: the first treats the initial custody decision, and the second explores continuing litigation concerning visitation, custody, and key childrearing decisions after the initial disposition, including disputes involving third parties such as cohabitants and grandparents. Both custody chapters include disputes involving nonmarital children. The fifth edition includes new and expanded material throughout, such as: Issues arising after Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), the Supreme Court''s decision on the fundamental right of same-sex couples to marry and to have every state recognize their marriage, and the decision''s ramifications throughout family law, including rules for entering marriage, parentage, domestic partnerships, civil unions, and other legal statuses. Changes in marriage regulation, including state bigamy and legal challenges to them and "child marriage," including legislative efforts to raise the minimum age of marriage, with examples of new legislation. Developments involving nonmarital couples, including Blumenthal v. Brewer''s affirmation of Illinois''s policy against allowing economic remedies for nonmarital couples. Changes in parentage law, including surrogacy legislation, the latest revision of the Uniform Parentage Act (2017), and the new Uniform Nonparent Custody and Visitation Act adopted in 2018. Extensive coverage of debt and family finances, new material drawn from numerous studies on the current economic climate (replacing the excerpt from Elizabeth Warren on bankruptcy), as well as new material on how the 2017 changes to federal tax law affect families; Discussion of Whole Woman''s Health v. Hellerstedt (S. Ct. 2016) and later developments in the courts and in state legislatures regulating access to abortion; New lead cases on moral fitness in custody adjudication and domestic violence in custody decisions with substantially revised notes; a new lead case on relocation by a custodial parent--here a male nurse--reflecting changes in the law in many jurisdictions; expanded notes on parental decisions involving transgender youth; and a new discussion of disputes over "custody" of animal companions, commonly known as pets. A full chapter containing updated materials about domestic violence and its harmful effects on marital and nonmarital households, and about intrafamily tort actions and family-related tort actions brought against family members by third persons. A full chapter on adoption, including the latest trends and practices in transracial adoption, international adoption by American parents, and adoption by same-sex couples. A fully updated chapter on the child support obligations of marital and non-marital parents.

Expands and updates family law as it pertains to women with regard to marriage, divorce and inheritance throughout the Middle East.This second revised edition of John L. Esposito's landmark work expands and updates coverage of family law reforms -- marriage, divorce, and inheritance -- throughout the Middle East, North Africa, South and Southeast Asia. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.