This compendium of practical advice is gathered from family law professionals, including lawyers, judges, CPAs, and psychologists, who share their real-world experience in a concise chapter. Even better, a bonus CD-ROM contains forms, agreements, charts, and checklists. Other time-saving tools include financial charts and hypotheses, questions to ask, and interview forms and checklists. Topics include fees, custody, discovery, trial techniques, support, avoiding malpractice, discovery, premarital agreements, valuation, settlement, and evidence.

This is the first book to explore the canonical narratives, stories, examples, and ideas that legal decisionmakers invoke to explain family law and its governing principles. Jill Elaine Hasday shows how this canon misdescribes the reality of family law, misdirects attention away from actual problems family law confronts, and misshapes policies.

Presented in an accessible format, this text provides a detailed and authoritative exposition of the law, illustrated by carefully selected materials and complemented by clear and engaging commentary drawing on a range of critical and theoretical perspectives.

Comprehensive, practical, and accessible, California Family Law by Waller and Waller speaks to the needs of a wide range of users: paralegals and paralegal students, law students, and practitioners. Focused squarely on the California Family Code, California Family Law integrates statutory law and judicial interpretation into a cohesive, general discussion of all aspects of the state's family law. Its practical, straightforward approach is designed to teach students the basics, and powerful pedagogy makes it stand apart from most books on California Law. Chapter Overviews and Summaries, exercises, Key Terms, hypotheticals, and a glossary combine with examples of all the key Judicial Council forms used in the practice of family law in California. Comprehensive coverage explores all the key topics and developments in this constantly evolving area of the law. California Family Law has long had a broad appeal for law school courses and law offices as well as paralegal programs. Teachers and students at all levels appreciate the carefully constructed pedagogy, while all users value the integration of statutory law and judicial interpretation in a practical, comprehensive approach. New to the Ninth Edition: With this ninth edition, the authors of California Family Law introduce hypothetical essay questions to help students test their understanding of each chapter's central concepts. Moreover, a new, final chapter with additional hypotheticals helps students prepare for their final exam. The chapter ends with discussions of all the hypotheticals in the book, so that students may compare their answers. Professors and students will benefit from: Focus on the California Family Code, including integrating statutory law and judicial interpretation, and providing a cohesive discussion of all aspects of family law. Powerful pedagogy that surpasses most books on California law, including chapter overviews and summaries, exercises, key terms, glossary and more. Helpful features such as chapter overviews and summaries, exercises, key terms, and more. Key forms that students will encounter in practice.

This book examines the present state of family law in America. This third edition captures recent developments, including the transformation of the institution of marriage to encompass same-sex marriage. In the discussion of same-sex marriage, Professor Katz analyses each opinion, majority and dissenting, in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, the United States Supreme Court case that lifted the ban on same-sex marriage. Themes include the tension between individual autonomy and governmental regulation in all aspects of family law, the extent to which relationships established before marriage are being regulated, and how marriage is being redefined to take into account gender equality and the legal recognition of same-sex marriage. It demonstrates how the definition of marriage as a partnership in which the individual spouse's rights are recognized has resulted in protection of the vulnerable spouse. It also examines fault and no-fault divorce procedures and the extent to which these procedures reflect social realities. This volume describes state intervention into the parent and child relationship and how this is reflected in the re-examination of the privacy of the family unit. It concludes with a discussion of the conventional model of adoption of children and how new assisted reproductive technologies are having an impact on family formation, particularly adoption, to take into account new family forms.

Examines clashes over religious liberty spanning the life cycle of families - from birth to death.

Despite the fact that becoming a parent is a pivotal event, the birth or adoption of a child has little significance for parents' legal relationship to each other. Instead, the law relies upon marriage, domestic partnerships, and contracts to set the parameters of parents' legal relationship. With over forty percent of American children born to unwed mothers and consistently high rates of divorce, this book argues that the law's current approach to regulating parental relationships is outdated. A new legal and social structure is needed to guide parents so they act as supportive partners and to deter uncommitted couples from having children. This book is the first of its kind to propose a new 'parent-partner' status within family law. Included are a detailed discussion of the benefits of the status as well as specific recommendations for legal obligations.