Family Law in America

For many years family law was viewed as a study of the regulation of relationships of husband and wife and parent and child. Both relationships were clearly defined. In the case of husband and wife, it was through formal legal procedures or informal arrangements called marriage. In the case of parent and child it was either through biology or adoption. Equally defined were the stages by which these relationships were established, maintained, and terminated. By the close of the twentieth century, basic questions about who should be officially designated a family member and by what procedure were being raised both in the legislature and in litigation. In addition, conventional models that had defined domestic relations such as marriage, divorce, and adoption were either being expanded to include contemporary patterns of living arrangements and the current reality or new models were being constructed. In Family Law in America , Professor Sanford N. Katz examines the present state of family law in America. 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 equality of the sexes. 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 and 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 reexamination of the privacy of the family unit. It concludes with a discussion of the conventional model of adoption of children and how additional models are being developed to take into account new family forms. Contents......Page 12 Table of Cases......Page 16 Introduction to the Paperback Edition......Page 22 Introduction......Page 28 Introduction......Page 37 Contract Cohabitation......Page 38 Registered Domestic Partnership......Page 44 Common Law Marriage and De Facto Marriage......Page 50 Procedural Marriage and Other Informal Marriages for Limited Purposes......Page 54 Putative Marriage and Marriage by Estoppel......Page 56 Prenuptial Agreements......Page 57 Introduction......Page 62 The State’s Role in Establishing the Marriage Relationship......Page 64 Freedom to Marry as a Fundamental Human Right......Page 65 The State’s Efforts to Limit Marriage......Page 67 Annulment......Page 69 Age......Page 72 Prisoner’s Marriage......Page 73 Mental Competence......Page 74 Incestuous Marriage......Page 75 Sex......Page 79 Number (Bigamy)......Page 85 Maintaining the Marriage Relationship: From Inequality to Equality in Marriage......Page 87 Property Ownership and Control......Page 89 Interspousal Immunity......Page 92 Personal Safety......Page 94 Privacy, Equality, and Autonomy: Sexual Intimacy in Marriage......Page 96 Sexual Intimacy Outside of Marriage......Page 99 Individual Rights and Equality in Marriage......Page 102 Introduction......Page 103 Fault......Page 105 Residency......Page 107 No-Fault Divorce......Page 109 Distribution of Economic Resources......Page 113 Property Distribution......Page 114 Alimony......Page 121 Child Support......Page 126 Judicial Discretion and Codification......Page 129 The Primary Caretaker Preference......Page 131 The Best Interests of the Child......Page 133 The Lawyer for the Child and the Guardian ad Litem......Page 135 A Child-Focused Inquiry......Page 136 Joint or Shared Custody......Page 138 Continuity of a Relationship with Both Parents: Relocation......Page 140 Unilateral Removal of the Child from the Jurisdiction......Page 144 Continuity of a Relationship with Others......Page 145 Summary Dissolution......Page 150 Summary Process and Divorce by Registration......Page 151 Mediation......Page 152 The Future of Divorce......Page 155 Introduction......Page 158 The Concept of Punishment......Page 160 The Definition of Child Abuse......Page 164 The Role of the Federal Government......Page 166 Model Mandatory Child Abuse Reporting Statute......Page 167 Other Model Acts......Page 170 Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974......Page 171 The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980......Page 172 Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997......Page 173 Child Protection Process......Page 174 DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services......Page 176 Following DeShaney......Page 178 Introduction......Page 180 The Role of Personal Autonomy......Page 184 Independent and Agency Adoptions......Page 185 Surrogacy......Page 188 Open Adoption: Visitation Rights for Birth Parents......Page 194 Open Adoption: Access to Adoption Records......Page 195 Placement......Page 198 Step-parent and Second Parent Adoptions......Page 201 The Role of the Federal Government and the Absence of Personal Autonomy......Page 203 Placement......Page 206 Open Adoption......Page 207 The Future of Adoption......Page 208 Appendix......Page 210 Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act......Page 212 Uniform Pre-Marital Agreement Act......Page 228 Uniform Parentage Act......Page 231 Uniform Putative and Unknown Fathers Act......Page 252 Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act......Page 257 Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act......Page 267 Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act......Page 285 A......Page 288 C......Page 289 E......Page 291 I......Page 292 M......Page 293 P......Page 294 U......Page 295 "A book that covered the basic principles of contemporary law but was less encyclopedic, and one that bridged the gap between scholarship and practice"--Acknowledgments, p. [vii]