StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Major Issues in Family Law - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
The essay "Major Issues in Family Law" focuses on the critical, and multifaceted analysis of the major issues in family law. Ron and Sharon agreed on Ron waiving all his parental rights to Sharon thereby making her the sole parent and Ron a non-parent…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER95.3% of users find it useful
Major Issues in Family Law
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Major Issues in Family Law"

Family Law Part I Is the child bound by Ron and Sharon’s agreement? Ron and Sharon agreed on Ron waiving all his parental rights to Sharon thereby making her the sole parent and Ron a non-parent. The child being born will therefore be bound by the agreement and will therefore have Sharon as its only parent with Ron being a non-parent. The case of Alison D. v. Virginia M. is to be cited in this case as they are quite similar. In both cases, the biological parent of the child is only one and the other is a non-parent. According to the Supreme Court ruling of this case, the child’s sole custody and rights of parenthood belong to the biological parent and who can decide on matters of visitation or custody of the child (Groner 217). This case of Sharon and Ron can be ruled using the Troxel v. Granville case where the mother of the children Granville got sole custody of her children and had the rights to grant visitation or agree to custody to a non-parent or refute it. The parent had the liberty to make decisions for his or her children according to the Supreme Court ruling (Sanger 78). Ron was sure that the child Sharon was carrying was not his and hence his quick agreement to waive all his parental rights and be relieved of any child support of the unborn child once it was born. The agreement will not change once the child is born as it was made to be enforced once the child was born. The fact that the court supports Sharon as the biological parent cements the agreement further. Part II a) Under Troxel, what standard should a court use in evaluating the constitutionality of a statute governing the award of custody or visitation to a nonparent? The Troxel case ruling made it clear that the Washington State visitation law which granted the non-parents the right to claim custody and visitation of children would not be applied or used again. The Supreme Court rule that the parent of the child or children holds the fundamental right over the care, control and even custody of the children and hence would be the one to make decisions about any visitation or custody of their children to non-parents (Sanger 87). Any other law that was against or tried to go against the parental liberty towards the custody of their children over that of the non-parents was to be considered unconstitutional and was infringing on the law as well as on the fundamental right of the parent. The standard to be used is that of parental liberty over that of non-parents. b) Does Troxel preclude use of a best interests test in custody or visitation litigation between a parent and nonparent? The Troxel case does not make any preclusion about the best interests of the children in custody or visitation litigation between a non-parent and a parent. The ruling of the case simply states that the parent of the children has the liberty to make decisions about the custody or care through visitation of their children to any non-parent (Sanger 87). This ruling which I deemed constitutional is however only to be effected as long as the parent in discussion is deemed fit to handle the task of caring of the children in all aspects. The interests of the children are what drive the court to make the declaration of the parent having the liability. The interests will still be used to make decisions in case the parent in unfit to take care of the children (Kasdin 2012). c) According to Troxel, what are the functions of the modern family? According to the Troxel case, the role of the modern family as described by both the grandparents and the mother of the children is to protect the children and keep them from any harm. Other than these two roles, there is also the fact that families provide love to their own when they are among them. They also provide opportunities for the family members to interact with each other and get involved in familial activities such as sing together among others. Families are also supposed to be attending family occasions such as birthday parties and celebrate as one unit (Sanger 167). All these functions are supposed to be carried out by a modern family as an independent unit and not while separated by visitation and custody rights. On which family functions are most important to individual family members? The case has brought to attention several important family functions that demand the presence of all family members despite the differences existing within the family members and especially the adults. One of the mentioned important family functions is the birthday party of one of the family members. Other than the birthday parties, there is also the family gathering functions where the whole family comes together and have fun through introduction forums as well as other activities such as music sessions. The summer holidays are also important for families as they get to spend more time together and participate in these functions as one. There are also the special holidays which are important to most American families which include Easter and thanksgiving holidays. To the public? The public cares about having large gatherings through holidays such as the Christmas holiday and the New Year which are considered some of the most important holidays in the nation for families to be together. Other than these two holidays, there is the Independence Day and Labor Day which marks the end of summer and the people like to come together and spend time together. The family gatherings during these holidays and functions is considered courteous and a must in the calendar of the year. This is in addition to the Thanksgiving holiday as well as Halloween. How have these patterns shifted? All these patterns of families spending time together through attendance of all family occasions and functions as well as special holidays have been curtailed in the Troxel case due to the mother reducing the visits to the grandparents’ homes. The mother of the daughters has taken them away from spending more time with their paternal grandparents and limiting their visits to only a weekend in a month and they do not stay overnight. It has also shifted because of the divorce of the parents and the death of their biological father. The children will therefore be missing on all the special holidays and grandparents’ birthdays as well as meeting the other family members occasionally which are what they had gotten used to. All of this is because their mother has decided on them being in her custody more. Work Cited Groner, Jonathan. Hilarys Trial: The Elizabeth Morgan Case, A Childs Ordeal in Americas Legal System. New York: American Lawyer Books and Simon & Schuster, 1991. Print. Kasdin, Karin. Constitutional Rights of Grandparents: Do We Have Any? The Huffington Post, March 16th, 2012. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karin- kasdin/constitutional-rights-of-grandparents_b_1338963.html? Sanger, Carol. Family Law Stories. New York: Foundation Press, 2008. Print. Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Tiebout mi Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words”, n.d.)
Tiebout mi Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/law/1686221-tiebout-mi
(Tiebout Mi Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 Words)
Tiebout Mi Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 Words. https://studentshare.org/law/1686221-tiebout-mi.
“Tiebout Mi Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/law/1686221-tiebout-mi.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Major Issues in Family Law

Family Law and Family Reconciliation Issues

The paper "family law Nuances" explains that family law focuses on the children's and the spouse's welfare.... The research delves into the family law provisions on divorce.... family law guides family reconciliation issues.... The Children's Act of 1989 is grounded on the law Commission 1986 Working Paper no.... The law ensures that both parents are not denied their right to make equal decisions on the children's schooling, abode, and other related family decisions....
13 Pages (3250 words) Essay

Barry and Sue: Family Law

Even though in family law divorce is usually one of the option in an event of irretrievable breakdown of relationship between married couples, any decision or action should, in initial stages, not lead towards this option.... Date Barry and Sue The area of law that relates the situation of Barry and Sue is family law; family law covers areas of law which relate to relationships of married couples, cohabitants, and partners.... family law Act 1996, Section 31 has provisions that grant rights for married partners to occupy matrimonial or civil partnership home....
3 Pages (750 words) Term Paper

Identity Theft by a Family Member: Legal and Ethical Issues

Unfortunately, the current law enforcement systems have not yet achieved this objective effectively.... Although the term identity theft refers to a variety of fraudulent activities, ‘identity theft by a family member' has become a unique form of crime.... This paper tends to explore identity theft by family member as a multifaceted issue and the intensity of this crime's impacts on victims and families as a whole.... In this context, it is significant to analyze the intensity of identity theft by family members as a security issue and an ethical concern in modern family environment....
14 Pages (3500 words) Research Paper

Contact Issues in Family Law

This paper will make an insight about family causes, persisting problems, identification of a trend evolving in family law for mediation in custody and contact issues, which appears to be a favorable proposition, with mediators in family cases being increasingly drawn from the private sector.... Bob Geldorf, one of the most vocal activists for the rights of fathers, pointed out that fundamental changes are required in the law and the process in family courts, which tend to favor mothers in the battle for custody of children....
15 Pages (3750 words) Essay

Law, Policy, and the Family

(family law Act 1996) ... (family law Act 1996) ... Similarly, decisions regarding the children are made independent of property issues and spouse maintenance issues.... Both James and Susan accept that divorce is inevitable.... The prime area of disagreement is with regard to the house and the terms of maintenance for Susan. ...
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Major Issues in the Family Law

The essay "Major Issues in the Family Law" focuses on the critical analysis of the major disputable issues in family law.... Reference should be made to the fact that in 1996, through the introduction of the family law Act, family law in Britain was reformed.... Moreover, Lord Chancellor noted that the family law Act of 1996 is not appropriately customized to current social and judicial needs and for this reason, the MCA 1973 should continue in force....
13 Pages (3250 words) Essay

Family Law: Marriage

This essay "family law: Marriage" focuses on divorce proceedings underway between Jennifer and Kevin, the law will view all assets that are jointly attached to them and will thus divide them equally according to the law, unless of course there is an agreement reached.... What the Oxford Center for family law has been finding in the 21st century is that the role of marriage and its meaning has greatly diminished in society which is raising many concerns of what might take place if the divorce rate continues to rise....
10 Pages (2500 words) Essay

The Future of Family Law

From the paper "The Future of family law" it is clear that it is essential to highlight that the issues of family law may include juvenile adjudication, paternity fraud, and paternity testing.... family law is sometimes known as matrimonial law and is fundamentally a law area that revolves around family matters as well as domestic relations such as marriage, domestic partnership, civil unions, adoption and surrogacy, relationship termination and ancillary issues such as divorce, property settlement, child custody, visitation, child support annulment, and alimony awards....
6 Pages (1500 words) Assignment
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us