Domestic Relations, Cases and Materials

This title is a part of our CasebookPlus™ offering as ISBN 9798895455616. Learn more at Faculty-CasebookPlus.com.

The Tenth Edition of this casebook continues to provide edited judicial opinions from state, federal, and international courts that illustrate the evolution—and dynamism—of domestic relations, coupled with compelling factual scenarios that illustrate common law and statutory complements. The substance of this casebook is the law among the states that affects the entire family, from assisted reproductive technology to termination of parental rights, incorporating uniform legislation and shifting judicial perspectives; this is not a niche casebook. Specifically, this Tenth Edition expands treatment of nonmarital contracting, domestic abuse, and state and federal responses to developments involving abortion, school vouchers, and gender neutrality.

There are multiple Problems spread throughout the chapters, drawn from actual state and federal judicial opinions, which test student understanding and illustrate the real-life consequences of the legal issues being discussed. And the casebook has been structured to provide a logical and concise progression of material, from nonmarital cohabitation to adoption of adults. This logical sequencing permits the book to be used for two, three or four credit courses, especially since there is a statutory supplement offering a more comprehensive view of the ways that statutes affect family law throughout the states. Among the topics addressed are:

• Nonmarital Cohabitation: including the recently proposed Uniform Cohabitants’ Economic Remedies Act.
• Free Exercise Challenges: including minor privacy rights versus parental rights, school vouchers, and medical treatments.
• Premarital and Marital Contracting: including proper execution and subsequent enforcement.
• Assisted Reproductive Technology: including surrogacy agreements, posthumous conception, and embryo distribution at divorce.
• Marriage: including common law developments, proxy, and the rationale for a state’s insistence of marital formalities.
• Divorce: including grounds and defenses and the factors necessary to achieve a proper domicile.
• Marital Property and Spousal Support: including definition of what constitutes divisible property, temporary and permanent support, and termination of support.
• Child Support: including state guidelines, effect of joint physical custody, and federal efforts to recover lost or deficient support.
• Child Custody and Visitation: including parenting plans, allocation arrangements, best interest of child, and modification of custody arrangements.
• Termination of Parental Rights: including Constitutional guarantees, predictive termination, and entitlement to civil representation.
• Adoption of Minors and Adults: including civil responsibility of adoption agencies and transnational adoption regulation.

Imprint: Foundation Press
Series: University Casebook Series
Publication Date: 05/08/2025