Family Law

This course offers a survey of family law, including case law, statutory law, and the role of constitutional rights in limiting governmental regulation of the family. This course will introduce students to law concerning a basic social institution: the family. Students will gain knowledge about how family law intersects with many other fields of law, such as contracts, constitutional law, criminal law, property, torts, public and social welfare law, as well as how social science informs family law. The course will focus on marriage (including the recognition of same-sex marriage), nonmarital families, divorce, pathways to becoming a parent, and the parent-child relationship. Topics include defining and regulating marriage; formal marriage; common law marriage; nonmarital couples, cohabitation, and alternatives to marriage; common law incidents of marriage and the transformation of the common law; domestic violence; traditional and "no fault" divorce; property division; spousal support; child support; child custody; adoption; and regulating parenthood. There will be a final examination. The teaching method is a combination of lecture and class discussion, along with in-class small group problem-solving exercises. GRADING NOTICE: This class does not offer the CR/NC/H option.