Family Law Quarterly
Volume 46, No. 4 (Winter 2013)

A Review of the Year in Family Law 2011-2012 

Table of Contents

Please note that pursuant to the ABA's copyright and reprint policies, these articles may not be disseminated without written permission.

Editor's Note
Linda D. Elrod


A Review of the Year in Family Law 2011-2012: "DOMA" Challenges Hit Federal Courts and Abduction Cases Increase
Linda D. Elrod & Robert G. Spector

The American family continues to evolve and so do the cases shaping the law. Today in the United States, only 20 percent of adults between 18 and 29 are married; more than seven million couples cohabit; and more than 40 percent of children are born out of wedlock. Add to those staggering numbers questions about same-sex marriage, parentage arising from assisted reproductive technology, and the increasing volume of contests over custody. Thus, family law policy continues to spark a huge and important national debate. This article highlights the variety of complex issues and offers a sample of the enormous volume of domestic cases flooding our state courts.

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Family Law in the Fifty States 2011-2012: Case Digests

This year's summary of family-law cases covers approximately the period of August 31, 2011, through August 31, 2012. The case digests are presented in a topical outline framework and alphabetized by state within each topic heading. The summary does not include every case from every jurisdiction but highlights some of the more important ones. The digests are a result of reports submitted in each state by reporters and supplemented by Washburn Law School student staff.

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Charts, 46 Fam. L.Q. (2013)

The charts have been updated to reflect changes across the states this year.

    * Chart 1—Alimony/Spousal Support Factors

    * Chart 2—Custody Criteria

    * Chart 3—Child Support Guidelines

    * Chart 4—Grounds for Divorce and Residency Requirements

    * Chart 5—Property Division

    * Chart 6—Third-Party Visitation



Annual Survey of Periodical Literature

The Annual Review of Periodical Literature provides a sampling of law review articles published between fall of 2011 and fall of 2012. The survey highlights the variety and depth of family law scholarship produced during the year and calls attention to currently debated “hot topics.” Readers are encouraged to read articles of interest in their entirety because the summaries included in the survey are necessarily abbreviated.

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Book Review: Fifty Years in Family Law: Essays for Stephen Cretney (Rebecca Probert & Chris Barton eds. 2012)

Review by Nancy E. Dowd

This collection of articles by family law scholars honors the life and work of Stephen Cretney, the preeminent British scholar of family law, author of an amazing range of work, including most famously his exhaustive history, Family Law in the Twentieth Century: A History (Oxford 2003). The scholars in this volume are a testament to his broad influence as well as the personal connections and affection he engendered over a lifetime. Dowd argues that this book catalogs what has evolved in the United Kingdom over the past half century in family law. By contract, it also offers a look at the parallel issues that have surfaced in American family law and provides an interesting look at how the two systems have handled them.

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Index to Volume 46

Author and title indexes to volume 46.


Publication Date: April 2013