Modern Family Law: Cases and Materials, Eighth Edition

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Exploring the conflict between respect for privacy and deference to state authority in the context of family law today, each chapter in the Eighth Edition of this popular Family Law casebook provides a lens to explore the appropriate role of the state in family decision making, and helps equip students to handle current and emerging family law issues. The book features riveting well-edited cases, notes, interdisciplinary materials, and problems that highlight issues of gender, sexuality, race, and class. Integrating legal developments with perspectives from history, psychology, sociology, medicine, and philosophy, this casebook uniquely reflects the full diversity of the modern family, including key updates on marriage equality and parentage issues for LGBTQ-headed families, nonmarital families, abortion, adoption, and assisted reproduction. 

New to the Eighth Edition:

• Recent landmark developments in the law of abortion, including Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, and updates on state law efforts to curtail abortion access
• Conflict between nondiscrimination principles and the First Amendment, including 303 Creative v. Elenis
• Updates on recent or pending Supreme Court cases, including Brackeen v. Haaland, Golan v. Saada, and Rahimi v. U.S.
• Recent Uniform Acts, including the Uniform Cohabitants' Economic Remedies Act and the Uniform Unregulated Child Custody Transfer Act
• New federal law, including the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (2022) and the Respect for Marriage Act
• State law reform on marriages involving minors
• Impact of COVID on family law

Benefits for instructors and students:

• A mix of “classics” and cutting-edge materials illuminate family law’s past and its continuing development in an era of exciting change
• Materials—such as narratives, epilogues, personal communications, social science perspectives, and comparative information—bring family law to life
• Thoughtfully organized materials clearly present basic principles and doctrines, while inviting policy-based reflections and questions about law reform
• Provocative questions and Problems based on cases and current events will spark lively class discussions