1,720,980 research outputs found
Between court and context : relocation cases in British Columbia
No full textRelocation cases are widely considered to be among the most challenging issues in family law. The outcome of the case is likely to have profound impact on the children and the parties, and resolution by agreement is difficult because the range of settlement options is limited and settlement involves substantial compromise by at least one of the parties. In 2013, the British Columbia Family Law Act introduced relocation-specific legislation for the first time in Canada, and the reforms to the Divorce Act (Canada), which came into force in March 2021, introduced relocation-specific legislation for the same time at the federal level. Both Acts introduced burdens of proof for some categories of relocation cases, as well as specific factors that the court must consider, which were intended to improve clarity and consistency. This thesis examines 204 reported relocation decisions in BC, in the period of March 2013 to October 2021, and considers relocation cases through the lens of migration studies. The findings include the outcomes of the cases; the gender of the applicants; whether the relocation was intra-provincial, inter-provincial, or international; caregiving arrangements during the relationship and following separation; the reasons for the proposed relocation; and income differences between the parties. In addition, this thesis examines the relationship between prior geographic mobility and the relocation application, and the treatment of extended families and blended families by the court. Consistent with findings from prior studies of relocation cases, this study found that the vast majority of relocation applicants were mothers, and that the reasons for the proposed relocation often combine economic needs and various relationships and support systems. Prior migration during or in connection with the relationship plays a multifaceted role in relocation applications, and furthermore, the decisions illustrate competing values and ideologies about families. Overall, this thesis proposes that migration studies offer valuable concepts and insights for analyzing relocation cases and situating them in the broader phenomena of geographic mobility
One Myth Leads to Another : From Ignorance of the Laws to the Presumption of Informed Choice among de Facto Spouses
No full textCloning and the LGBTI Family: Cautious Optimism
Get PDFWhile fertile, opposite-sex couples can have children who carry a mix of their genes without involving third parties in the reproductive process, this option is not available to the majority of the LGBTI community. If this were simply a biological fact, it would not raise any equal protection or other constitutional issues. However, emerging technologies in the field of reproductive cloning may offer the LGBTI community the chance to have genetically related children - possibly even with a mix of both partners’ genes. As such, bans on federally funding research that would help to refine and ensure the safety and efficacy of these procedures unconstitutionally denies LGBTI couples right to have children that is not similarly denied to opposite-sex couples who enjoy the fruits of research and technology that allow them to conceive without the use of a third party’s organs. Compounding and exacerbating this inequality is the fact that much of the opposition to cloning stems from inaccurate, heterosexist - and, at times, even explicitly homophobic - claims. This article challenges the popular arguments against cloning, suggesting that they are largely fallacious and, in many cases, outright discriminatory. It suggests that reproductive cloning could be incredibly useful for the LGBTI community, and that relegating research on these procedures to the private sphere significantly harms this class. At the same time, cloning should not be treated as the key to LGBTI equality
Capturing Excess in the On-Demand Economy
Get PDFActivities facilitated by on-demand platforms (such as Airbnb or Uber) produce varying levels of negative and positive externalities. In this Article I submit that the type and quantity of externalities produced are determined by the location of the activity along a spectrum of increased utilization. Transactions that make use of excess capacity produce the fewest negative externalities and produce more positive externalities. The more we move along the spectrum away from use of excess capacity and toward new capacity created for the platform use, the more negative externalities the activity produces. Thus, unique sets of rules should govern the categories that lie at each end of this spectrum: Excess capacity should be regulated differently than new capacity, with each set of regulations tailored to address the particular benefits and harms that stem from that kind of activity
The Marital Wealth Gap
Get PDFMarried couples are wealthier than people in all other family structures. The top 10% of wealth holders are, in great proportion, married. Even among the wealthiest households, married couples hold significantly more wealth than others. The Article identifies this phenomenon as the “Marital Wealth Gap,” and critiques the role of diverse legal mechanisms in creating and maintaining it. Marriage also contributes to the concentration of wealth because marriage patterns are increasingly assortative: wealth marries wealth. The law entrenches or even exacerbates these class-based marriage patterns by erecting structural barriers that hinder people from meeting across economic strata.
How can the state restructure the law to alleviate the marital wealth gap? The Article proposes a fundamental shift in the way the state treats wealth and family status. It advances a theory grounded in transformative “recognition and redistribution” that decentralizes marriage’s monopoly on wealth-related benefits and simultaneously aims to reduce wealth concentration among the richest households. Principally, since marriage is the preserve of the well-off, the state should decouple wealth benefits from marriage. At the same time, it should combat the structures that enable wealth concentration among affluent married couples, thereby dismantling the architecture that supports the marital wealth gap
Compulsory Conjugality
Get PDFWhat happens when the state changes the default rules that govern financial obligations between unmarried partners from opt in to opt out? Most states have an opt-in rule: unmarried partners do not take on financial obligations of one another unless they agree to do so with a contract. Nevertheless, advocates argue that an opt-out system puts the burden in the right place: unmarried couples who want to avoid default obligations should bear the burden of making contracts. A scholarly debate over the opt-in/opt-out model has raged for twenty years, but the issue is now coming to a head. Yet no research, until now, examines the actual impact of opt-out rules on affected couples. This Article offers a new analysis based on an original qualitative study with interviews of thirty unmarried couples in an opt-out jurisdiction. The study reveals that most cohabiting couples do not know that the law considers them spouses. For those who know, either they do not realize that they can opt out, or they face difficulties trying to do so. Moreover, if couples do not opt out, the terms of the default contract the state imposes are not particularly popular—only about half of interviewees would have chosen these terms if they had thought to bargain. Further complicating things, the research shows that sometimes the opt-out law has an expressive effect: it communicates values of conjugality and commitment. Using this data, and relying on contractual theories, this Article contends that the opt-out scheme is choice-decreasing because it makes defaults highly sticky. Yet, contrary to the traditionalist view, an opt-out approach does not undermine the institution of marriage. Instead, this approach aligns with the neoliberal ambition to shift dependency-related responsibilities from the state to the family. Finally, this Article proposes that for opt-out regimes to avoid mimicking the problems of opt-in schemes, defaults must be better known to couples, be better tailored to diverse populations of unmarried couples, and adopt accessible methods of opting out
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