family law

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Adoption refers to the act where an adult formally becomes the guardian of a child and incurs the rights and obligations of a parent. At the conclusion of the formal process, a legal relationship between child and guardian will have formed....

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[Question(s) presented] [Issue(s)] [Facts] [Discussion] [Analysis] Issue

Under the ICWA, can a non-custodial parent or an unwed biological father prevent a non-Indian parent from pursuing adoption?

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Facts

Petitioners, Matt and...

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The best interests of the child is a court doctrine used in custody proceedings when two parents are contesting custody of the child. Courts use this doctrine to make decisions regarding which parent will have custody of the child, the nature...

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A bilateral divorce is a divorce proceeding where both parties are subject to the court’s personal jurisdiction. A bilateral divorce does not require both parties to be domiciled where the court is exercising jurisdiction, just that both...

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Child Custody: An Overview

Child custody issues arise most commonly in cases of divorce. The court of jurisdiction for the divorce proceedings also determines child custody arrangements. Under the common statutory provision, if the spouses...

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A consent divorce refers to a divorce granted where both parties agree to the divorce, and both go to a particular jurisdiction to obtain the divorce. This type of divorce is not valid if neither spouse is domiciled in the jurisdiction where...

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In July 2010, Sandra Muñoz, a U.S. citizen, married Luis Asencio-Cordero, a citizen of El Salvador who first arrived in the United States in 2005. Muñoz v. Department of State at 8–9. Muñoz filed an immigration petition for Asencio-Cordero which was...

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Some states have a statute, known as the Enoch Arden Doctrine, for when a spouse, believing for a certain period of time that the other spouse is dead, marries another. If the original spouse returns, the marrying spouse may get a divorce or...

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An ex parte divorce is a divorce that is granted within a jurisdiction where only one of the spouses is validly domiciled. It is valid even if one spouse never resided within the jurisdiction where the divorce was granted or subject to...

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A filiation proceeding, also called an affiliation proceeding, is a proceeding brought in family court to establish the paternity of a child born out of wedlock, to identify the father of the child. It commonly establishes the father's duty...

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