Presents results from a April 1992 survey. Provides information on the receipt of child support payments in 1991 by parents living with their own children whose other parents are absent following divorce or separation, and on the receipt of child support payments by never-married custodial parents. For the first time, data on custodial fathers were collected to supplement the CPS, reflecting the growing need for information about men living with their own children whose mothers are absent from the household. In 1992 there were about 11 million custodial parents, 10 million of whom were custodial mothers and 2 million of whom were custodial fathers.

Updated and revised with seven new chapters, a new introduction, and a new resources section, this landmark book is invaluable for women facing a custody battle. It was the first to break the myth that mothers receive preferential treatment over fathers in custody disputes. Although mothers generally retain custody when fathers choose not to fight for it, fathers who seek custody often win—not because the mother is unfit or the father has been the primary caregiver but because, as Phyllis Chesler argues, women are held to a much higher standard of parenting. Incorporating findings from years of research, hundreds of interviews, and international surveys about child-custody arrangements, Chesler argues for new guidelines to resolve custody disputes and to prevent the continued oppression of mothers in custody situations. This book provides a philosophical and psychological perspective as well as practical advice from one of the country’s leading matrimonial lawyers. Both an indictment of a discriminatory system and a call to action over motherhood under siege, Mothers on Trial is essential reading for anyone concerned either personally or professionally with custody rights and the well-being of the children involved.

After countless decades of observing the emotional and financial devastation resulting from on-going court battles over money and children, we confront a daunting truth- it is still the law in every single state in America that, following parental separation, the amount of time you spend with your children directly determines how much child support you will pay or receive. Moreover, the way for you to end up with more money is to get custody or more time with your children, or to restrict the other parent's time with the children. However, in spite of our current adversarial court system, where one side wins and one side loses, we no longer need to assume that separated parents will be in conflict over child support, or that they need to start court action against each other to determine the child support amount. We now have a SOLUTION to the need to engage in unnecessary battles over custody simply to obtain more child support dollars for their client. Parents now can UNHOOK CUSTODY FROM SUPPORT. It is time to recognize both parents as worthy and important to their children, regardless of their ability (or inability) to earn an income, and regardless of whether they spend more, or less, time with their children. It is time to recognize that divorcing parents need to be encouraged to concentrate on taking care of their children's needs, rather than on fighting costly and time-consuming battles in court. For the sake of the countless children raised each year by separated or divorced parents, this book calls for a dramatic change in the way parents go about sharing the costs of raising them. We are now able to offer to courts, family law attorneys, divorce mediators and, most importantly, families, better tools to avoid these destructive contests.

Family Law, Sixth Edition is a modern and teachable casebook, offering comprehensive coverage and a mix of interdisciplinary materials. It compares innovative developments in some states with the reaffirmation of traditional principles in others, and does so in the context of a wider focus on family and the state, the role of mediating institutions, and the efficacy of law and particular methods of enforcing the law. The casebook deals with the complexity of family law both in the organization of the chapters—separate units on family contracts, jurisdiction, and practice, for example, can be shortened, skipped, or taught in almost any order—and the diversity of material within each chapter. Each unit combines primary cases with comprehensive notes, supplemented with academic and policy analyses that provide a foundation for evaluation. Detailed problems extend the coverage or apply the commentary to real world examples. Key Features: A streamlined and updated chapter on the legal significance of being married, including an updated section on reproductive rights to reflect the potential influence of Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellersted Major revisions to the chapters on marriage and informal domestic partnerships to reflect the impact of Obergefell v. Hodges A complete update of the parentage cases to incorporate the latest developments on same-sex partners, three parent recognition, third party visitation, adoption, and assisted reproduction Revised sections on the role of settlement agreements and out-of-court processes in divorce and the dissolution of relationships Coverage of cross-disciplinary topics, including financial principles, genetics/statistics, clinical psychology, social history, policy discussions, counseling, negotiation, ADR, and ethics