This book deals with a subject that has recently been the focus of debate and law reform in many jurisdictions: how much scope should spouses have to conclude agreements concerning their financial affairs - and under what circumstances should such agreements be binding and enforceable? These marital agreements include pre-nuptial, post-nuptial and separation agreements. The book is the result of a British Academy-funded research project which investigated and compared the relevant law of England and Wales, Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and the jurisdictions of the United States. In addition to chapters on these jurisdictions, the book includes a chapter on the 'English practitioner's view'. It also provides a comparative analysis of the different matrimonial property regimes and the rules on marital agreements that explores underlying themes and principlesand makes recommendations for regulating marital agreements. A key theme is the function and effect of marital agreements in the different jurisdictions. Thus, each chapter first explains the underlying 'default' rules for ancillary relief/matrimonial property and maintenance. It then analyses the current rules for marital agreements, and gives a brief account of the private international law rules. The book provides a comprehensive source of reference on ancillary relief/matrimonial property and maintenance and the rules on pre-nuptial, post-nuptial and separation agreements in 14 jurisdictions. It offers guidance for academics and practitioners dealing with international matters, and a basis for discussions on law reform. 'I applaud the vision and perseverance of Jens Scherpe in having conceived this book and, with so much distinguished help, in now bringing it to birth. I will be using it for many years and I warmly invite my fellow family lawyers across the world to do likewise.' Foreword by The Rt Hon Lord Wilson of Culworth, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom This title is included in Bloomsbury Professional's Family Law online service.

This book deals with a subject that has recently been the focus of debate and law reform in many jurisdictions: how much scope should spouses have to conclude agreements concerning their financial affairs - and under what circumstances should such agreements be binding and enforceable? These marital agreements include pre-nuptial, post-nuptial and separation agreements. The book is the result of a British Academy-funded research project which investigated and compared the relevant law of England and Wales, Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and the jurisdictions of the United States. In addition to chapters on these jurisdictions, the book includes a chapter on the 'English practitioner's view'. It also provides a comparative analysis of the different matrimonial property regimes and the rules on marital agreements that explores underlying themes and principlesand makes recommendations for regulating marital agreements. A key theme is the function and effect of marital agreements in the different jurisdictions. Thus, each chapter first explains the underlying 'default' rules for ancillary relief/matrimonial property and maintenance. It then analyses the current rules for marital agreements, and gives a brief account of the private international law rules. The book provides a comprehensive source of reference on ancillary relief/matrimonial property and maintenance and the rules on pre-nuptial, post-nuptial and separation agreements in 14 jurisdictions. It offers guidance for academics and practitioners dealing with international matters, and a basis for discussions on law reform. 'I applaud the vision and perseverance of Jens Scherpe in having conceived this book and, with so much distinguished help, in now bringing it to birth. I will be using it for many years and I warmly invite my fellow family lawyers across the world to do likewise.' Foreword by The Rt Hon Lord Wilson of Culworth, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom This title is included in Bloomsbury Professional's Family Law online service.

This insightful Research Handbook provides a global perspective on key legal debates surrounding marriage and cohabitation. Bringing together an impressive array of established and emerging scholars, it adopts a comparative approach to analyse cross-jurisdictional trends and divergences in relationship recognition and family formation.

This volume gathers influential and cutting-edge scholarship on the international and domestic rights attaching to married couples and other adult relationships. Addressing examples from the European Court of Human Rights, UK, USA, Canada, Australia and South Africa, it traces contentious debates about the content of marital rights and responsibilities and whether law should reach beyond marriage, and if so how. Twenty-four essays and a substantial introduction highlight the complexity and contradictions as marital law grapples with gender equality, the aftermath of recognizing gay and lesbian rights, abiding economic inequalities, andexotic issues such as forced marriage and polygamy.

The Present and Future of European Family Law explores the essence of European family law – and what its future may be. It compares and analyses existing laws and court decisions, identifies trends in legislation and jurisprudence, and also forecasts (and in some cases proposes) future developments. It establishes that while there is, at present, no comprehensive European family law, elements of an ‘institutional European family law’ have been created through decisions by the European Court on Human Rights and by the Court of Justice of the European Union as well as other EU instruments. At the same time an ‘organic European family law’ is beginning to emerge. The laws in many European jurisdictions have developed similarly and have ‘grown together’, not only as a result of the aforementioned institutional pressures, but also as a result of societal developments, and comparable reactions to medical and societal advances and changes. Hence there already is a body of institutional and organic European family law, and it will continue to grow. This book, and the others in the set, will serve as an invaluable resource for anyone interested in family law. It will be of particular use to students and scholars of comparative and international family law, as well as family law practitioners.

This book provides an alternative perspective on an issue fraught with difficulty – the enforcement of prenuptial agreements. Such agreements are enforced because the law acknowledges the rights of spouses to make autonomous decisions about the division of their property on divorce. Yet this book demonstrates that, in the attempt to promote autonomy, other issues, such as imbalance of power between the parties, become obscured. This book offers an academic and practical analysis of the real impact of prenuptial agreements on the relationships of those involved. Using a feminist and contractual theoretical framework, it attempts to produce a more nuanced understanding of the autonomy exercised by parties entering into prenuptial agreements. This book also draws on an empirical study of the experiences and views of practitioners skilled in the formation and litigation of prenuptial agreements in New York. Lastly, it explores how the court might address concerns regarding power and autonomy during the drafting and enforcement processes of prenuptial agreements, which in turn may enhance the role that 'prenups' can play in the judicial allocation of spousal property on the breakdown of marriage.

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the teaching of an eclectic range of family law topics and the unique opportunities and challenges of teaching family law in different jurisdictions from a varied international perspective. Written by leading legal scholars, the book addresses a gap in the scholarship to comprehensively and systematically analyse the teaching of family law. The first part of the book explores ways of teaching the varied range of topics under the heading of family law and captures the diverse approaches to the discipline. Chapters illustrate how the subject can be best taught in an interdisciplinary way that considers feminist perspectives and the philosophy of teaching, while encompassing legal positivism, empirical research and critical legal theory. The second part of the book examines teaching in different jurisdictions and illustrates policy and practice in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and South Africa. Showcasing examples of best practice of teaching family law, the book will be an essential reading for legal scholars, as well as researchers and postgraduate students in the fields of family law and legal education.

Changes in family structures, demographics, social attitudes and economic policies over the last sixty years have had a large impact on family lives and correspondingly on family law. This book provides global perspectives on the policy challenges facing family law and policy round the world. The chapters apply legal, sociological, demographic and social work research to explore the most significant issues that have been commanding the attention of family law policy-makers in recent years. Featuring contributions from a range of renowned global experts, the book draws on multiple jurisdictions and offers comparative analysis across a range of countries. The book addresses a range of issues including: the role of the state in supporting families and protecting the vulnerable children’s rights and parental authority sexual orientation and gender in family law the status of marriage and other forms of adult relationships divorce and separation and their consequences the relationship between civil law and the law of minority groups assisted conception movement of family members between jurisdictions This advanced level reference work will be essential reading for students, researchers and scholars of family law and social policy as well as policy makers in the field.

Developments in the law, scholarship, and research since 2006 form a substantial part of the second edition of this book which sets the governance of personal relationships in the context of the exercise of social and personal power. Its central argument is that this power is counterbalanced by the presence of individual rights. This entails an analysis of the nature and deployment of rights, including human rights, and children's rights. Against that background, the book examines the values of friendship, truth, respect, and responsibility, and how the values of individualism co-exist with those of the community in an open society. It argues that central to these values is respecting the role of intimacy in personal relationships. In doing this, a variety of issues are examined, including the legal regulation of married and unmarried relationships, same-sex marriage, state supervision over the inception and exercise of parenthood (including surrogacy and assisted reproductive technology), the role of fault and responsibility in divorce law, children's rights and welfare, religion and family rights, the rights of separated partners regarding property and of separated parents regarding their children, and how states should respond to cultural diversity.

At a time of global and domestic economic crisis, the financial aspects of domestic and familial relationships are more important and more strained than ever before. The focus of this book is on the distribution of wealth and poverty in traditional and non-traditional familial relationships. The volume takes an interdisciplinary approach to explore the way in which money matters are structured and governed within close personal relationships and the extent to which they have an impact on the nature and economic dynamics of relationships. As such, the key areas of investigation are the extent to which participation in the labour market, unpaid caregiving, inheritance, pensions and welfare reform have an impact on familial relationships. The authors also explore governmental and legal responses by investigating the privileging of certain types of domestic relationships, through fiscal and non-fiscal measures, and the differential provision on relationship breakdown. The impact of budget and welfare cuts is also examined for their effect on equality in domestic relationships.