Chapter 5 Child Custody Flashcards
What is used to prevent judges from basing custody decisions on their own subjective views of what is best for child?
Nexus. There must be a direct nexus or connection between the parental attribute in question and the well-being of the child.
What are the factors that judges tend to emphasize in custody determinations?
- The parent-child bond
- Past caretaking
- Time availability
- Stability of environment
- Preference of the child
- Domestic violence
What is the landmark case that decided that equality could be accomplished by providing same-sex couples with the tangible benefits of marriage?
Baker v. Vermont
And what case did the New Jersey Supreme Court award same-sex couples the rights to the benefits and protections of marriage without actually making civil marriage legal between same-sex couples?
Louis V. Harris
What case before the Massachusetts supreme judicial Court ruled that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry?
Goodridge V. Department of Public Health
In what case did the US Supreme Court reverse a Florida trial court decision transferring custody of a young girl from her mother to her father because the white mother married a black man subsequent to the divorce?
Palmore V. Sidoti
What is the approach called when it is presumed without proof of harm that it is bad for a child to be raised by a parent vs. another parent?
Per se approach
Physical custody
Refers to where a child lives. A parent with physical custody maintains a primary residence for the child is generally responsible for the child’s daily care
Legal custody
Refers to decision-making authority. legal custody gives a parent the right to make major decisions affecting the health welfare and education of a child
Sole custody
The vesting of custodial rights in one parent. Can be either legal or physical.
Joint custody
Sharing of rights and responsibilities; both legal and physical custody can be allocated on a joint basis
Implied in fact contract
The contract that is inferred from the conduct of the parties
Testamentary capacity
The legal ability to dispose of one’s property at that through the execution of a will
Married women’s property acts
The series of statutory reforms that gradually improved the legal status of married women, principally through extending rights of property ownership and control that had been denied at common law
Standing
A jurisdictional concept that requires a person to have a sufficient stake in the outcome of a controversy in order to be allowed to maintain a legal action.
Parens Patriae
The authority of the state, as a sovereign power, to protect those who cannot protect themselves, most notably children.
Troxel V. Granville
A US Supreme Court case that ruled that the state of Washington’s open-ended statute Lowercase allowing petitions for visitation by any person was an impermissible encroachment on the rights of parents.
Equitable parenthood
A doctrine used to extend parenting rights to a stepparent when there is a developed, consensual relationship between the child and the stepparent, and he or she wishes to assume the rights and responsibilities of parenthood.
In loco parentis
Common-law doctrine conferring parental rights and responsibilities on someone who voluntarily assumes a parenting role.
What is the significance of the 1996 case of Holzman V. Knott?
The Supreme Court of Wisconsin became the first court to expressly extend de facto parent status to a lesbian coparent.
De facto parent
An individual who has no biological relation to a child, but who is functioned as a family member; must show that that they resided with the child and shared caretaking responsibilities with the consent and cooperation of the legal parent
Per se approach
As distinct from the nexus approach, the idea that some behaviors are so inherently harmful that they should be the basis for denying custody to a parent without proof of actual harm
Tender years presumption
The traditional custodial assumption that children of a young age should be raised by their mothers.
Paternal preference
The common-law doctrine that vested fathers with the absolute right to care and custody of their children.
