Fundamentals of Family Law

J. Shoshanna Ehrlich's Fundamentals of Family Law, Second Edition is a concise version of Ehrlich's Family Law for Paralegals, developed for use in shorter paralegal courses. The Fundamentals version provides students with the knowledge and skills they will need to be effective paralegals in a busy family law practice. Without sacrificing intellectual integrity and depth of topical coverage, the text is streamlined in order to emphasize the material that is essential for the transition from classroom to office.

New to the Second Edition:

• Marriage (Ch. 1) includes new sections on:
  • The retroactive application of Obergefell v. Hodges to backdate marriages of same-sex couple to when they would have married had it been allowed
  • The debate over whether merchants can refuse to provide wedding-related services and goods to same-sex couples based on religious objections
  • Whether the marriage consent age should be raised to protect minors from being forced into marriage against their will.
• Domestic Violence (Ch. 3) now covers:
  • The use of electronic monitoring in domestic violence cases
  • The possibility of allowing minors who are being forced into marriage to obtain civil orders of protection.
• Children coverage expanded to include:
  • In Chapter 5, new sections on the appointment of attorneys to represent children in contested custody disputes and considerations of parental disability in best interest determinations
  • In Chapter 11, new section on same-sex couples and the establishment of legal parenthood
  • In Chapter 12, consideration of the emergence of medical child abuse and forced marriage as new categories of harm; expanded definitions of abuse and neglect, including medical child abuse and forced child marriage; and new section on "legal orphans" and the reinstatement of parental rights.
• Economic Issues updated with:
  • New section in Chapter 6 on the due process rights of low-income parents in civil contempt cases for non-payment of child support.
  • Chapter 7 expanded to include the backlash against "permanent" spousal support awards and the tax treatment of spousal support payments.
  • Coverage of virtual assets in Chapter 8

Professors and students will benefit from:

• The full range of family law topics in a more concise format--including marriage and divorce, non-marital families, child abuse and neglect, and same sex marriage
• Practice-based assignments, real-life examples and sample forms
• Clear pedagogy--including chapter summaries, key terms defined in the margins, and review and discussion questions--helps students better understand the material and develop their critical thinking and writing skills.
• Up-to-date coverage of all the key topics in family law, with a consistent focus on the work of the paralegal