Family Law

This course studies the laws that structure family life. We will examine traditional family law topics regarding marriage, divorce, parentage, child custody, and the child welfare system, but we will also explore more broadly the state’s role in supporting (or not) families. Family law cuts across disciplinary divides, including private and public, civil and criminal, constitutional and statutory, and state and federal law. We will study how such laws define “family” and allocate rights and responsibilities between family members and the state, as well as how issues of race, gender, sexual orientation, and class shape these family regulations. Investigating family law requires asking big questions about how individuals, the state, and markets shape central aspects of our lives.