Dissolution of Polyamorous Relationships, Multiple Parent Families, and Other Complex Arrangements

Abstract

This chapter explores the challenges facing multipartner and multiparent families in family law during dissolution. It first explores society’s idealization of the traditional husband-wife-child family, which persists despite the fact that a diversity of family forms have long existed in the United States and are becoming increasingly common today. It explains how this idealized construct underlies family law in the United States and disadvantages multipartner and multiparent families in a variety of ways. Courts and legislatures have been slow to recognize and provide for legal rights among multipartner and multiparent families, and even where courts have recognized more than two parents, the results have been unsatisfactory. Statutes in California and Maine, by contrast, are more progressive toward multipartner and multiparent families. Preparation and education are vitally important to multipartner and multiparent families. The chapter discusses how the trust, honesty, and communication that define many polyamorous families can impact dissolution.