Adan Silverio‐Murillo, J. R. Balmori de la Miyar, Lauren Hoehn‐Velasco
This study considers whether domestic violence increased during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico City. We use two separate data sources to study this question--domestic violence call-center calls and official police reports. Using both an event-study design and difference-in-differences, we show that while domestic violence during the pandemic continued (and even increased), police reports of domestic violence declined. During the pandemic, call-center calls for psychological violence increased by 17% and physical domestic violence by 7%. Despite this increase, police reports of domestic violence decreased by 22%. By December of 2020, both types of domestic violence reports had returned to baseline levels. To reconcile the discrepancies between hotline calls and reported domestic violence incidents, we consider several potential mechanisms. We find suggestive evidence that the increase in psychological domestic violence is related to stress-inducing income loss. We also show evidence indicating that women faced difficulties reporting their abusive partners to the police during the lockdown, explaining the reduction in domestic violence police reports. Our findings suggest that the COVID-19 lockdown prevented reporting of domestic violence even while violence continued or even increased.
{"title":"Families under Confinement: COVID-19 and Domestic Violence","authors":"Adan Silverio‐Murillo, J. R. Balmori de la Miyar, Lauren Hoehn‐Velasco","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3688384","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3688384","url":null,"abstract":"This study considers whether domestic violence increased during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico City. We use two separate data sources to study this question--domestic violence call-center calls and official police reports. Using both an event-study design and difference-in-differences, we show that while domestic violence during the pandemic continued (and even increased), police reports of domestic violence declined. During the pandemic, call-center calls for psychological violence increased by 17% and physical domestic violence by 7%. Despite this increase, police reports of domestic violence decreased by 22%. By December of 2020, both types of domestic violence reports had returned to baseline levels. To reconcile the discrepancies between hotline calls and reported domestic violence incidents, we consider several potential mechanisms. We find suggestive evidence that the increase in psychological domestic violence is related to stress-inducing income loss. We also show evidence indicating that women faced difficulties reporting their abusive partners to the police during the lockdown, explaining the reduction in domestic violence police reports. Our findings suggest that the COVID-19 lockdown prevented reporting of domestic violence even while violence continued or even increased.","PeriodicalId":163724,"journal":{"name":"Law & Society: Private Law - Family Law eJournal","volume":"68 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129379601","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Are premarital agreements categorically unfair? Critics of premarital agreements cling to the (unfounded) belief that premarital agreements are categorically one-sided, coercive, and designed to benefit the wealthier spouse — usually the man. Courts, legislators, and scholars have too often relied on assumptions about premarital agreements without delving in to the facts. They have looked almost everywhere to support their views, except for the one place that really matters: the actual agreements. The result, predictably, is a paternalistic system predicated on a near religious belief that women who sign premarital agreements are uneducated, unsophisticated, economically dependent actors who need the state to protect them from the overreaching of their husbands and their own stupidity. For the few women this paternalistic system might protect, it harms a great many more by reinforcing negative stereotypes and eroding individual autonomy. This paper builds on my previous work and offers something that has been sorely lacking in the field — empirical data. This paper presents my initial findings of a study involving all of the premarital agreements between opposite-sex couples recorded in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2016 — a total of 474 premarital agreements. My findings cast considerable doubt upon many of the stereotypes about the parties that enter into premarital agreements. The quintessential stereotype of a couple with a premarital agreement is the rich businessman and his (much) younger “trophy” bride. For the couples in this study, however, large age discrepancies are the exception rather than the rule. We have long assumed that premarital agreements are most common in second marriages. Although that is generally true for the couples in this study, the reality is a good deal more nuanced. Nearly a quarter of the agreements in this study were entered into by two spouses with no prior marriages. Longstanding assumptions about substance and procedure are also challenged by my study. We have been suspicious of premarital agreements that are signed shortly before the wedding out of fear that they result from duress or coercion. Yet, the vast majority of the couples in this study signed their agreements shortly before their weddings. Isn’t it more likely that these couples procrastinated rather than coerced? We have long assumed that premarital agreements involve the waiver of property rights and spousal support by the poorer spouse for the benefit of the richer spouse. Again, the data paint a more complex and interesting picture.
{"title":"Are Premarital Agreements Really Unfair: An Empirical Study of Premarital Agreements","authors":"E. Carter","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.3436412","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.3436412","url":null,"abstract":"Are premarital agreements categorically unfair? Critics of premarital agreements cling to the (unfounded) belief that premarital agreements are categorically one-sided, coercive, and designed to benefit the wealthier spouse — usually the man. Courts, legislators, and scholars have too often relied on assumptions about premarital agreements without delving in to the facts. They have looked almost everywhere to support their views, except for the one place that really matters: the actual agreements. The result, predictably, is a paternalistic system predicated on a near religious belief that women who sign premarital agreements are uneducated, unsophisticated, economically dependent actors who need the state to protect them from the overreaching of their husbands and their own stupidity. For the few women this paternalistic system might protect, it harms a great many more by reinforcing negative stereotypes and eroding individual autonomy. \u0000 \u0000This paper builds on my previous work and offers something that has been sorely lacking in the field — empirical data. This paper presents my initial findings of a study involving all of the premarital agreements between opposite-sex couples recorded in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2016 — a total of 474 premarital agreements. My findings cast considerable doubt upon many of the stereotypes about the parties that enter into premarital agreements. The quintessential stereotype of a couple with a premarital agreement is the rich businessman and his (much) younger “trophy” bride. For the couples in this study, however, large age discrepancies are the exception rather than the rule. We have long assumed that premarital agreements are most common in second marriages. Although that is generally true for the couples in this study, the reality is a good deal more nuanced. Nearly a quarter of the agreements in this study were entered into by two spouses with no prior marriages. Longstanding assumptions about substance and procedure are also challenged by my study. We have been suspicious of premarital agreements that are signed shortly before the wedding out of fear that they result from duress or coercion. Yet, the vast majority of the couples in this study signed their agreements shortly before their weddings. Isn’t it more likely that these couples procrastinated rather than coerced? We have long assumed that premarital agreements involve the waiver of property rights and spousal support by the poorer spouse for the benefit of the richer spouse. Again, the data paint a more complex and interesting picture.","PeriodicalId":163724,"journal":{"name":"Law & Society: Private Law - Family Law eJournal","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131562063","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper explores the relationship between female education and domestic violence by utilizing a change in compulsory schooling. We replicate the study of Erten and Keskin (2018) using a more recent dataset. Contrary to their findings, we show that the reform induced increase in schooling for women reduces physical and sexual violence while social and financial control behaviors remain unchanged. Improvements in marriage market outcomes seem to be the dominant channel through which education affects domestic violence. Better education has improved partner quality, whereas women’s gender attitudes and labor market outcomes have not changed.
{"title":"Education is a Remedy for Domestic Violence: Evidence from a Schooling Law Change","authors":"Ramiz Abdurahimov, P. Akyol","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3280153","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3280153","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores the relationship between female education and domestic violence by utilizing a change in compulsory schooling. We replicate the study of Erten and Keskin (2018) using a more recent dataset. Contrary to their findings, we show that the reform induced increase in schooling for women reduces physical and sexual violence while social and financial control behaviors remain unchanged. Improvements in marriage market outcomes seem to be the dominant channel through which education affects domestic violence. Better education has improved partner quality, whereas women’s gender attitudes and labor market outcomes have not changed.","PeriodicalId":163724,"journal":{"name":"Law & Society: Private Law - Family Law eJournal","volume":"373 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123304647","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
We examine the causal effect of women's age at marriage on prevalence of domestic violence using newly available household data from India. We employ an empirical strategy that utilizes variation in age at menarche to obtain exogenous variation in women's age at marriage. We find robust evidence that a one-year delay in women's marriage causes a significant decline in physical violence, although it has no impact on sexual or emotional violence. Further, we show that the effect of women's marital age on physical violence arises primarily because older brides, as compared to younger brides, are more educated. Overall, our findings underscore the importance of better enforcement of existing social policies that seek to delay marriages of women, as well as formulation of newer interventions (especially those which would ensure that marriage delays are associated with women staying longer in school), to reduce the prevalence of domestic violence in developing countries.
{"title":"The Causal Impact of Women's Age at Marriage on Domestic Violence in India","authors":"Gaurav Dhamija, Punarjit Roychowdhury","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3180601","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3180601","url":null,"abstract":"We examine the causal effect of women's age at marriage on prevalence of domestic violence using newly available household data from India. We employ an empirical strategy that utilizes variation in age at menarche to obtain exogenous variation in women's age at marriage. We find robust evidence that a one-year delay in women's marriage causes a significant decline in physical violence, although it has no impact on sexual or emotional violence. Further, we show that the effect of women's marital age on physical violence arises primarily because older brides, as compared to younger brides, are more educated. Overall, our findings underscore the importance of better enforcement of existing social policies that seek to delay marriages of women, as well as formulation of newer interventions (especially those which would ensure that marriage delays are associated with women staying longer in school), to reduce the prevalence of domestic violence in developing countries.","PeriodicalId":163724,"journal":{"name":"Law & Society: Private Law - Family Law eJournal","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-05-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128920411","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The neoliberal economy has changed the manner in which labour, love and relationships have been recognized, appreciated and structured in a society. The economic crisis which has cropped up in recent years, where the employment is shrinking, the economy is deteriorating, the common people are left with little options to earn their livelihoods and the state is rolling back from its welfare role, all this is making a significant impact on social relations. These economic changes are also making deep impact on the social institution of marriage and family which is weakening and is being threatened in the given neoliberal environment where money is replacing love, commercialization is substituting the social and the emotional bonds, the civic relations are waning and fading away and where the community support is gradually becoming extinct. The consumer paradigm in the free market economy now put an onus on the individual to seek services such as health, education or employment in the market rather than putting onus on the state or the community to provide for these basic services. This paradigm is deeply affecting the men and women on the margins. More importantly, when the institution of marriage breakdowns and the women are compelled to walk out of the marital relation with no support from the state, community or extended family, their situation becomes challenging. In the absence of the matrimonial property rights, women who abandoned, separated or are divorced, are deprived of any right to assets in the marital property owned by the husbands in the patriarchal society. Neither the law nor the society recognizes the contribution of women in the marital household. This paper looks at two cases going on or have been tried in the family courts and the struggle within the courtroom at the time when the institution of marriage breakdown and the individuals, as men and women, are being left vulnerable in their struggle for survival. It concludes that despite of the legal provisions relating to maintenance, mediation, protection of women against domestic violence, men and women and most importantly, men who are poor, and, women in general, are compelled to struggle in their daily lives. Neither the law could neither imagine the situations outside the paradox of the family nor the free market approach has helped in any way to advocate for the social policies that could offer alternatives lead a life with dignity in situations where economic, social and political life is transforming in the market driven economy. Trapped in the web of legal technicalities and the complexities of free market norms, these men and women are facing increasing vulnerabilities, where the state has refused to bail them out in any manner. It is therefore suggested that the law relating to divorce needs to be reconsidered with matrimonial property to be divided equally among the separating parties and more importantly the rights of women to marital property be examined. Giving wom
{"title":"No Wages for Love: Women’s Rights Within Families and Changing Economic Paradigm","authors":"Shalu Nigam","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3152801","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3152801","url":null,"abstract":"The neoliberal economy has changed the manner in which labour, love and relationships have been recognized, appreciated and structured in a society. The economic crisis which has cropped up in recent years, where the employment is shrinking, the economy is deteriorating, the common people are left with little options to earn their livelihoods and the state is rolling back from its welfare role, all this is making a significant impact on social relations. These economic changes are also making deep impact on the social institution of marriage and family which is weakening and is being threatened in the given neoliberal environment where money is replacing love, commercialization is substituting the social and the emotional bonds, the civic relations are waning and fading away and where the community support is gradually becoming extinct. The consumer paradigm in the free market economy now put an onus on the individual to seek services such as health, education or employment in the market rather than putting onus on the state or the community to provide for these basic services. This paradigm is deeply affecting the men and women on the margins. More importantly, when the institution of marriage breakdowns and the women are compelled to walk out of the marital relation with no support from the state, community or extended family, their situation becomes challenging. In the absence of the matrimonial property rights, women who abandoned, separated or are divorced, are deprived of any right to assets in the marital property owned by the husbands in the patriarchal society. Neither the law nor the society recognizes the contribution of women in the marital household. This paper looks at two cases going on or have been tried in the family courts and the struggle within the courtroom at the time when the institution of marriage breakdown and the individuals, as men and women, are being left vulnerable in their struggle for survival. It concludes that despite of the legal provisions relating to maintenance, mediation, protection of women against domestic violence, men and women and most importantly, men who are poor, and, women in general, are compelled to struggle in their daily lives. Neither the law could neither imagine the situations outside the paradox of the family nor the free market approach has helped in any way to advocate for the social policies that could offer alternatives lead a life with dignity in situations where economic, social and political life is transforming in the market driven economy. Trapped in the web of legal technicalities and the complexities of free market norms, these men and women are facing increasing vulnerabilities, where the state has refused to bail them out in any manner. It is therefore suggested that the law relating to divorce needs to be reconsidered with matrimonial property to be divided equally among the separating parties and more importantly the rights of women to marital property be examined. Giving wom","PeriodicalId":163724,"journal":{"name":"Law & Society: Private Law - Family Law eJournal","volume":"74 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122562028","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2016-08-25DOI: 10.26686/VUWLR.V46I3.4911
P. Parkinson
This article presents a thematic retrospective of the past 40 years of family law in terms of the international landscape in developed countries. It examines three questions: First, whatever happened to marriage? While once marriage was central to family formation, it is no longer. Indeed, heterosexual couples have never been less interested in the idea of marriage. Secondly, whatever happened to divorce? The nature of divorce has fundamentally changed in the last forty years, largely as a consequence of the recognition that while intimate domestic partnerships may come to an end, parenthood is, for the most part, indissoluble. The ties that bind parents together remain important long after the adult relationship has ended. Thirdly, whatever happened to parenthood? Legal parenthood has become vastly more complicated than in the mid-1970s. One reason for this is the revolution in artificial reproduction techniques. A second reason is that lesbian and gay couples have, in increasing numbers, sought to raise children and demanded recognition of parental rights which are not based on genetic parenthood. These changes have had a profound impact upon modern family law.
{"title":"Forty Years of Family Law: A Retrospective","authors":"P. Parkinson","doi":"10.26686/VUWLR.V46I3.4911","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26686/VUWLR.V46I3.4911","url":null,"abstract":"This article presents a thematic retrospective of the past 40 years of family law in terms of the international landscape in developed countries. It examines three questions: First, whatever happened to marriage? While once marriage was central to family formation, it is no longer. Indeed, heterosexual couples have never been less interested in the idea of marriage. Secondly, whatever happened to divorce? The nature of divorce has fundamentally changed in the last forty years, largely as a consequence of the recognition that while intimate domestic partnerships may come to an end, parenthood is, for the most part, indissoluble. The ties that bind parents together remain important long after the adult relationship has ended. Thirdly, whatever happened to parenthood? Legal parenthood has become vastly more complicated than in the mid-1970s. One reason for this is the revolution in artificial reproduction techniques. A second reason is that lesbian and gay couples have, in increasing numbers, sought to raise children and demanded recognition of parental rights which are not based on genetic parenthood. These changes have had a profound impact upon modern family law.","PeriodicalId":163724,"journal":{"name":"Law & Society: Private Law - Family Law eJournal","volume":"38 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117350966","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Poverty Law Canon takes readers into the lives of the clients and lawyers who brought critical poverty law cases in the United States. These cases involved attempts to establish the right to basic necessities, as well as efforts to ensure dignified treatment of welfare recipients and to halt administrative attacks on federal program benefit levels. They also confronted government efforts to constrict access to justice, due process, and rights to counsel in child support and consumer cases, social welfare programs, and public housing. By exploring the personal narratives that gave rise to these lawsuits as well as the behind-the-scenes dynamics of the Supreme Court, the text locates these cases within the social dynamics that shaped the course of litigation. Noted legal scholars explain the legal precedent created by each case and set the case within its historical and political context in a way that will assist students and advocates in poverty-related disciplines in their understanding of the implications of these cases for contemporary public policy decisions in poverty programs. Whether the focus is on the clients, on the lawyers, or on the justices, the stories in The Poverty Law Canon illuminate the central legal themes in federal poverty law of the late 20th century and the role that racial and economic stereotyping plays in shaping American law. “The contributors include some of the best academics who write and teach about poverty. The back stories of these cases are multidimensionally interesting — the clients, the legal strategies, the lawyers themselves, the historical and political context, the effect on the law, the backstage of the Supreme Court and the role of the law clerks.” — Peter Edelman, Georgetown University Law Center.
{"title":"The Poverty Law Canon: Exploring the Major Cases","authors":"Marie A. Failinger, E. Rosser","doi":"10.3998/mpub.7280887","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.7280887","url":null,"abstract":"The Poverty Law Canon takes readers into the lives of the clients and lawyers who brought critical poverty law cases in the United States. These cases involved attempts to establish the right to basic necessities, as well as efforts to ensure dignified treatment of welfare recipients and to halt administrative attacks on federal program benefit levels. They also confronted government efforts to constrict access to justice, due process, and rights to counsel in child support and consumer cases, social welfare programs, and public housing. By exploring the personal narratives that gave rise to these lawsuits as well as the behind-the-scenes dynamics of the Supreme Court, the text locates these cases within the social dynamics that shaped the course of litigation. Noted legal scholars explain the legal precedent created by each case and set the case within its historical and political context in a way that will assist students and advocates in poverty-related disciplines in their understanding of the implications of these cases for contemporary public policy decisions in poverty programs. Whether the focus is on the clients, on the lawyers, or on the justices, the stories in The Poverty Law Canon illuminate the central legal themes in federal poverty law of the late 20th century and the role that racial and economic stereotyping plays in shaping American law. “The contributors include some of the best academics who write and teach about poverty. The back stories of these cases are multidimensionally interesting — the clients, the legal strategies, the lawyers themselves, the historical and political context, the effect on the law, the backstage of the Supreme Court and the role of the law clerks.” — Peter Edelman, Georgetown University Law Center.","PeriodicalId":163724,"journal":{"name":"Law & Society: Private Law - Family Law eJournal","volume":"52 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122297352","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2016-06-01DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6478.2016.00748.x
D. Monk
This article presents the findings of research about the will‐writing practices of gays and lesbians. It develops a conversation between sociological literature about ‘families of choice’, which is silent about inheritance, and socio‐legal research about ‘inheritance families’, which is relatively silent about sexuality. It demonstrates how research with lawyers can contribute to thinking about inheritance and complement historical archives about personal life and sexuality. Focusing on funeral rites, partners, ex‐lovers, friendships, children and godchildren, and birth families, the findings reveal how gay men and lesbians have used wills to communicate kinship practices in ways that both converge with and differ from conventional testamentary practices. Examining the findings through the concepts of generationality, family display, connectedness, and ordinariness, and locating them within the recent history of social and legal changes, it complicates and troubles both anti‐normative and individualistic readings of the choices gay and lesbians make in constructing their ‘inheritance families’.
{"title":"'Inheritance Families of Choice'? Lawyers' Reflections on Gay and Lesbian Wills","authors":"D. Monk","doi":"10.1111/j.1467-6478.2016.00748.x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6478.2016.00748.x","url":null,"abstract":"This article presents the findings of research about the will‐writing practices of gays and lesbians. It develops a conversation between sociological literature about ‘families of choice’, which is silent about inheritance, and socio‐legal research about ‘inheritance families’, which is relatively silent about sexuality. It demonstrates how research with lawyers can contribute to thinking about inheritance and complement historical archives about personal life and sexuality. Focusing on funeral rites, partners, ex‐lovers, friendships, children and godchildren, and birth families, the findings reveal how gay men and lesbians have used wills to communicate kinship practices in ways that both converge with and differ from conventional testamentary practices. Examining the findings through the concepts of generationality, family display, connectedness, and ordinariness, and locating them within the recent history of social and legal changes, it complicates and troubles both anti‐normative and individualistic readings of the choices gay and lesbians make in constructing their ‘inheritance families’.","PeriodicalId":163724,"journal":{"name":"Law & Society: Private Law - Family Law eJournal","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124162566","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
It is important that married couples seek legal advice with regard to the assets falling within their joint estate, more particularly their retirement benefits. This article reflects on the entitlement (if any) of non-member spouses to their spouses' retirement fund benefits. Pension benefits can be due before, during or after divorce, and parties to the marriage should be aware of their rights with regard to the accruing pension benefits of their spouses. While it is settled law that non-member spouses are entitled to receive a portion of their member spouses' pension benefits (known as "pension interest") immediately on divorce, it is not particularly clear whether non-member spouses are also entitled to receive the same before or sometime after divorce. In this article I provide a contextual understanding of the entitlements (if any) which spouses or former spouses of members of pension funds have on such member spouses' retirement benefits. Furthermore, it shown in this article that various divisions of South African High Courts have been inconsistent in how they have approached the issue of the pension interest between divorcing spouses or divorced ex-spouses.
{"title":"A Non-Member Spouse's Entitlement to the Member's Pension Interest","authors":"Motseotsile Clement Marumoagae","doi":"10.4314/PELJ.V17I6.07","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4314/PELJ.V17I6.07","url":null,"abstract":"It is important that married couples seek legal advice with regard to the assets falling within their joint estate, more particularly their retirement benefits. This article reflects on the entitlement (if any) of non-member spouses to their spouses' retirement fund benefits. Pension benefits can be due before, during or after divorce, and parties to the marriage should be aware of their rights with regard to the accruing pension benefits of their spouses. While it is settled law that non-member spouses are entitled to receive a portion of their member spouses' pension benefits (known as \"pension interest\") immediately on divorce, it is not particularly clear whether non-member spouses are also entitled to receive the same before or sometime after divorce. In this article I provide a contextual understanding of the entitlements (if any) which spouses or former spouses of members of pension funds have on such member spouses' retirement benefits. Furthermore, it shown in this article that various divisions of South African High Courts have been inconsistent in how they have approached the issue of the pension interest between divorcing spouses or divorced ex-spouses.","PeriodicalId":163724,"journal":{"name":"Law & Society: Private Law - Family Law eJournal","volume":"23 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131332499","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lashawn Richburg-Hayes, Caitlin Anzelone, Nadine Dechausay, S. Datta, A. Fiorillo, Louis Potok, M. Darling, John Balz
Sponsored by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) project aims to learn how tools from behavioral economics can improve the well-being of individuals and families served by programs that ACF supports. Many human services programs require clients to make active decisions and follow a series of steps in order to reap a benefit — from deciding to apply, to completing forms, to arranging for child care. Program designers often assume that individuals will carefully consider options, make decisions that maximize their well-being, and diligently follow through. Behavioral economics, which combines insights from psychology and economics, may help explain why these assumptions are not always borne out. By describing work in three sites, this report illustrates how the BIAS project draws on the principles of behavioral economics to design solutions for ACF programs. In partnership with program administrators, the BIAS team uses a method called “behavioral diagnosis and design” to delve into problems that program administrators have identified, diagnose potential bottlenecks that may inhibit program performance, and identify areas where a relatively easy and low-cost, behaviorally informed change might improve outcomes. Working with the Texas Office of the Attorney General´s Child Support Division, the BIAS team explored ways to increase the number of incarcerated noncustodial parents who apply for a modification of their child support order, with the goal of preventing further accrual of child support arrears. The project team also engaged with the Illinois Department of Human Services and one of its job search contractors to identify behavioral interventions that could help increase the rate of engagement in job search assistance among clients who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Finally, work with the National Domestic Violence Hotline (NDVH) focused on reducing the number of callers who reach a hold message but hang up before talking to an NDVH staffer. Key Findings: •The behavioral diagnosis and design process provides a means of identifying and addressing key reasons that programs may not be performing to expectation. The process can uncover behavioral bottlenecks that are amenable to behavioral solutions. It may also identify structural issues, such as a need to hire more staff, which are often outside the scope of the BIAS project. •The diagnosis process encourages program designers to step back and examine multiple possible explanations for underperformance before embracing a particular theory or solution. This may improve the likelihood of success of any behavioral intervention. As the project moves forward, the BIAS team will continue to work with public officials to design and apply behavioral interventions in ACF program areas to generate new wa
由美国卫生与公众服务部下属的儿童与家庭管理局(ACF)计划、研究与评估办公室(Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation of Administration for Children and Families，简称ACF)赞助的“行为干预促进自给自足”(Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency，简称BIAS)项目旨在了解行为经济学的工具如何改善ACF支持的项目所服务的个人和家庭的福祉。许多人类服务项目要求客户做出积极的决定，并遵循一系列的步骤来获得收益——从决定申请，到填写表格，再到安排照顾孩子。程序设计者通常假设个人会仔细考虑选择，做出最大限度地提高他们的福祉的决定，并努力贯彻到底。行为经济学结合了心理学和经济学的见解，可能有助于解释为什么这些假设并不总是得到证实。通过描述三个地点的工作，本报告说明了BIAS项目如何利用行为经济学原理为ACF项目设计解决方案。在与项目管理者的合作中，BIAS团队使用一种称为“行为诊断和设计”的方法来深入研究项目管理者已经确定的问题，诊断可能抑制项目绩效的潜在瓶颈，并确定相对容易和低成本的、行为知情的改变可能改善结果的领域。BIAS小组与德克萨斯州总检察长办公室的儿童抚养部门合作，探索了增加申请修改子女抚养令的在押非监护父母数量的方法，目的是防止子女抚养欠款的进一步累积。项目团队还与伊利诺伊州人类服务部及其一个求职承包商合作，确定行为干预措施，以帮助获得临时贫困家庭援助的客户提高求职援助的参与率。最后，与国家家庭暴力热线(NDVH)合作，重点是减少那些在接到等待信息后，在与NDVH工作人员交谈之前就挂断电话的呼叫者的数量。•行为诊断和设计过程提供了一种识别和解决程序可能未达到预期效果的关键原因的方法。这个过程可以发现行为瓶颈，这些瓶颈是可以通过行为解决方案解决的。它还可以识别结构性问题，例如需要雇用更多的员工，这通常超出了BIAS项目的范围。•诊断过程鼓励程序设计者在采用特定的理论或解决方案之前退后一步，检查性能不佳的多种可能解释。这可能会提高任何行为干预成功的可能性。随着项目的推进，BIAS团队将继续与政府官员合作，在ACF项目领域设计和应用行为干预措施，以产生解决问题的新方法。有希望的干预措施将通过严格的研究设计进行测试，采用实验方法可靠地确定干预措施的影响。未来的出版物将报道这些干预措施的影响。
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