The Ninth Edition continues to incorporate judicial opinions from state, federal, and international courts that illustrate the evolution and dynamism of domestic relations with compelling factual scenarios that illustrate both statutory and common law. Specifically, the casebook utilizes the newly revised Uniform Parentage Act, the federal Family First Prevention Services Act, and other newly enacted statutes pertaining to domestic violence, joint physical custody, and assisted reproductive technology.

There are multiple Problems spread throughout the chapters, drawn from actual state and federal judicial opinions, which test student understanding and illustrate the real-life consequences of the legal issues being discussed. And the casebook has been streamlined to provide a logical and concise progression of material, from nonmarital cohabitation to adoption of adults. This logical sequencing permits the book to be used for two, three or four credit courses, especially since there is a statutory supplement offering a more complete view of the ways that statutes affect family law in today's America. Among the topics addressed are:


Nonmarital Cohabitation: including enforcement of agreements or judicial distribution of assets and remuneration for services
Free Exercise Challenges: including privacy rights, school vouchers, and medical treatments
Premarital and Marital Contracting: including proper execution and subsequent enforcement
Assisted Reproductive Technology: including surrogacy agreements, posthumous conception, and embryo distribution at divorce
Marriage: including common law, proxy, and the rationale for a state's insistence of marital formalities
Divorce: including grounds and defenses and the factors necessary to achieve a proper domicile
Marital Property and Spousal Support: including definition of what constitutes property and temporary and permanent support
Child Support: including state guidelines, effect of joint physical custody, and federal efforts to recover lost support
Child Custody and Visitation: including parenting plans, allocation arrangements, best interest of child, and modification of custody arrangements
Termination of Parental Rights: including Constitutional guarantees, predictive termination, and entitlement to civil representation
Adoption of Minor and Adults: including civil responsibility of adoption agencies and transnational adoptions