| Cohabitation Agreements |
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| A cohabitation agreement is an understanding between two unmarried persons who live together as to how they have agreed to treat their individual assets and how they agree to manage, control, acquire and dispose of assets in the event the relationship terminates. The advantage of a cohabitation agreement is that, if properly drawn, it will reduce the stresses that would be involved if the cohabitation relationship terminates.
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| Misuse of Adoption Affecting Economic Rights |
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| Courts generally prohibit parties from using the adoption process to achieve purposes that would have a detrimental economic effect on the children involved. An attempt by a birth parent to adopt his or her own children for the purpose of terminating the other birth parent's relationship with the children is a misuse of adoption. Also, an agreement to release birth parents from support obligations in exchange for their consent to an adoption is a misuse of adoption. More... |
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| The Family Support Act of 1988 |
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| The Family Support Act of 1988 amended the guidelines provisions of the Child Support Enforcement Amendments of l984 by requiring that a state's support guidelines operate as a ''rebuttable presumption'' of the correct support amount in any judicial or administrative proceeding for the award of child support. More... |
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| Overview of Malpractice Actions Against Child Welfare Agencies or Caseworkers |
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| There are major problems with respect to the way in which child welfare agencies and caseworkers operate in the child welfare system. The agency or caseworker may neglect the child, not provide adequate avenues for the child, or may even in extreme cases lose the child in the welfare system. There has been a large increase of malpractice actions filed by children and their parents against both agencies and caseworkers.
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| Status Offenders |
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| A status offense is an act of noncriminal misbehavior committed by a person under the age of majority. Running away from home, being truant from school, and refusing to obey lawful and reasonable parental demands are examples of status offenses. The state may intervene when juveniles commit any of these acts solely because of their age. More... |
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