The 2024-2025 academic school year is ushering in a wave of new, mandatory policies to be adopted by public schools across North Carolina. Statutory and regulatory changes at the state and federal levels have imposed...more
Massachusetts is no longer the only state in New England without protections for parentage. The Massachusetts legislature passed the Massachusetts Parentage Act (the “MPA”) late Thursday, and the bill is expected to be signed...more
Surrogacy can be a deeply fulfilling path to parenthood for couples or individuals facing challenges with conception or pregnancy. In many states, including Ohio, the process involves legal, medical, and emotional...more
The highly anticipated list of schools attended by children of members of Moms for Liberty, one of several plaintiffs that filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block the U.S. Department of Education's new Title IX regulations,...more
So much of the law is geared towards addressing what happens when two black-letter principles apply simultaneously but point to different outcomes. The Court of Appeals had to resolve just such a conflict this week in In...more
The end of a marriage is always challenging for the couple involved, and the impact on family members can be significant. Those in LGBTQ+ marriages are no different. Issues around child custody, property division, spousal...more
Parental alienation cases are heart breaking, both because of the damage to the children and the fact that the alienated parent is often robbed of large parts of the children’s childhood – and worse. For years I have said...more
As discussed in our prior health law update, New Limits on Minor Consents in Idaho, effective July 1, 2024, parents generally will have the right to access the medical records of their unemancipated minor children subject to...more
In family law cases in North Carolina, parental rights can seem particularly complex, especially when children are born to unmarried couples. Navigating this terrain involves a legal process known as legitimation, which aims...more
This is designated a family law blog but events taking place on the front door of the U.S. Supreme Court could begin to affect events taking place at your front door. This month two Supreme Court docketing events illustrate...more
American Indian tribes hold an exceptional legal status within the United States. As semi-sovereign entities, tribes have various rights, including enacting legislation, maintaining an independent judiciary, and governing...more
On June 15, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a significant victory to supporters of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) in Haaland v. Brackeen....more
Indian tribal rights led the Supreme Court’s docket yesterday. In one case, the Court held that the federal Bankruptcy Code abrogated the sovereign immunity of tribal governments. And in another, this time upholding tribal...more
As I indicated in my last blog post, Pennsylvania’s Superior Court gave us family lawyers a nice list of issues in Rogowski v. Kirven, 2023 Pa. Super. Lexis 75 (March 1, 2023). In that blog I addressed what I call...more
With the passage of Senate Bill 262, Florida has become the latest state who has woken up to the political capital that a state privacy law can provide. And while we see a lot of the “usual suspects” which populate other...more
Legislatures and courts these days are devoting lots of energy to what parents can and can’t regulate in their households and who is “responsible.” Florida just passed a law making it a crime for parents to seek treatment for...more
In 2021 two women were married. They moved to Pennsylvania where they decided to conceive a child through in vitro fertilization. One spouse, Chanel Glover formed a contract for the storage of her eggs with a local cryobank....more
In recent years, the legal rights of transgender students have been litigated in courts around the country. While court decisions have provided some guidance for school districts, many questions remain. This article addresses...more
On November 22, 2022, 160 Florida lawmakers, many elected to the legislature for the first time, gathered in Tallahassee to be sworn in. During this constitutionally required “organization session,” the two chambers also...more
On Oct. 11, Governor Whitmer signed House Bill 5703: a law that will require schools to post notices including both a provision of the Michigan School Code that reaffirms the prominence of parental rights in school, as well...more
Hinshaw is pleased to bring together Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean J. Trantalis, Senior Political Director Joe Saunders of Equality Florida, Public Policy Director Mike Ziri of Equality Illinois, and Hinshaw Attorneys Andrew...more
The recent Supreme Court opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization dismantles 50 years of legal precedent concerning reproductive rights. Justice Clarence Thomas, in his concurring opinion, goes further, urging...more
The recent news that Khloe Kardashian is expecting a child through surrogacy with her ex Tristan Thompson - which we all know way too much about whether we want to or not - brings up many questions about surrogacy and the...more
The recent decision of Compher v. Whitfield from the Tennessee Court of Appeals is a prime example of how far child custody law in Tennessee has to go to catch up with today’s same-sex partner realities. In Compher, two women...more
Last week, Proskauer filed an Article 78 petition on behalf of The Legal Aid Society, Lawyers For Children, and the Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo — three organizations that represent children in foster care proceedings —...more