Book Description

Family Law for Non-Lawyers uses current events, sometimes with tabloid-style fact patterns or celebrity participants, to illustrate the complexities of and rapid changes in the field of family law while maintaining a high level of student interest. The book also capitalizes on recent United States Supreme Court family law cases to allow the reader to play Justice and try to determine how the cases will be decided. The book surveys family law in general, familiarizing the reader with the similarities and differences in the law throughout the country. Short summaries of the law and related cases bring legal principles to life in an easy-to-use, often humorous way. Contentious issues such as same-sex marriage, birth control, and assisted reproduction share the stage with courtship and divorce, custody and child support, and parental rights in this enlightening read. Family Law for Non-Lawyers raises issues and covers topics that will challenge both the reader familiar with family law and anyone new to the subject. Student-friendly and straightforward, the book is a perfect tool for courses in family studies, couples and family therapy, paralegal studies, and undergraduate and graduate family law classes. Kerry Weil Tripp, J.D., is a graduate of the Notre Dame Law School and practiced law in San Francisco and Baltimore. Dr. Tripp is the assistant to the chair for special projects and senior lecturer in the Department of Family Studies in the School of Public Health at the University of Maryland, College Park. She teaches undergraduate and graduate law classes, including a comparative family law class in Havana, Cuba.