The Eighth Edition of Family Law for Paralegals continues to provide complete coverage of traditional family law topics with historical context and dynamic cutting-edge issues--such as non-marital families, child abuse and neglect, and same-sex marriage. J. Shoshanna Ehrlich's balanced approach prepares students to handle the work of a paralegal through examples, assignments, and sample forms that mirror legal practice.

New to the Eighth Edition:

Meticulously updated with new cases and developments in the law throughout the book, including new material on:

• Marriage (Ch. 1) includes new sections on:
  • The retroactive application of Obergefell v. Hodges to backdate marriages of same-sex couple to when they would have married had it been allowed
  • The debate over whether merchants can refuse to provide wedding-related services and goods to same-sex couples based on religious objections
  • Whether the marriage consent age should be raised to protect minors from being forced into marriage against their will.
• Domestic Violence (Ch. 3) now covers:
  • The use of electronic monitoring in domestic violence cases
  • The possibility of allowing minors who are being forced into marriage to obtain civil orders of protection.
  • Employer-initiated restraining orders

• Children coverage expanded to include:
  • In Chapter 5, new sections on the appointment of attorneys to represent children in contested custody disputes and considerations of parental disability in best interest determinations
  • In Chapter 11, new section on same-sex couples and the establishment of legal parenthood
  • In Chapter 12, consideration of the emergence of medical child abuse and forced marriage as new categories of harm; expanded definitions of abuse and neglect, including medical child abuse and forced child marriage; and new section on "legal orphans" and the reinstatement of parental rights.
• Economic Issues updated with:
  • New section in Chapter 6 on the due process rights of low-income parents in civil contempt cases for non-payment of child support.
  • Chapter 7 expanded to include the backlash against "permanent" spousal support awards and the tax treatment of spousal support payments.
  • Coverage of virtual assets in Chapter 8

Professors and students will benefit from:

• Helpful real-life examples and sample forms
• Clear pedagogy--including summaries, key terms, and review and discussion questions--helps students better understand the material and develop their critical thinking and writing skills.
• Included cases edited for analysis at the end of each chapter.
• Classroom-tested, successful text that is authoritative and well-structured.
• A variety of assignments for practicing lawyering skills, such as research, analysis, memo writing, and argumentation
• Up-to-date coverage of all the key topics in family law.