When the Supreme Court of the United States expanded marriage to same sex couples in Obergefell, that decision became a game-changer for women in three areas. First, Obergefell changes women's relationships with men. Second, it affects and alters equality for women in many ways. Third,...

IOLTA (Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts) is a popular mechanism for funding legal services for the poor, and such programs now operate in every state. IOLTA programs suffer from badly depleted resources due to the current financial environment, causing painful cutbacks at the nonprofit...

The child support system is not serving low-income families well. Custodial parents are not receiving the child support they need. Enforcement of child support for lowincome parents receiving welfare primarily benefits the state because the payments are owed to the government. Low-income...

This symposium article recounts recent litigation by several states over a provision of the Medicare Modernization Act Part D prescription drug benefit: The clawback, which requires states to pay the a potentially substantial portion of new federal program. I then examine the unique federalism...

Several states have passed laws restricting undocumented immigrants’ access to health care and other publicly funded benefits. These laws and the debate surrounding them have been polarizing. Social psychologists have developed a Group Identity Model that has enormous explanatory power to...

Currently, nearly half a million children reside in United States foster care, some “aging out” without ever having been adopted. As incentive for placing children from foster care in permanent homes, Congress passed a series of legislative measures, including a federal adoption tax credit,...

Administrative agencies have long been sites of technological innovation. Today, government officials worldwide are intensifying digitalization efforts to cut costs and to make bureaucratic operations more efficient. This article examines how digitalization initiatives are implemented in...

Reliance on judicial discretion to resolve disputes is one of the most fundamental characteristics of the American legal system. Nowhere have judges exercised more unfettered discretion than in family law. Judicial discretion in this area, however, is not without its critics. In this Article...

In this article we sketch an overview of the increasing federal involvement in the child-support area. Because the federal role has grown so dramatically over the past 25 years, family law practitioners need to understand the different federal programs and requirements that affect state...

The legal and practical issues surrounding child support obligations have enormous impact on families in the child welfare system. Unfortunately, these issues are often ignored, overlooked, or misunderstood. A much-needed effort to engage nonresident fathers in the child welfare system is...