Premarital Agreements, Domestic Violence and Family Privacy: every key term you need (+ practice quiz)
25 flashcard terms for Family Law Topic 8, written to match the course framework. Study them here, then drill them as interactive flashcards, or test yourself with the 15-question quiz — free, no account needed.
A contract executed before marriage in contemplation of it, governing property division, support, and estate rights, effective on the date the marriage occurs.
Uniform Premarital Agreement Act
A widely enacted statute requiring a signed writing without consideration and permitting enforcement unless the agreement was involuntary or unconscionable when made.
Financial disclosure requirement
The obligation to give a fair and reasonable description of assets, income, and debts before signing, unless the right to disclosure is knowingly and expressly waived.
Voluntariness in premarital contracting
The requirement that a party sign free of coercion, examined through timing before the wedding, independent counsel, and the sophistication of each party.
Unconscionability at execution
A ground for refusing enforcement when the bargain was grossly one-sided at signing and was accompanied by inadequate disclosure or absent counsel.
Second look doctrine
A minority approach reviewing fairness at enforcement, refusing to apply an agreement whose operation has become oppressive because of unforeseen changed circumstances.
Simeone v. Pennzoil style contract approach
The strongly contractarian view enforcing premarital agreements like ordinary contracts, refusing paternalistic fairness review once disclosure is adequate.
Waiver of spousal support in a premarital deal
Enforceable in most states, though courts may order limited support if the waiver would leave a spouse eligible for public assistance.
Child support cannot be bargained away
Provisions limiting or waiving a child's support rights do not bind the court, since the entitlement belongs to the child rather than the parents.
Postnuptial agreement
A contract made during marriage allocating property and support, reviewed more searchingly than a premarital deal because spouses owe each other fiduciary duties.
Confidential relationship between spouses
The fiduciary character of the marital relationship, imposing duties of candor in interspousal transactions and often shifting the burden to the benefited spouse.
Civil protective order
An injunction restraining contact, granting exclusive possession of the home, and setting temporary custody and support after a showing of abuse or credible threat.
Ex parte temporary restraining order
Immediate emergency relief entered without the respondent present, valid for a short period until a full adversarial hearing satisfies due process.
Cycle of violence
An explanatory pattern of tension building, an acute battering incident, and contrition, offered to explain why victims recant, return, or delay reporting.
Battered woman syndrome evidence
Expert testimony describing the psychological effects of prolonged abuse, admitted to support self-defense claims and to explain conduct jurors may find puzzling.
Mandatory arrest policy
A statutory directive requiring officers to arrest on probable cause of a family assault, adopted to reduce discretion but criticized for dual arrests.
No-drop prosecution policy
A prosecutorial practice of pursuing family violence charges without the victim's cooperation, relying on evidence-based prosecution and other proof.
Full faith and credit for protection orders
Federal law requires states to enforce valid out-of-state protective orders that afforded notice and an opportunity to be heard, without registration in many states.
Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales
Held that a protective order holder had no constitutionally protected property interest in police enforcement, foreclosing a due process claim against the town.
DeShaney v. Winnebago County
Held that the Due Process Clause imposes no general affirmative duty on the state to protect a child from private violence absent custody.
Interspousal tort immunity
The abrogated common law bar to suits between spouses, now largely abolished so that battery, assault, and emotional distress claims may proceed.
Meyer and Pierce parental rights line
Early substantive due process cases protecting parental control over children's education and upbringing against intrusive state mandates.
Wisconsin v. Yoder
Exempted Amish parents from compulsory schooling past eighth grade, combining free exercise and parental direction of a child's religious upbringing.
Prince v. Massachusetts
Upheld child labor limits against a religious objection, confirming that parental authority yields where the state protects a child's health and safety.
Moore v. City of East Cleveland
Struck an ordinance defining family so narrowly that a grandmother could not live with two grandsons, protecting the extended family from arbitrary zoning.