Family Law Universalities

Earlier this month, I presented at a conference in Lisbon, Portugal on the recent legal developments on cohabitation, such as the Illinois Supreme Court’s refusal to overrule Hewitt (the non-recognition of cohabitation contracts) and clarification of the “premarital economic partnership” concept in Hawaii case law.

Last minute at the conference, I had to switch panels somewhat randomly due to a cancellation, but that panel fit me surprisingly well as my original panel.  Indeed, I was struck by the similarity of the many family law issues currently being debated in Europe and the U.S.  For example, there was lots of discussion about the tax marriage penalty and increasing rates of cohabitation and out-of-wedlock births.  But, I don’t think this is a case of one culture influencing the other—which suggests the surprisingly high degree of universality of these issues, one of the biggest takeaways from the conference.