An adult who (1) is not the child’s legal parent, (2) has, with consent of the child’s legal parent, resided with the child for a significant period, and (3) has routinely performed a share of the caretaking functions at least as great as that of the parent who has been the child’s primary caregiver without […]
de facto stepparent adoption. See second-parent adoption under ADOPTION.
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An adoption by an unmarried cohabiting partner of a child’s legal parent, not involving the termination of a legal parent’s rights; esp., an adoption in which a lesbian, gay man, or unmarried heterosexual person adopts his or her partner’s biological or adoptive child. See Restatement (Third) of Property: Wills and Other Donative Transfers § 2.5
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parental-discipline privilege. A parent’s right to use reasonable force or to impose reasonable punishment on a child in a way that is necessary to control, train, and educate. • Several factors are used to determine the reasonableness of the action, including whether the actor is the parent; the child’s age, sex, and physical and mental
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friendly-parent law. A statute that requires or allows a judge to consider as a factor in awarding custody the extent to which one parent encourages or thwarts the child’s relationship with the other parent.
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color of apparent organization. The appearance of corporate authority, including the assumption and exercise of corporate functions in good faith, even though the corporation’s organizers did not fully or substantially comply with the terms of the corporate charter or the statutory requirements for incorporation. See de facto corporation under CORPORATION.
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best-interests-of-the-child doctrine. Family law. The principle that courts should make custody decisions based on whatever best advances the child’s welfare, regardless of a claimant’s particular status or relationship with the child. • One important factor entering into these decisions is the general belief that the child’s best interests normally favor custody by parents, as opposed
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Year Books. Hist. Books of cases anonymously and fairly regularly reported covering primarily the period from the reign of Edward I to the time of Henry VIII. • The title “Year Books” derives from their being grouped under the regnal years of the sovereigns in whose reigns the reported cases were cited. The reports were
best interests of the child. Family law. A standard by which a court determines what arrangements would be to a child’s greatest benefit, often used in deciding child-custody and visitation matters and in deciding whether to approve an adoption or a guardianship. • A court may use many factors, including the emotional tie between the
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kidnapping. 1. At common law, the crime of forcibly abducting a person from his or her own country and sending the person to another. • This offense amounted to false imprisonment aggravated by moving the victim to another country. 2. The crime of seizing and taking away a person by force or fraud. — Also