Tag: legal reform
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Marriage as a legal institution should be abolished and replaced with civil contracts
Civil marriage bundles dozens of legal effects into one status. Unbundling them into chosen contracts would be fairer, clearer, and more honest.
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Lifetime alimony should be abolished
Permanent spousal support reflects an economy and a marriage model that no longer exist. The case for retiring lifetime alimony in favor of bounded support.
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Alimony is outdated in dual-income America
Alimony was built for an era when one spouse earned and one didn’t. With most marriages now dual-income, the legal framework increasingly produces strange outcomes.
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Pets should have legal custody status
Courts treat pets as property in divorce, but they aren’t furniture. Here’s the case for custody-style legal status and why courts keep refusing.
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Discovery costs have made justice a luxury good
Modern litigation discovery is so expensive that ordinary parties can’t afford it. Here’s how the cost structure has quietly priced out justice.
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Common-law marriage shouldn’t exist in 2026
Common-law marriage was useful when frontier couples couldn’t reach a courthouse. In 2026, it mostly traps people in obligations they never agreed to.
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The best interest of the child standard is a blank check for bias
Family courts use a vague best interest standard to make life-altering custody decisions. The discretion sounds humane and produces wildly inconsistent results.
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Same-sex divorce exposes how heteronormative family law still is
Marriage equality arrived in 2015, but family law still assumes a husband and wife. Same-sex divorces are exposing the cracks in plain view.
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Family court underestimates domestic abuse in custody decisions
Family courts routinely minimize documented abuse when ruling on custody, with consequences for children that researchers have tracked for decades.
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Custody evaluators are paid experts whose findings track who hired them
Custody evaluators present as neutral experts, but research shows their findings often track which parent hired them. The bias is structural, not personal.