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LAW 240 Advanced Family Law (3)
3 hours lecture per week
Prerequisite(s): Paralegal program major; a grade of “C” or higher in LAW 140; a grade of “C” or higher in LAW 203. Prerequisites may be waived by instructor or Program director.
Comment: LAW 240 may not be audited. LAW 240 was formerly LAW 250H.
LAW 240 covers advanced substantive law and procedural aspects in the area known as "family law." It covers adoption, consent and nonconsent cases, guardianships, and paternity. Additionally, advanced divorce-related issues will be covered including contested child custody, child support, and all contested property-division issues. Procedural discussions will focus on familiarization with family court procedures and forms in adoption, guardianship, and paternity cases and the advanced divorce-related matters will focus on discovery, custody evaluations and preparation of expert witnesses for contested trials. This course prepares the student to assist attorneys in these additional areas of family law practice.
Upon successful completion of LAW 240, the student should be able to:
- Explain fundamental statutory family law concepts governing adoptions, guardianships, paternity and other matters controlled by the family court.
- Explain procedures and processes of the family court.
- Locate, describe, and analyze print and electronic sources of law relating to family law.
- Draft documents commonly used in family law, specifically adoption, guardianship, paternity, and contested divorce matters.
- Use appropriate terminology relating to adoptions, guardianships, paternity, and other areas of family law.
- Explain the ethical obligations of a paralegal or non-lawyer relating to family law.
- Describe how alternative dispute resolution fits into the continuum of resolution of adoptions, guardianships, paternity, and other family law matters.