This guest post is from Regent Family Law student Harold Boatwright:          The drafting of an advance directive can be a serious decision for many, but for others nothing more than signing a document along with a dozen more at an attorney's office, or even at the hospital. While everyone hopes that this document will never need to be used, the reality is that with advances in medical science people can be kept alive long after serious injuries. A first-year law student could see a problem with any ambiguity in this type of document but are advance ..read more

  This guest post is courtesy of Autumn Miller, Regent Family Law student:           Every client, even yourself, is a byproduct of hundreds and thousands of years’ worth of experience, history, and even trauma. Anything your ancestors may have done may still affect you (and your clients) today! This is called intergenerational trauma, more commonly known as generational trauma. Generational trauma is defined as “[t]he transmission of trauma or its legacy, in the form of a psychological consequence of an injury or attack, poverty, and so forth, from the gen ..read more

              This guest post is courtesy of Ben Sacaciu, Regent Law Family Law student:  In family law disputes, where emotions often run high and relationships are deeply intertwined, the traditional adversarial approach of litigation can exacerbate tensions and lead to prolonged, costly battles. Collaborative law emerges as a beacon of hope, offering families a more amicable alternative to resolve disputes. Unlike the confrontational nature of litigation, collaborative law fosters open communication and cooperation between parties, al ..read more

Blog host note: Having two Montana students in my Family Law course this spring semester has been extremely helpful for me to learn more about that state's views on families and their interactions with the law. As the last post considered issues surrounding the value of life in Montana, this post considers Montana's public policies on marriage. Both students, as you will read, have shown that a Christian attorney can make a tremendous difference in his or her state to help to bring about stronger families. That's what a legal education at Regent is all about.       ..read more

  This guest post is from Alexis Maddy, Regent Law Family Law student: Many states' laws surrounding abortion were drastically affected by the Dobbs decision. As a result, more pro-life-friendly laws were passed than ever before. Unfortunately, Montana was not one of those states. Armstrong v. State (1999) was the landmark decision that governs abortion laws in Montana today. There, the court held that the Montana Constitution's right of privacy "guarantees each individual the right to make medical judgments affecting her or his bodily integrity and health in partnership with a chosen h ..read more

                    This guest post is from Regent Law student Daniella LaRosa: The idea of splitting up a family with a divorce or separation is unhappily too common in this era. The sad and daunting thought is often, what will happen to the kids? Usually, a significant custody battle ends with the mother having sole or primary custody, and the father having visitation. There are situations where this is appropriate and in the child's best interest, as posted and discussed earlier in this blog. The law requires, howe ..read more

  On March 26th the Supreme Court of the United States will take up the issue of abortion pills and the risk they pose to women.  Available since 2000, with no clinical trials whatsoever, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and, more recently, the Biden Administration, have loosened access to these abortion pills over the years in ways that do not protect women, but rather harm us in reckless ways.   Originally, abortion pills (mifepristone which inhibits implantation and stops embryo growth, and misoprostol which causes cramping and bleeding to evacuate the uterus) could ..read more

                      This post is courtesy of Regent Law Family Law student Caleb Ridings: The debate over regulation of pornography has entered a new stage, demarcated by the sudden popularity of age verification statutes. Beginning with Louisiana in 2022, state legislatures have begun to seriously address the problem of children’s access to internet pornography. Currently eight states have enacted laws requiring users to verify their age to access adult websites. Dozens of other states are working on similar l ..read more

  Minnesota’s legislature is introducing a robust Uniform Parent Act, or UPA this week that will be focused on surrogacy rights and duties in that state. In training my law students in this area of law I tend to focus on three principles that seem to be important guides for both policy, and client surrogacy or in vitro fertilization (IVF) decisions:       1. State policy and legal guidance should help every client take personal responsibility for the children they conceive/create.  This intention helps to limit the options of destruction of or research on embryos, and causes s ..read more

               “A child born to another woman calls me momma; the depth of that tragedy and the magnitude of that privilege are not lost on me.”                                                                                        &nb ..read more