FAMILY LAW

Family Law

Family Law

Introduction

This paper will present the case of a family of Marian and Frank and their two children Susan and Gregory, and the mother of Marian Eileen. Both Marian and Frank were married and lived together for 10 years before getting divorced. Marian retains the custody of the kids, while Frank had to live alone, despite his wish to live with his children. Recently, Lucy the teacher of Susan had found bruises on the neck of Susan and she had been found to exposed sexual activity of her mother Marian with her new husband. After the investigation of the Lucy, she had discovered that she had obtained bruises while practicing wrestling with her brother. Eileen on the other hand has been banned by Marian to visit her children, because Eileen had heated debate with Marian over the caring issues of her children. Frank has also been barred by Marian to visit her children. This paper in connection to this case, will make recommendations for Marian, Frank, Eileen and Lucy.

Legal Advice for Lucy

Lucy can hold Marian responsible in accordance with the Parental Responsibility Laws for the behaviour of Susan. Laws that hold parents legally responsible civilly or criminally for outlawed behavior of their children have a checkered history in the administration of justice. There are advocates who believe that such statutes are the only practical way to put parents on notice that they must guide their children into acceptable paths or suffer legal consequences for their failure to do so (Thurman, 2003). Others insist that the laws are both undesirable and ineffective. Their arguments focus on matters of family privacy and discrimination against the underclass. They also maintain that the parental responsibility laws are oversimplified attempts to deal with a notably complex social problem.

Three major considerations have fueled the drive to enact parental responsibility laws. The first is the inability of persons injured or deprived by an act of an underage person to obtain compensation from the youth who has harmed them. A minor is much less likely than his or her parents to afford payment for damages he or she has inflicted, such as a broken window from a baseball game or a pedestrian's broken arm from a careless act of bicycling (Thurman, 2003). These laws, imposing civil liability on parents, are long-standing and commonplace.

A second concern involves protecting youths from acts by adults that contribute to, or are likely to contribute to, a minor's delinquent behavior (Tyler and Thomas, 2000). These statutes typically ensnare persons others than parents, such as liquor store owners who sell alcoholic beverages to underage customers. But they also can be employed against parents in regard to matters such as failure to see that their child attends school with some regularity or obeys curfew regulations. These laws have rarely been enforced after an early period of unrealistic expectations. Some generations later, parental responsibility laws were reconfigured with renewed anticipation that they would have a significant impact on wayward young people (Thurman, ...