Law Professor: For the Poor, Family Law is Like Debt Collection
June 16, 2015
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Jane C. Murphy, the Laurence M. Katz Professor of Law and co-director of the Mediation Clinic for Families in the University of Baltimore School of Law, writes in The Baltimore Sun that low-income families have little choice when it comes to the myriad decisions associated with divorce.
"If you have money, you can choose when and how much the court will be involved in your family's 'reorganization,' Murphy writes in an op-ed published on June 16. "The parents hire lawyers who offer clients a range of options for resolving issues about children and finances. Today, divorcing parents of means increasingly choose out-of-court processes such as mediation, negotiation and even collaborative practice to resolve their issues without court involvement....
"For poor families, the process is completely different. The state—through the courts—is deeply involved, limiting parents' choices and often creating a chain reaction of trouble. Because low-income parents, particularly African-Americans, are more likely to be unmarried, they are subject to a system that is designed to reduce the state's welfare costs, not to promote the interests of children. Parents are often compelled to go to court to establish paternity and child support orders. These proceedings last only minutes and resemble debt-collection hearings more than proceedings involving obligations to children. The focus is on how much will be paid and when. The only party represented by a lawyer is the state."
Murphy calls for reforms that would allow families going through a crisis to hold on to their privacy and sense of control. Community-based dispute resolution, she says, is one way that families can maintain as much stability as possible during a troubled time.
Read the op-ed.
Learn more about Prof. Murphy.