It all depends on who you ask: Dutch parentage law in four Acts

2007 and 2008 were eventful years for Dutch family law. The publication of two reports by the Kalsbeek Commission, with regards lesbian parentage and intercountry adoption, have paved the way for an ongoing debate on these topics. This contribution will focus on the debate surrounding both of these reports. The main question posed here is whether the Kalsbeek Commission has really been as objective as it could have been in advising the Government with regards to these areas.FdR – Publicaties zonder aanstelling Universiteit Leide

Something old, something new, something international and something askew

It has been a rather uneventful year in Dutch family law. There have been new developments, but nothing on a large scale. Nevertheless, it is interesting to provide a short overview of the important case law and (proposed) legislative changes relating to family law. New legislative proposals were introduced in the Dutch Parliament, including a Bill to vest both female spouses ex lege with parentage rights over any child conceived with the sperm of an unknown donor born during their marriage, and old legislative proposals were finally adopted, including a Bill relating to the rights and responsibility of spouses regarding their marital property. At the international level the international recovery of maintenance has undergone enormous changes, with three new instruments having been drafted in the past few years. Two of these new instruments, the European Maintenance Regulation and the Hague Maintenance Protocol entered into force in the Netherlands on the 18th June 2011. In this contribution, the major changes for Dutch law will be reviewed. Furthermore, the European Court of Human Rights held that the Dutch Supreme Court had not been efficient when hearing a case brought by a minor who had been placed in a confined institution on a custodial placement. This led to an immediate change in the Supreme Court approach to this issue. This contribution will, therefore, review some of these judicial and legislative developments providing a brief overview of the major changes to Dutch family law. The Amsterdam Stories by Nescio (1882-1961) one of the treasures of Dutch literature, which has finally been translated into English is a perhaps the best example of something old, new, and something quite possibly askew.FdR – Publicaties zonder aanstelling Universiteit Leide

Internationale afstamming en draagmoederschap

Bij het opstellen van een testament of het afwikkelen van een nalatenschap is het van groot belang om te weten wie de kinderen van de erflater zijn. Uiteraard is dit tevens relevant om te weten bij vragen rondom echtscheiding, met name bij de verplichting om kinderalimentatie te betalen. Waar het tot een jaar of veertig geleden, redelijk eenvoudig was om was te stellen wie de juridische kinderen waren van een man of vrouw, kan dat nu een redelijke complex vraagstuk zijn. Steeds vaker worden kinderen buiten huwelijk geboren, of met gebruik van kunstmatige inseminatie technieken. Deze problemen zijn nog complexer door het feit dat er steeds vaker internationale elementen kleven aan de zaak. Dit komt door de toegenomen mobiliteit van mannen en vrouwen wegens werk en liefde, waardoor het aantal internationale huwelijken is toegenomen. Bovendien is er een steeds groeiende markt voor internationaal draagmoederschap. Deze laatste tendens zal in dit artikel centraal staan.Effective Protection of Fundamental Rights in a pluralist worl

National and international surrogacy: an Odyssey

FdR – Publicaties zonder aanstelling Universiteit Leide

Children and Their Parents: A Comparative Study of the Legal Position of Children with Regard to Their Intentional and Biological Parents in English and Dutch Law

This is a book about children and their parents. There are many different kinds of children and at least about as many different kinds of parents. In addition to the many different disciplines that study children and their parents, such as sociology, psychology, child studies and gender studies, to name but a few, this study concerns a legal question with regard to the parent-child relationship, namely how the law assigns parents to children. This subject is approached in a comparative legal perspective and covers England and The Netherlands. The book contains a detailed comparison and analysis of the manner in which the law in the two jurisdictions assigns the status of legal parent and/or attributes parental responsibility to the child’s biological and intentional parents. The concept ‘procreational responsibility’, which is introduced in the concluding chapter of the book, may be used as a tool to assess and reform existing regulations on legal parent-child relationships. The structure of the book, which is based on a categorisation of different family types in a ‘family tree’, enables the reader to have easy access to family-specific information.FdR – Publicaties zonder aanstelling Universiteit Leide

Is the union civil? Same-sex marriages, civil unions, domestic partnerships and reciprocal benefits in the USA

The legal recognition of same-sex relationships has been a legislative Gordian knot for almost three decades in the United States of America. Few issues have been so polarising as the debate surrounding the opening of marriage to same-sex couples. The aim of this article is to provide a clear picture of the current state of affairs in the United States as regards the recognition of formalised same-sex relationships. Following an overview of those States that prohibit any form of recognition to same-sex unions, this article focuses on the various registration forms currently operating in eleven jurisdictions in the U.S.A. Using the substantive law material gathered in this overview, these regimes will be compared and contrasted. It is ultimately concluded that despite the differences between the routes taken, uniform patterns are indeed discernible. It would appear that the name used to define these new relationship forms is absolutely crucial if one wishes to understand the political motives and compromises behind the legislation