Families by Agreement
Navigating Choice, Tradition, and Law

This book explores the increasing use of legal agreements to establish or alter family ties.

Brian H. Bix (Author)

9781107060401, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 August 2023

182 pages
23.5 x 16 x 1.4 cm, 0.406 kg

'Bix is to be congratulated for writing a book that explores a broad range of agreements made in so many different contexts with such depth and precision. It is no mean feat addressing questions about the law and its limits when looking at surrogacy, adoption, and premarital agreements side by side, which as Bix has shown, require such a plurality of approaches that the boundaries of family law itself are stretched.' Sharon Thompson, International Journal of Law, Policy and The Family

In this highly original work, renowned family and contract law expert Brian H. Bix explores the increasing legal recognition of private ordering in American family law. Today, individuals can alter the terms of a marriage and divorce through agreements, and courts sometimes allow individuals to create, waive, and alter parental rights by way of surrogacy, open adoption, and co-parenting agreements, among other mechanisms. But when is such private ordering beneficial to all, and when should it be regulated or prohibited? Families by Agreement explores these questions in accessible detail to provide an important resource for those who litigate in these areas and for those who want to be thoughtful participants in these moral and policy debates.

1. General considerations
2. Marriage
3. Agreements within marriage
4. Divorce
5. Agreements about parentage
6. Adoption agreements
7. Agreements about process
Conclusion: considerations and values.

Subject Areas: Family law [LNM]