How far does family law allow individuals to engage in private Essay

How far does family law allow individuals to engage in private ordering, and how far should it Discuss with relation to at leas - Essay Example However, this list is not exhaustive and may vary from one jurisdiction to another since family law covers a wide range of social and economic cases in existing and broken households2. The main contentious issue in most domestic cases heard in domestic courts is often of financial nature since, as families and marriages break, there is always the need to settle financial arrangements made while the family was still intact3. In fact, until recently in many countries, there was little, if any enforcement of the private arrangements and rules that surrounded and sought to change the personal or family status of people4. Nonetheless, there existed some kind of private ordering in which people could decide whether to marry or not and whom to marry. What is more, once an individual got married, he or she had to adhere to the enforceable rules of marriage and exit routes such as annulment, separation or divorce. Importantly, there were rules to guide couples in meeting their financial oblig ations on annulment or divorce5. It is also worth noting that even in historical times, the state had the power and mandate to set and enforce family laws6. Thus, by these laws, the state had the power to limit an individuals’ free will and powers to distribute their property upon divorce or a spouse’s death. For instance, in most countries, family law states a spouse’s statutory share of family property upon marriage divorce or annulment7. Similar to the case of marriage, once an individual had a child, the state would have a say in the child’s rights as far as the financial obligations of the parents were concerned. That is, the state set the terms and determined the limited circumstances under which one’s parental rights to a child could be surrendered. However, recent times have reported quite drastic changes with different countries permitting various types of private ordering in different family law situations and cases8. Examples of the area s in which private ordering is allowed in many a country in modern times include marital agreements, separation agreements, open adoption agreements, co-parenting agreements, premarital agreements, agreements9. In other words, currently, a lot of agreements are entered to help arbitrate in disputes if the above events occur. In modern society, people cohabiting or legally married often wish and decide to venture into financial agreements before or during their domestic lives. In general, such agreements are referred to as cohabitation agreements or domestic relationship agreements10. Similarly, upon terminating their domestic relationships for whatever reasons, people may resort to negotiate financial agreements, often called separation or termination agreements11. Private ordering thus refers to the attempts and activities by which parties to a domestic relationship who had entered a financial agreement order their financial affairs without seeking court interventions or solutions. This paper explores the changes and the limits to private ordering in family law, in the process discussing the nature and extent of the changes and their positive developments in a financial perspective. In this regard, the paper explores the role of private ordering in family law in an economic perspective. Historical Background The