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Family law often presents itself like the labyrinth children always like tackling--its every peculiar twist and turn, an unnoticed confusion. Who hasn’t been puzzled by the technical aspects of a family dispute--or at least heard someone who was? Uncle Bob's endless divorce fracas and Aunt Carol's unremitting custody stoush. Yes, family law quickly degenerates into a jungle with more surprises than a magician’s hat.
Cousin Jamie's adoption trip seemed like a roller coaster. She and her companion started out full of hope and love, but oh, the red tape was dizzying. First there were waitings heaps of forms, fingerprints--just about everything in the world except a loyalty card. Then, on the big day, their adoption was settled. At that moment all worries about paperwork seemed very far behind, as they held their newly adopted child in their arms.
But not every chapter of any family's legal tale arrives wrapped in a neatly tied bow. Divorce--often much more than simply an end to a marriage, it’s the beginning of a chess match in court. "I thought it would be simple," said my neighbor Tara once over coffee. Dividing Astra the corgi wasn't as easy as binary mathematics. Who would have thought the fate of a furry friend could all depend on what a judge decides? Emotionally heated disputes played out between Tara and her former person ended, as they acted as dog-minders on an ad hoc rota. It was unexpected, yet dignified.
Custody of children? It is like a ballroom dance gone mad, the juggler also carrying flaming swords. Parents try to do what is best for their child but are about to under a surge of emotions. Tom and Lisa, who had been sweet hearts since high school, suddenly found themselves living far apart of Emma. It took patience, good intentions and more than a little grumbling, but they finally made an arrangement where Emma kept smiling, with long weekends and holidays overlapping. Their hearts gyrated like old 45s, but they found peace.
Then came the trump card: prenuptial agreements. Meredith giggled as she talked about this with her friends. “It's like buying insurance,” she shrugged, hugging her coffee mug. The idea seemed unromantic, yet though she knew to what it was all for. And then her future husband asked if he got the coffee machine if they split up. The two of them laughed themselves into fits, relaxing any strain there was. They moved on toward both wedding bells and the robustness, or lack of it as the case might be, that is fresh-brewed coffee.
Family law does not depend on doctrines and codices lying on some floor but on humanly shaped lawful stage settings filled with joy, strife, and settlements. Packed with passionate emotion and glittering at the same time, our passages tools of legalism stand revealed as nothing other than what it is to be human. And no matter which fork in the road you take, there is always a new story just ahead.
