Faculty of Law, The University of West Indies at Mona

LA32C Family Law III- Regulation of the De Facto Family
	1. General The completion of Family Law (Law Relating to Husband and Wife) is a prerequisite for this course. This course will be taught in the second semester of the second and third year of the LL.B. degree programme. 2. Course Objective This course critically examines the law relating to the de facto family in the Commonwealth Caribbean. It questions whether it is desirable to regulate de facto family relations, say on a par approaching that of the de juris family and if so, the nature and extent of the regulation. 3. Course Content The topics to be covered in this course include: i. Form and structure of de facto family units, West Indies and elsewhere, e.g. cohabiting couples, visiting relationships, single mother families, etc. ii. West Indian Family Law - an overview a with the traditional family law of other common law countries iii. Common law marriage - analysis of the judicial doctrine and commonlaw marriage legislation, e.g model. iv. Agreements of cohabit - validity v. Status of children legislation 86 vi. Maintenance rights of de facto spouses (also “single” mothers) and children. Extra-territorial enforcement orders vii. Property - de facto spouse rights to accumulate property viii.. Inheritance and succession to property by de facto family members ix. Miscellaneous legislation, e.g. Fatal Accidents, Nation Insurance, etc. - provision for de facto family members x. Registration Acts - provision for compulsory registrar of parents xi. Paternity proceedings xii. Custody of Children xiii. Domestic violence legislation xiv. Family planning and abortion legislation 4. Method of Teaching The course will be taught by way of two lectures and one tutorial per week. Each lecture and tutorial will be one hour duration. 5 . Method of Assessment This course will be assessed by means of a two hour final examination at the end of the Semester in which it is taught. Students will be required to answer three questions selected from a total of six questions.