FAMILY LAW FINAL EXAM

THREE HOURS

Thursday, July 22, 1993

Professor Oliphant 6:30 - 9:30 p.m.

EXAM LOCATION: ROOM 221

1. For anonymity, use your assigned test number.

2. Put your test number on this page and on all bluebooks that you use.

3. If you do not know your test number, you may obtain it at the Communication Center or in the Records Office during the first 30 minutes of the exam period.

4. If you do not use your test number, you will be deemed to have waived your privilege of anonymous grading.

5. TURN IN YOUR BLUE BOOKS AND THIS EXAM AT THE END OF THE PERIOD.

6. Graduating Seniors: IF YOU ARE A GRADUATING SENIOR, NOTE THIS FACT ON ALL BLUE BOOKS AND THIS EXAM PAPER. DO SO CONSPICUOUSLY.

7. TYPING AREA. If you are going to type your examination, the typing area is located in the old Boardroom (first floor, room #107). You must return the exam to this room at conclusion of the exam period.

STUDENT CONDUCT CODE

IT IS A VIOLATION OF THE CODE:

1. To use any sources which are forbidden by the instructor to complete an exam.

2. To submit as one's own work the work of another.

3. To engage in any conduct which tends to give an unfair advantage to any student in any academic matter.

4. Knowledge of any violation should be promptly reported.

VIOLATION OF THE STUDENT CONDUCT CODE MAY RESULT IN EXPULSION OR SUSPENSION FROM THE COLLEGE OR DISMISSAL FROM THE CLASS.

Special writing instructions

1. Please write the examination using a pen, not a pencil.

2. Please write on every line, not every other line.

3. Please write on only one side of a page.

4. As explained in class, you may use your statutes and general rules of procedure, as long as they are not annotated. They may be indexed, tabbed, or have your own table of contents or you may have various sections underlined or highlighted.

5. Suggested time for each question: One hour and thirty minutes. Don't spend so much time on one question that you don't do a good job on the other. Each question counts 50% of the final test grade.

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QUESTION 1. This question is intended to focus on statutory interpretation. (a) Select any THREE (3) opinions (preferable on different substantive subjects) in the textbook that involve statutory interpretation (in the exam refer to the opinions by name). Explain (with precision what rule(s) of statutory interpretation was (were) used. If a statutory rule wasn't used, suggest a rule that might have been helpful. (Use rules of statutory construction from any source you feel is reasonably reliable.) (b) Examine the logic the court used in interpreting and applying the statute to the problem before it. Was the statutory analysis the court used logical? Illogical? (c) Was the analysis reasonable? (d) Do you believe other factors other than logic and reason provided the basis for the decision?

Your grade depends on the depth and clarity of your analysis. NOTE. PLEASE USE ONLY THREE OPINIONS. NO EXTRA CREDIT WILL BE GIVEN IF YOU WRITE ON MORE THAN THREE.

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QUESTION 2. Assume that Minnesota and Kansas have identical family law statutes.

Assume that P and R were married 15 years when their relationship broke down. During the marriage P performed traditional homemaker work inside the home while D worked outside the home as an attorney. They have four children, all girls, ages 3, 9, 11 and 14. Both parties resided in Kansas during their marriage, P was the primary caretaker.

P fell in love with a neighbor X and they began having an affair. P claims that when R discovered the affair that he "beat me badly." P claims that on various other occasions R physically assaulted her. After the last alleged beating, P drove herself to the local hospital where she says she lied to the doctors about her injuries. She says she told them she fell down some stairs. P spent three days in the hospital.

After P was released from the hospital, she, X and the four children left Kansas for Minnesota. Just before leaving, P withdrew about $20,000 from P & R's joint savings account.

Assume that six months have passed since P left Kansas. The children have been admitted to Minnesota schools, P & X have rented an older home in which to live, and both have jobs outside the home. P believes that on two weekends she's seen R "stalking" in the neighborhood where she and X rented the home. But she is not certain.

Someone who looked like R was parked in a car like R's about two blocks from the rented home. According to P, R has never been to Minnesota, except for these two weekends when he "might" have been in the state. P says that R has written to the children and tried calling them. However, P says she has not allowed the children to read the letters or to talk with R on the telephone. P says that the oldest child is "giving me some trouble, she wants to live with her dad."

When P arrives at your office, she has three documents with her. One is a custody order, obtained by R and issued by a Kansas judge under the Kansas UCCJA two weeks after P left Kansas. It requires that P immediately return the four children to Kansas. P explains to you that she received notice of the hearing in Kansas but because of her fear of R, she did not attend the hearing. The second document is a letter apparently written by R. and received last week which, in part, states: "Send the kids back now or I'll come up there and take them away from you and your lover in any way I have to--even over your dead bodies. . . . Everybody knows about your boyfriend. I'm sure you know he was arrested twice on suspicion of sex abuse of his own two kids. Our girls aren't safe there---return them or else." P says that she knew about X's prior arrests, explaining that they "were the result of trumped up charges by X's former wife." The third document is a Kansas summons and petition served on P by mail three months ago in which R asks for a divorce. In the petition R demands sole legal and physical custody of the children, reasonable child support from P, an equal division of the couple's property, with the exception of the $20,000 which R claims was nonmarital. P has done nothing about the petition.

P wants a Minnesota court to dissolve the marriage and award her sole legal and physical custody of the children, reasonable child support, attorney fees, maintenance, and an order for protection. She also wants to sue R for assault and battery in either state or federal court. Furthermore, she doesn't want to turn the children over to R pursuant to the Kansas court order. Finally, she wants to know her legal position regarding the Kansas dissolution petition.

Discuss.