This multi-faceted book combines theoretical, empirical and practical approaches to explore how family law is responding to the ever-changing social dynamics of the family. Bringing together a broad range of experts with innovative perspectives from across the globe, it highlights family law’s current challenges and presents key avenues for future research.Editors Frederik Swennen, Elise Goossens and Tine Van Hof recognise the multiplicity of family constellations in the 21st century and the subsequent need for family law to recalibrate. Chapter authors explore a variety of subjects, such as nontraditional adult relationships, the role of surrogacy, the division of shared labour between parents, and parental responsibility with respect to children’s rights in the digital age. The book offers invaluable insights into the global academic endeavour to rethink law’s families and family law. Ultimately, the book acknowledges that family law is at a crossroads between the concept of the normative family and the actuality of ‘doing family’.This book is a vital resource for academics and students in family law, gender law and private international law. Its incisive exploration of family dynamics is also of interest to legal practitioners, social policymakers and students of sociology, social policy, psychology and anthropology.

This multi-faceted book combines theoretical, empirical and practical approaches to explore how family law is responding to the ever-changing social dynamics of the family. Bringing together a broad range of experts with innovative perspectives from across the globe, it highlights family law’s current challenges and presents key avenues for future research.

Editors Frederik Swennen, Elise Goossens and Tine Van Hof recognise the multiplicity of family constellations in the 21st century and the subsequent need for family law to recalibrate. Chapter authors explore a variety of subjects, such as nontraditional adult relationships, the role of surrogacy, the division of shared labour between parents, and parental responsibility with respect to children’s rights in the digital age. The book offers invaluable insights into the global academic endeavour to rethink law’s families and family law. Ultimately, the book acknowledges that family law is at a crossroads between the concept of the normative family and the actuality of ‘doing family’.

This book is a vital resource for academics and students in family law, gender law and private international law. Its incisive exploration of family dynamics is also of interest to legal practitioners, social policymakers and students of sociology, social policy, psychology and anthropology.

How do private international law and children’s rights law interact—and conflict—in international child abduction cases?This book examines the relationship between two legal fields when courts decide on cross-border child abduction. While private international law prioritises the child’s prompt return and applies the best interests principle in abstracto, children’s rights law demands an in concreto, individualised assessment of the child’s best interests. These differing approaches can lead to legal friction in practice.Through a detailed analysis of legal instruments and supranational case law, the book explores how these conflicts arise and how they might be resolved. Using the theoretical lens of international law’s diversification and expansion, it identifies nine conflict-management tools, grouped into four categories: coordination, hierarchy, priority, and harmony. It argues that two of these tools offer promising solutions.The book evaluates 839 cases from the CJEU, ECtHR, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, and national courts in Belgium, England & Wales, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. This empirical study assesses how effectively the proposed tools address conflicts between the two legal fields.Offering clear recommendations for lawmakers, international organisations, and courts, the book provides a roadmap for fostering constructive relationships between legal fields. It is an essential resource for scholars of private international law, judges and practitioners in cross-border family law, and policymakers working at the intersection of international law and children’s rights.

How do private international law and children's rights law interact-and conflict-in international child abduction cases?This book examines the relationship between two legal fields when courts decide on cross-border child abduction. While private international law prioritises the child's prompt return and applies the best interests principle in abstracto, children's rights law demands an in concreto, individualised assessment of the child's best interests. These differing approaches can lead to legal friction in practice. Through a detailed analysis of legal instruments and supranational case law, the book explores how these conflicts arise and how they might be resolved. Using the theoretical lens of international law's diversification and expansion, it identifies nine conflict-management tools, grouped into four categories: coordination, hierarchy, priority, and harmony. It argues that two of these tools offer promising solutions. The book evaluates 839 cases from the CJEU, ECtHR, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, and national courts in Belgium, England & Wales, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. This empirical study assesses how effectively the proposed tools address conflicts between the two legal fields. Offering clear recommendations for lawmakers, international organisations, and courts, the book provides a roadmap for fostering constructive relationships between legal fields. It is an essential resource for scholars of private international law, judges and practitioners in cross-border family law, and policymakers working at the intersection of international law and children's rights.

This multi-faceted book combines theoretical, empirical and practical approaches to explore how family law is responding to the ever-changing social dynamics of the family. Bringing together a broad range of experts with innovative perspectives from across the globe, it highlights family law’s current challenges and presents key avenues for future research.Editors Frederik Swennen, Elise Goossens and Tine Van Hof recognise the multiplicity of family constellations in the 21st century and the subsequent need for family law to recalibrate. Chapter authors explore a variety of subjects, such as nontraditional adult relationships, the role of surrogacy, the division of shared labour between parents, and parental responsibility with respect to children’s rights in the digital age. The book offers invaluable insights into the global academic endeavour to rethink law’s families and family law. Ultimately, the book acknowledges that family law is at a crossroads between the concept of the normative family and the actuality of ‘doing family’.This book is a vital resource for academics and students in family law, gender law and private international law. Its incisive exploration of family dynamics is also of interest to legal practitioners, social policymakers and students of sociology, social policy, psychology and anthropology.

This multi-faceted book combines theoretical, empirical and practical approaches to explore how family law is responding to the ever-changing social dynamics of the family. Bringing together a broad range of experts with innovative perspectives from across the globe, it highlights family law’s current challenges and presents key avenues for future research.

Editors Frederik Swennen, Elise Goossens and Tine Van Hof recognise the multiplicity of family constellations in the 21st century and the subsequent need for family law to recalibrate. Chapter authors explore a variety of subjects, such as nontraditional adult relationships, the role of surrogacy, the division of shared labour between parents, and parental responsibility with respect to children’s rights in the digital age. The book offers invaluable insights into the global academic endeavour to rethink law’s families and family law. Ultimately, the book acknowledges that family law is at a crossroads between the concept of the normative family and the actuality of ‘doing family’.

This book is a vital resource for academics and students in family law, gender law and private international law. Its incisive exploration of family dynamics is also of interest to legal practitioners, social policymakers and students of sociology, social policy, psychology and anthropology.

How do private international law and children’s rights law interact—and conflict—in international child abduction cases?This book examines the relationship between two legal fields when courts decide on cross-border child abduction. While private international law prioritises the child’s prompt return and applies the best interests principle in abstracto, children’s rights law demands an in concreto, individualised assessment of the child’s best interests. These differing approaches can lead to legal friction in practice.Through a detailed analysis of legal instruments and supranational case law, the book explores how these conflicts arise and how they might be resolved. Using the theoretical lens of international law’s diversification and expansion, it identifies nine conflict-management tools, grouped into four categories: coordination, hierarchy, priority, and harmony. It argues that two of these tools offer promising solutions.The book evaluates 839 cases from the CJEU, ECtHR, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, and national courts in Belgium, England & Wales, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. This empirical study assesses how effectively the proposed tools address conflicts between the two legal fields.Offering clear recommendations for lawmakers, international organisations, and courts, the book provides a roadmap for fostering constructive relationships between legal fields. It is an essential resource for scholars of private international law, judges and practitioners in cross-border family law, and policymakers working at the intersection of international law and children’s rights.

How do private international law and children's rights law interact-and conflict-in international child abduction cases?This book examines the relationship between two legal fields when courts decide on cross-border child abduction. While private international law prioritises the child's prompt return and applies the best interests principle in abstracto, children's rights law demands an in concreto, individualised assessment of the child's best interests. These differing approaches can lead to legal friction in practice. Through a detailed analysis of legal instruments and supranational case law, the book explores how these conflicts arise and how they might be resolved. Using the theoretical lens of international law's diversification and expansion, it identifies nine conflict-management tools, grouped into four categories: coordination, hierarchy, priority, and harmony. It argues that two of these tools offer promising solutions. The book evaluates 839 cases from the CJEU, ECtHR, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, and national courts in Belgium, England & Wales, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. This empirical study assesses how effectively the proposed tools address conflicts between the two legal fields. Offering clear recommendations for lawmakers, international organisations, and courts, the book provides a roadmap for fostering constructive relationships between legal fields. It is an essential resource for scholars of private international law, judges and practitioners in cross-border family law, and policymakers working at the intersection of international law and children's rights.