The Harvard Law Record, Harvard Law School's Independent Newspaper Since 1946, published an article on their website today titled "Alec Baldwin Takes on Family Law."
There were some talking points in the article that I definitely had to agree with. In fact, Alec Baldwin proposed a new default rule for custody procedings. It makes perfect sense to raise the evidentiary standard and add the presumption listed below to keep petty arguments from ever reaching and congesting our courts.
"He called for a presumption of innocence, and a standard of shared, 50-50 custody - unless a party could prove something fundamentally wrong with the parenting skills of the other."
Can't say I could disagree with that Baldwin's comments there. I would take it as far as they do in other forms of proceedings involving the protection of children which would provide "best efforts for reunification" in the event that a flaw was identified. This would protect the rights of parents to be the caretakers of their own children. Government oversight should be a limited oversight when it comes to our families. If there is a problem, help a family get through the problem. Don't pit parent against parent in an all out war where the children and property of the parties is the prize.
The article goes on with criticizing the judiciary, judges, and attorneys.Baldwin had no less harsh criticism for judges, whom, Baldwin believed, whether appointed or elected, made decisions based on political pressure. Most of the latitude within the courts, he continued, belonged to powerful law firms. The role of money was powerful in divorce cases, he said, observing that cases were made to drag on much longer than necessary because of the obstacles presented by wealthy couples' lawyers.
To Baldwin, the lack of oversight that ordinary people could exercise over law meant that the legal system looked like "a game two lawyers play ¦if a guy cuts another guy's throat, and he wins, it's a game. Nothing that looks or smells like justice," Baldwin concluded, "walks into an American courtroom anymore."
I would encourage people to go and read the entire article at the HL Record and draw your own conclusions. The important thing is that people are talking about this stuff on a more regular basis and now it is time to begin dismantling an industry that otherwise is encouraging the breakdown of parent-child relationships nationwide. Simply put, parental rights must be respected and protected by all, including judges, legislators, and especially other parents. Children deserve to have the love, care, and affection of both parents.
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