Practical Global Family Law

Practical Global Family Law puts the subject of divorce litigation in context based on the substantive law of the United States, China, and Italy. The book gives an overview of the common law and civil law systems and then compares the divorce laws and procedures of the three countries by taking a hypothetical divorce case between Mario, an Italian-American, and Lily, a Chinese-American as they seek to obtain a divorce in the U.S., China, and Italy, respectively. This book is designed as a student reader, to provide a comparative family law experience for students in a basic family law class or a comparative law class. The initial chapters give a basic overview of common law and civil law, a bit of background about each country, and the facts on which our divorce is based. The remaining chapters focus directly on the divorce itself, covering such topics as divorce procedure, grounds for divorce, child custody and visitation, child support, property division, spousal support, spousal agreements, appeals, and attorney fees. Charts are inserted at the end of the substantive chapters to highlight and summarize the similarities and differences between the countries.

Janet Richards is a professor at the University of Memphis School of Law. Chen Wei is a professor at the Southwest University of Political Science and Law in the People's Republic of China.