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This article provides summaries and context for 35 changes to family law that were enacted in 2024 by legislatures in 25 states and the District of Columbia. The topics include (1) Equal Protection, (2) Child Custody and Visitation, (3) Nonparent Custody and Visitation, (4) Child Welfare, (5) Domestic Violence, (6) Juvenile Justice, (7) Parentage, (8) Age of Marriage, (9) Companion Animals, (10) Education, (11) Criminal Justice, and (12) Provision of Legal Services. More specifically, the topics of the laws featured in this article include (among others) supervised visitation; increased protections for LGBTQ+ families; pet custody in divorce proceedings; and strengthened domestic violence protections, including implementing a “Hope Card” program, protecting the family members of domestic violence survivors, and increasing protections for victims of coercive control. These topics are based on annual Charts published in the Year in Review issue of the Family Law Quarterly along with developing trends in the area of family law. The Charts are updated each year to track changes in specific areas of law and survey statutes within the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.1 The laws in this article were identified and selected in the course of updating the Charts and through additional research. The laws included here do not represent all new family law legislation from 2024, but they do reflect growing trends in the area. For example, there are summaries for three states that strengthened requirements for supervised visitation to prioritize child safety, two states that raised the age of marriage to 18, and two states that included specific “coercive control” provisions in their definitions for domestic abuse. This is our fourth year featuring this article in the Family Law Quarterly’s annual Year in Review issue. We look forward to covering new legislation in these rapidly changing areas of family law in the years to come.

Publication Date

2025

Comments

Family Law Quarterly, Volume 58, Number 4

New Family Law Statutes in 2024: Selected State Legislation

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