DE Bar Family Law 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A petitioner in Delaware seeks immediate protection from an abusive partner before the respondent can be heard. What relief is available?
- An ex parte temporary protection from abuse order upon a showing of immediate and present danger (Correct answer)
- No relief until a full hearing with both parties present
- Only a criminal no-contact order issued by Superior Court
- A permanent injunction issued without any hearing
Correct answer: An ex parte temporary protection from abuse order upon a showing of immediate and present danger
Delaware Family Court may issue an ex parte temporary Protection From Abuse order when the petitioner shows an immediate and present danger of domestic violence, followed by a prompt full hearing.
Question 2: Under the UCCJEA as adopted in Delaware, a child's 'home state' for initial custody jurisdiction is generally the state where the child lived with a parent for at least how long before the proceeding?
- 6 consecutive months (Correct answer)
- 30 days
- 1 year
- 2 years
Correct answer: 6 consecutive months
Home state jurisdiction under the UCCJEA requires the child to have lived in the state with a parent or person acting as a parent for at least six consecutive months immediately before the proceeding.
Question 3: A woman's same-sex partner helped raise a child from birth with the mother's support but never adopted the child. In Delaware, what status may she assert to seek parental rights?
- De facto parent status under the Delaware Uniform Parentage Act (Correct answer)
- No status, because only biological or adoptive parents have rights
- Automatic joint custody as a household member
- Stepparent visitation rights only
Correct answer: De facto parent status under the Delaware Uniform Parentage Act
Delaware statutorily recognizes de facto parents under 13 Del. C. § 8-201(c), granting them the status of a legal parent when the statutory elements are met.
Question 4: Which of the following is a ground for annulment that Delaware's statute expressly includes?
- The marriage was entered into as a jest or dare (Correct answer)
- The couple later discovered religious incompatibility
- One spouse lost their job shortly after the wedding
- The spouses lived apart for six months after marrying
Correct answer: The marriage was entered into as a jest or dare
Under 13 Del. C. § 1506, Delaware permits annulment where one or both parties entered the marriage as a jest or dare, along with grounds like incapacity, fraud, duress, and bigamy.
Question 5: Under Delaware law, a parent's duty to pay child support generally continues until the child reaches 18, but extends if the child is still in high school until what point?
- Until the child graduates or turns 19, whichever comes first (Correct answer)
- Until the child turns 21 in all cases
- Until the child completes college
- It ends at 18 with no exceptions
Correct answer: Until the child graduates or turns 19, whichever comes first
Delaware support obligations run to age 18, or if the child is still enrolled in high school, until the child graduates or turns 19, whichever occurs first.
Question 6: In a Delaware divorce based on incompatibility, 'incompatibility' is defined as what?
- Marital rift or discord that has destroyed the marriage relationship with no reasonable possibility of reconciliation (Correct answer)
- Any single serious argument between the spouses
- A finding that one spouse committed marital fault
- A written agreement by both spouses that they no longer get along
Correct answer: Marital rift or discord that has destroyed the marriage relationship with no reasonable possibility of reconciliation
13 Del. C. § 1503 defines incompatibility as marital rift or discord that has destroyed the marriage relation, without regard to fault and with no reasonable possibility of reconciliation.
Question 7: A Delaware premarital agreement is unenforceable if the challenging party proves it was involuntary, or that it was unconscionable when executed and what else?
- The party lacked fair disclosure of the other's finances and did not waive disclosure or have adequate knowledge of them (Correct answer)
- The agreement was not notarized by two witnesses
- The marriage lasted less than five years
- The agreement failed to address child custody
Correct answer: The party lacked fair disclosure of the other's finances and did not waive disclosure or have adequate knowledge of them
Delaware adopted the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act, under which unconscionability must be paired with lack of fair financial disclosure, no waiver of disclosure, and no adequate knowledge of the other party's finances.
DE Bar Family Law 3
A petitioner in Delaware seeks immediate protection from an abusive partner before the respondent can be heard.
What relief is available?