Second year law student Jaime Weisser’s article “Virtual Adoption: The Inequities of the Equitable Doctrine” will be published in the March issue of the Nova Law Review. Her article studies the doctrine of Equitable Adoption beginning with the application in Probate Courts in the early 1900s. While the doctrine has expanded throughout various courts, the equitable doctrine has yet to reach its full potential.
The article compares the application of this equitable doctrine in a variety of situations, including family law court and probate court, and also as applied in matters of testacy and intestacy proceedings, wrongful death, child support and workers compensation. While Equitable Adoption has become more widespread in courts today, the need for the doctrine to be expanded further is critical, and courts must apply the doctrine beyond its intended use in order to keep up with the rapid evolution of traditional family life in today’s society.