Professor Franks
Final Examination, Spring 2004
| 1. | Carefully analyze the facts and grasp the issues in each question before beginning to write. Spend time reading the question slowly and carefully. |
| 2. | State the issues and answers to each question concisely. Lengthy answers are not necessary. |
| 3. | Do not repeat questions in your answers. Write neatly and legibly on only one side of each page. |
| 4. | Number your answers to correspond with the question, e.g., "II." |
| 5. | If you feel it necessary to assume additional facts in any of the questions, give the facts that must be added and state why. |
| 6. | Do not write in the margin of the book. |
| 7. | All major questions are equally weighted unless otherwise indicated. Subparts are approximately equal but may be weighted slightly differently according to the number of issues involved in that subpart. |
| 8. | Write your personal identification number and the name and section number of the course on which you are being examined on the cover of each examination book. |
| 9. | If you use more than one book, indicate "Book One," "Book Two" and so forth on the cover of each book and write your PIN and the name and section number of the course on the cover of each examination book. |
| 10. | A GOOD ANSWER IS NOT NECESSARILY A LONG ANSWER. |
You have graduated from law school and entered the private practice of law in Baton Rouge. Your very first client is Sandy Sixpack, who tells you the following story of the fascinating life of the man she claims is her father:
| 1. | Sonny Sixpack, after dropping out of high school at age 22, married Adele in 1981. They didn’t bother to get a marriage license, but found an elderly Jewish rabbi who didn’t bother to ask for one. Although neither Sonny nor Adele were Jewish, and although the rabbi is forbidden by his faith to perform marriages for non-Jews, the elderly rabbi did so. |
| 2. | The relationship didn’t work out, and Sonny and Adele went their separate ways in 1982. Believing he needed neither a divorce nor an annulment from this “marriage” to Adele, Sonny obtained a marriage license and exchanged marriage vows with Betsy before a justice of the peace in 1983. |
| 3. | Having moved to Arkansas and having started cohabiting with another man, Adele in 1986 obtained an ex parte Arkansas divorce from Sonny. Two months following the divorce, Adele gave birth to Sandy. Sonny never learned either of the divorce or of the birth. |
| 4. | In 1988, Sonny and Betsy split up. Neither Sonny nor Betsy ever bothered to get a divorce. |
| 5. | In 1990, Sonny met and had a fancy church wedding with Constance. Constance, then 28, had previously wed her adopted brother at age 18. When that didn't work out for her, neither she nor her adopted brother ever bothered to get a divorce or an annulment. |
| 6. | In 1992, Sonny obtained a mail order divorce from Constance from a court in the Dominican Republic. |
| 7. | In 1995. Sonny met and married Doris. Their relationship went well and remained intact until the very end. |
| 8. | In April 2004, Sonny won ten million dollars in the Louisiana lottery. So shocked was he by his winning that he had a heart attack and died right on the spot. He died intestate, i.e. without leaving a will. |
Sandy wants to know if she will be able to inherit from Sonny, and who if anyone is Sonny’s legal wife and entitled to share in the winnings as community property. Advise Sandy. Concern yourself with legal marriage only, and do not discuss putative marriage. Assume Louisiana law applies.
Five years following your graduation from Southern University Law Center, you run for and are elected judge of the Family Court for the Parish of East Baton Rouge. Imagine you are now, today, 14 May 2004, a judge of that court.
A case is presented to you, and you learn the following facts:
| 1. | Sandra Jefferson, born and raised in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, married Dwayne Smith in Bogalusa, Louisiana, in 1994. Immediately following the marriage, the parties moved to Memphis, Tennessee. They bought a home. Dwayne took a job at the Union Planters Bank at its home office in Memphis, where he is now a junior vice president. Sandra worked as a paralegal until she became pregnant. Two children were born of the marriage: Keisha, now age 6, and Tyrone, now 4. |
| 2. | Sandra and Dwayne began having marital difficulties. On 15 April 2004, Sandra took the children and moved back to Baton Rouge. On 19 April 2004, she filed suit for divorce in the Family Court for the Parish of East Baton Rouge, asking for a divorce in 180 days. She also is asking for temporary and permanent custody of the children. The petition and citation were served on Dwayne in Memphis on 22 April 2004 under Louisiana's longarm statute. Dwayne has not previously appeared in the action and no action has been taken by the court. |
| 3. | On 22 April 2004, Dwayne filed suit for divorce in the Chancery Court of Shelby County, Tennessee, asking for temporary and permanent custody of the children. The bill for divorce, the subpoena-to-answer and an ex parte order granting Dwayne "the temporary custody of the children pendente lite" were all served upon Sandra in Baton Rouge on 24 April 2004. Sandra has not appeared in the Tennessee action. |
Dwayne has retained Baton Rouge counsel. His attorney today, 14 May 2004, presents you with a copy of the Tennessee order for temporary custody, duly certified and exemplified under Acts of Congress, 28 U.S. Code § 1738, wherein the clerk attests that the same is a true copy, the judge attests that the clerk is indeed the clerk and that the attestation is in proper form, and the clerk attests that the judge signing the certificate is indeed a judge of the Circuit Court of Shelby County, Tennessee. Dwayne's Louisiana attorney asks you to sign an order granting the temporary custody determination full faith and credit pendente lite.
Please answer briefly, succinctly and accurately the following questions and only the following questions:
| II-A. | Is the Tennessee temporary custody order entitled to full faith and credit in Louisiana under 28 U.S. Code § 1738A (the Federal Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act of 1980)? Why or why not? |
| II-B. | Where does jurisdiction lie to determine the custody of the children? Why? |
| II-C. | Where does jurisdiction lie to dissolve the marriage? Why? |
| II-D. | Where does jurisdiction lie to determine alimony and child support? Why? |
| II-E. | Where does jurisdiction lie to divide property? Why? |
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