Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2025

Abstract

The relationshipbetween individuals who share a common child merits significant legal and societal attention. An increasingly high percentageofchildren are being raisedby parents who are not married to each other, and modern social science research demonstrates that the quality of the relationship between co-parents has serious implications for children's well-being. When co-parentage is unaccompanied by marriage, however, the law historically has attachedfew, if any, rights and obligations to the relationship. This historical disregard for the relationship between non-marital co- parents fails to promote children's best interests. Children whose parents are not marriedto each other should not be excludedfrom the benefits that accrue when the law provides protection and supportfor the relationship shared by a child's parents. Although custody law is evolving in response to the research demonstrating the importance of the co-parent relationship, laws outside of the custody context largely continue to treat the relationship as one that does not create any horizontal rights or obligations between the parties. Recognizing the significantways in which modern custody law has reconceptualizedthe co-parent relationship, scholars have begun to call for greater legal recognition of the relationship across other areas of the law. These proposals focus primarily on the imposition of legal obligations between co-parents. Attaching obligations to the co-parenting relationship, however, is not alone sufficient to effectively advance the law 's long-standing, foundationalinterests in protecting the physical, mental, and emotional health of children or the ability of parents to further those interests. This Article argues thatfair andeffective reform to the legalframework governing co-parent relationships must extend beyond the imposition of obligations to include the provision of meaningful rights and protections that serve to support this important relationship

Publication Title

Ohio State Law Journal

Volume

86

Issue

4

Article Number

1175

First Page

773

Last Page

816

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