Years ago, when American families were nuclear, divorce a mini-scandal, and international adoptions as rare as international travel, the concept of international family law barely existed.

But economic and cultural changes, state and federal laws, and international treaties have combined to create an increasingly complex system of law that’s focused on families and the legal implications of cross-border family relationships.

University of Iowa law professor Ann Estin is helping to make sense of that complexity with a new handbook about international family law and as the organizer of a family law conference this summer at the UI.

“Families face a wide range of challenges these days, and governments and the legal system want to support them and strengthen them,” says Estin, an expert in family law and international family law. “We’ll look at the best ways to intervene when necessary and appropriate.”

Estin’s interest in international family law came as a result of an appointment in 2007 by the International Society of Family Law to attend meetings of the Hague Conference that focused on a new international treaty for establishing and enforcing child support.

“Within the first day or two, I realized that I could be more useful if I worked in the United States helping lawyers and judges here to navigate the complexities of international family law practice,” she says.

The conference, the combined meeting of the International Society of Family Law and Midwest Family Law Consortium, will be held June 14-16 at the Boyd Law Building. Dozens of family law scholars and researchers from around the world will discuss legal issues facing families today.

“People mean different things when they refer to the family,” says Estin. “Some see it as the traditional nuclear family; others see it as more broadly defined. We’re not trying to define families here. We have a wide range of voices and opinions on how to build and strengthen them.”

Among the participants at the conference will be Ralph Richard Banks, author of the book Is Marriage for White People?, and June Carbone, co-author of Red Families v. Blue Families. The pair will read from their books in a public reading at 7 p.m., Thursday, June 14, at Prairie Lights Books in downtown Iowa City.

Estin says other topics on the agenda include divorce and all that it entails—custody, child support, child abduction; adoption within the United States and across borders; spousal abuse; financial fraud; helping troubled families stay together and parental responsibility.

Scholars will also discuss elements of international family law, a rapidly maturing field because of the increase in the number of international adoptions and cross-border marriages. An array of treaties in recent decades has tried to bring some stability to this system, so that a baseline of legal rights is recognized for all married couples, no matter what country they’re from, where they were married, or where they live.

One family law topic not on the conference agenda is same-sex marriage, which Estin says has been getting enough study and debate in a multitude of other forums that planners decided to focus on other issues.

She’s also the author of a new book published by the American Bar Association, The International Family Law Desk Book, which is a practical guide for lawyers and judges on issues that come up during family law proceedings. The book takes a broad approach to international family law with regard to cross-border family issues—including marriage, divorce, the financial aspects of divorce, parentage and parental rights, custody and child abduction litigation, child support, and inter-country adoption.

Estin often fields questions from lawyers who encounter these issues, who can now open the book and find a phone number or a couple of case citations to help them find the right answer.

Estin’s book is available on the American Bar Association website, apps.americanbar.org/abastore/index.cfm?section=main&fm=Product.AddToCart&pid=5210215.

More information about the conference is available online at www.law.uiowa.edu/news-events/familylaw_conference.php. CLE credit will be available at the conference.