This was posted on ABA-FLS listserve. Does IACP have an official role
in this study?
Current NCCUSL Drafting and Study Committee Projects
Drafting Committees
NCCUSL drafting committees consist of a chair, several NCCUSL
commissioners from various states, and a reporter (usually a law
professor with expertise in the subject matter). Every NCCUSL
drafting committee is also assigned an ABA advisor, who represents
the ABA as a whole, and frequently one or more ABA section advisors,
who represent particular ABA entities. Other interested groups are
also invited to send representatives, known as `observers". NCCUSL
drafting meetings are open to the public, everyone at a drafting
meeting is encouraged to participate fully in the discussion, and all
of our drafts are available on the internet (www.nccusl.org). NCCUSL
drafting committees typically meet 3 times a year (two substantive
drafting committee meetings and a presentation of the draft for line-
by-line reading and debate at the NCCUSL Annual Meeting) for at least
2 years.
Drafting Committee on a Collaborative Law Act
Peter K. Munson, Chair, 123 S. Travis St., Sherman, TX 75090
Carlton D. Stansburty, ABA Advisor
This committee will draft an act on collaborative law, a new kind of
alternative dispute resolution framework used in many states today in
a family law context, i.e., divorce, custody, and support
proceedings. The core idea is that lawyers (and parties) to a dispute
agree in advance that the lawyers will withdraw if the dispute goes
to trial. The committee will also consider whether the act should be
limited to family law cases or expanded to other areas of the law
such as estate planning.
I have deleted most of the other committees, but think readers may be
interested in these:
Drafting Committee on a Relocation of Children Act
Debra H. Lehrmann, Chair, 200 E. Weatherford St., Civil Courts Bldg.,
4th Floor, Fort Worth, TX 76196-0282
Joseph W. Booth, ABA Advisor
This committee will draft an act on the relocation of children from
one jurisdiction to another in the context of custody disputes.
Relocation involves a parent who wants to move with a child over the
objections of the other parent; it is one of the fastest-growing
kinds of custody litigation in the country.
1
Drafting Committee to Amend Intestacy Provisions of the Uniform
Probate Code
Sheldon F. Kurtz, Chair, University of Iowa College of Law, 446 BLB,
Iowa City, IA 52242
Lawrence W. Waggoner, Reporter, University of Michigan Law School,
625 S. State Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1215
Laura Twomey, ABA Advisor, Section of Real Property, Probate, and
Trust Law
This committee will amend the intestacy provisions of the UPC that
deal with inheritance by children. Newer reproductive technologies
including posthumous conception are becoming more and more
commonplace, and yet the inheritance rules that govern in these
circumstances are outdated or nonexistent. This committee will amend
specific sections of the UPC, and possibly carve those sections off
as a freestanding uniform act.
2
3
Drafting Committee on a Uniform Adult Guardianship Interstate
Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act
David G. Nixon, Chair, 2340 Green Acres Rd., Suite 12, Fayetteville,
AR 72703
David M. English, Reporter, University of Missouri-Columbia, Missouri
Ave. & Conley Ave., Columbia, MO 65211
Larry Craddock, ABA Advisor, Section of Administrative Law and
Regulatory Practice
Karen E. Boxx, ABA Section Advisor, Section of Real Property,
Probate, and Trust Law
Erica F. Wood, ABA Section Advisor, ABA Commission on Law & Aging
This committee is drafting an act that addresses the issue of
jurisdiction with regard to adult guardianships, conservatorships,
and other protective proceedings, and may also draft conforming
amendments to the Uniform Guardianship and Protective Proceedings Act
and other acts impacted by guardianship jurisdiction.
Study Committees
NCCUSL Study Committees review an assigned area of law in light of
defined criteria and recommend whether NCCUSL should proceed with a
draft on that subject. Study Committees typically do not meet in-
person, so typically ABA advisors are not appointed at this stage.
Input from ABA members and others is highly valued, however; please
forward any comments or suggestions to the respective chairs.
Study Committee on the 1996 Hague Convention on the Protection of
Children
(New Committee; Chair TBD)
This committee will examine, at the request of the U.S. Department of
State, whether becoming a party to the Convention on Jurisdiction,
Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Co-operation in Respect
of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of
Children concluded in 1996 under the auspices of the Hague Conference
on Private International Law is in the best interests of the United
States and possible mechanisms for its implementation, including
amendments to the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement
Act.
