Editor's Note and Introduction: The Year 2024 in Review

• Pages: 4-5
• Date: 01 September 2024
• Published date: 01 September 2024
• Author: Lisa F. Grumet

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Editor’s Note and Introduction: The Year

2024 in Review

LISA F. GRUMET*

I am pleased to introduce our annual Year in Review issue. This year’s

issue focuses on changes in state statutory law in 2024.

The article New Family Law Statutes in 2024: Selected State

Legislation, written by the New York Law School student editors for

Family Law Quarterly, features 35 laws from 2024 that were enacted

in 25 states and the District of Columbia. The article explains what the

new laws do and why they were enacted. The laws featured in the article

cover a range of topics. For example:

• Some of the laws were enacted partly in response to recent

national political and legal developments. New York voters

approved a constitutional amendment expanding the scope

of its Equal Protection clause (which previously prohibited

discrimination based on race, color, creed, or religion) to include

sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability,

reproductive healthcare and autonomy, and other categories.

New Jersey enacted a “Freedom to Read Act.” Massachusetts

enacted An Act to Ensure Legal Parentage Equality, based on the

Uniform Law Commission’s (ULC’s) Uniform Parentage Act

(2017).

• Several of the laws strengthen custody or domestic violence

safety protections following the tragic deaths of individuals in

the context of custody disputes or domestic violence. These

laws include the Cassie Carli Law (Florida), Kayden’s Law

(Pennsylvania), Melanie’s Law (New York), and Om’s Law

(Utah).

• Michigan ended its ban on compensated surrogacy and enacted

surrogacy regulations.

• Kansas enacted a Uniform Nonparent Visitation Act, based on

the ULC’s Uniform Nonparent Custody and Visitation Act.

* Lisa F. Grumet is Editor in Chief for the Family Law Quarterly. She is a Professor of Law

at New York Law School (NYLS) and Director of the NYLS Diane Abbey Law Institute for

Children and Families.