Socioeconomic Bias in Family Court

• Author: Susan J. S. Abramowich
• Pages: 38-40

38 FAMILY ADVOCATE www.shopaba.org

logical Association as the social standing or class of an

individual or group. It is often measured as a combination of

education, income, and occupation. In reality, socioeconom-

ic bias is more abstract and subtle than other forms of bias,

such as racial bias, gender bias, or bias against specic

religions or cultures. Socioeconomic status, while not a

protected class, does, however, have a real eect on family

law litigation. While judges may not allow the aforemen-

tioned biases to aect their rulings, there is often a disparate

impact to indigent family law litigants as a result of their

limited resources and socioeconomic status. is article will

focus on how litigants with lower socioeconomic and

educational status often experience an abbreviated analysis of

the issues in their cases because many family courts do not

employ the tools available and necessary due to the litigant’s

inability to pay.

All too often, families with lower socioeconomic or

educational status are not provided the same tools to access

and aid in the decision-making process of the judge. e

result is rulings being made without all of the necessary and

vital information that may be available and accessible in

other cases—often involving the same issues—involving

litigants of greater socioeconomic status. is is frustrating—

and oftentimes detrimental—to the litigant families whom

the courts aim to serve, to the attorneys who represent them,

and to the judges themselves.

In addition to the testimony and evidence provided by

witnesses in a family law matter, judges rely upon many tools

Socioeconomic Bias in Family Court

BY SUSAN J. S. ABRAMOWICH

Families come to our courts in all shapes and sizes.

Dierent backgrounds, cultural understandings and

traditions, and knowledge of the legal system

comprise the litigants appearing in family court.

Each family expects the court to help them, to aord

them justice in making life-altering determinations that aect

the very fabric of their lives. But is every family that appears

in family court aorded the same deliberative process and

analysis? What eect do their socioeconomic and educational

backgrounds have on the decisions made by the judges

hearing their cases?

As a baseline, we must acknowledge that implicit biases

exist in every participant involved in a family court case from

the individual litigants to the witnesses to the attorneys,

court sta, judicial ocers, and judges. e ABA Model

Code of Judicial Conduct, Rule 2.3(B) states:

A judge shall not, in the performance of judicial duties,

by words or conduct manifest bias or prejudice, or

engage in harassment, including but not limited to bias,

prejudice, or harassment based upon race, sex, gender,

religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual

orientation, marital status, socioeconomic status, or

political aliation, and shall not permit court sta,

court ocials, or others subject to the judge’s direction

and control to do so. [Emphasis added.]

Socioeconomic status is dened by the American Psycho-

Published in Family Advocate, Volume 44, Number 3, Winter 2022. © 2022 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof

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