Family Law. Civil Partnership Law

Duration

75h Th

Number of credits

Lecturer

Yves-Henri Leleu

Substitute(s)

Géraldine Mathieu

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the second semester

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

The course consists of two main parts: persons and family law and matrimonial property law. The subject is analysed as individual (rights of privacy, capacity rules, identification, civil status) and as member of a couple (marriage, divorce, non-marital commuity). Next we discuss the legal status of the child (filiation, adoption, custody and parental responsibilities, alimony). The course ends with a discussion of matrimonial property law (legal rules, matrimonial contract, division of the goods, unmarried couples). The objective is to give students keys to understand family law and its anchoring in society and history.

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

The aim of the course is to give students keys to understand family law and its anchoring in society and history.
 
The teaching of the legal status of the child by Mrs Géraldine MATHIEU will add to theses goals a « rights of kids » perspective, as protected by the International Convention on the Rights of the child adopted in 1989 by the United Nations.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

We recommend as a prerequisite knowledge the « Juridical terminology and text analysis in Dutch » course, because of its importance in Belgian federal law, particularly in Belgian civil law. The reason is found in the predominance of dutch sources in the Belgian legal theory and case law.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

The course will be teached trough an interactive method. It does not cover the whole subject matter but this will be taken into consideration for the exam.
 
As a part of Ms. Géraldine MATHIEU's teaching on children's issues, debates on topical issues related to concept studied in the course and some exercises (casus resolution) will be done during the lecture. The idea is to involve the student as much as possible in a co-construction of knowledge. Some occasional screenings of videos, followed by discussions, and occasional interventions by external speakers (judge, lawyer, donor, child, direct of an adoption service, etc.) will also be organized. The course will be illustrated by Power Point slides.
 
In the framework of the teaching given by Mr. Yves-Henri LELEU, the participation of students will be asked in the form of questions. The aim isn't to to evaluate the student but to personalize the dialogue to a large audience and to facilitate the acquisition of oral legal expression skills. Student monitors will organize workshops. Students are invited to ask questions about the subject during or at the end of the course. Members of the Family Law Unit are also available to answer questions about the course by appointment (offices I. 15 and I. 16).

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)

Ordinary class sessions, with 2 hours classes three times a week, during the second semester.
 
Mr. Yves-Henri LELEU will teach the part related to the persons and to the couples (30h).
Ms. Géraldine MATHIEU will teach the unit related to the child (45h).

Recommended or required readings

Y.-H. LELEU, Droit des personnes et des familles, Bruxelles, Larcier, 2016 ;
Y.-H. LELEU, Droit patrimonial des couples, Bruxelles, Larcier, 2014 ;

• MATHIEU, Droit des personnes et de la famille, course notes, UNamur.

Assessment methods and criteria

A written exam will be organized in June and in August-September (Right/Wrong, technical and reflexive questions).
 
Students may take and use the recommended books during the exam. All published codes or their photocopies are allowed.

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

Second half of the academic year; oral examination in june

Contacts

yh.leleu@ulg.ac.be

Items online