RIGHTS OF RELATIVES AND GENERATIONS

Abstract

The traditional extended family encompasses different generations (such as children, parents, grandparents), and different forms of kinship (such as children, parents, brothers, uncles, aunts, grandparents) and relations that are usually based on affection, love, support, and mutuality. However, relations even in the traditional family structure are not always typified by affection and love, but by exploitation, conflict, and hostility. In cases of a family unit gone awry, different members of the family may present conflicting claims for rights and the resolution of such conflicts may be left to the courts. Sometimes the disputes revolve around the right to keep contact with children, and frequently the children are the primary victims of the intrafamilial conflict. Sometimes the conflicts involve extended family members. This chapter examines cases of conflicts within the family, sometimes as a result of family crisis, and in other cases as the result of unusual circumstances that require creative and innovative solutions.