Also known as: member of a family · family members · member of the family · family · dependents · relatives
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A collection of persons related by blood, marriage, adoption, or intimate personal association.
Miles Montgomery confronts Miranda Morales outside her home and demands her purse. When she resists, he threatens to shoot her young son who is standing beside her. The threat satisfies the intimidation element because it creates an immediate risk of serious injury to a family member present at the scene.
Mustafa Mahmoud tells his niece that her great-grandfather immigrated from Syria in 1912. After Mustafa dies, the niece offers the statement in a probate proceeding to prove family lineage. The statement qualifies as a hearsay exception because it concerns the declarant's own family history even without personal knowledge.
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Judge Madison Meyers learns that her adult daughter living in the same household owns stock in a corporation that is a party to a pending case. The judge must disqualify herself because a member of her family residing in her household holds an economic interest in a party to the proceeding.
Attorney Matthew Martinez contacts his cousin Mina Mehta in person to offer estate-planning services. The contact is permitted because the cousin qualifies as a person who has a family relationship with the lawyer, removing the usual prohibition on live-person solicitation for pecuniary gain.
Metro Bank employees publicly humiliate Miles Montgomery by accusing him of embezzlement in front of his wife who is standing nearby. The wife may recover for severe emotional distress even without bodily harm because she is a member of the immediate family present at the time of the outrageous conduct.
After the mother dies, state officials remove the child from Mustafa Mahmoud's custody without a hearing. Because Mahmoud had lived with the child as part of a family unit, due process requires a fair process to determine whether the parental relationship should be severed.
The term encompasses persons related by blood, marriage, adoption, or intimate association. Rules in evidence, judicial conduct, and torts expressly include spouses, domestic partners, and adoptees within the definition when applying protections or exceptions.
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A threat satisfies the element only when it creates an immediate risk of death or serious physical injury to the victim, a family member, a relative, or a person in the victim's presence. Threats limited to property damage fall short unless the threat targets the victim's dwelling.
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When outrageous conduct is directed at a third person, the actor is liable for severe emotional distress caused to a member of that person's immediate family who is present at the time, regardless of whether bodily harm results.
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Recusal is required when the judge knows that any member of the judge's family residing in the judge's household holds an economic interest in the subject matter or in a party, because such interests could reasonably affect impartiality.
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