LibGuides: Family Law Research Guide: Study Aids

Family Law Study Aids - West Academic Study Aids

Study aids are designed to help law students understand and retain complex legal concepts through accessible explanations, visual outlines, and practice problems. In family law, these resources are especially useful for mastering core topics such as marriage, divorce, custody, support, and parental rights. Many study aids include hypotheticals with explanations, flowcharts, and exam tips tailored to law school coursework and bar preparation. Whether you’re reviewing before class, prepping for finals, or trying to make sense of a tough case, these tools are great companions to your casebook. Note: West Academic requires OU credentials to access.

Harry D. Krause & David D. Meyer, Black Letter Outline on Family Law (4th ed., 2009) (West Academic)
This outline presents a clear and concise summary of core family law principles, structured for quick reference and exam preparation. It distills key doctrines, definitions, and case law into bullet-point format, making it ideal for outlining or last-minute review.
John E.B. Myers, Family Law in a Nutshell (9th ed., 2025) (West Academic)
A compact, yet comprehensive guide that covers the full range of family law topics, including marriage, divorce, custody, child support, and adoption. It’s written for quick understanding and makes an excellent companion to a casebook or lecture notes.
Marc G. Perlin, Quick Review of Family Law (10th ed., 2025) (West Academic)
Designed for rapid exam prep, this book offers brief topic overviews, checklists, and multiple-choice questions with answers. It’s especially helpful for students who want to test their understanding and reinforce key concepts in short study sessions.
Marc G. Perlin, Sum and Substance Audio on Family Law (2024)
This audio lecture series provides a full overview of family law in an engaging, conversational style. Perfect for auditory learners or students who want to reinforce classroom learning while commuting, exercising, or relaxing.

Lexis Digital Library Study Aids

John DeWitt Gregory, Peter N. Swisher, Sheryl L. Wolf, Understanding Family Law (4th ed., 2013).
This clearly-written Understanding treatise includes coverage of both traditional and nontraditional families, nonmarital and postmarital contracts, annulment, paternity and legitimacy, procreation rights, contraception, abortion, sterilization, artificially assisted conception, adoption and termination of parental rights. Understanding Family Law explains specific family law issues, such as intrafamily tort immunity and liability, medical care for child and spouse, wrongful life and wrongful birth, domestic violence, PINS, ethical issues for the lawyer, alternative dispute resolution, equitable distribution, community property, and child custody and visitation.

This title is also available in the Law Reserves, Call Number: KF 505 .G734 2013.
Janet Leach Richards, Mastering Family Law (2016)
This student-focused text provides a clear, comprehensive overview of core family law topics, including marriage, divorce, child custody, support, property division, and adoption. Designed to supplement classroom learning, it breaks down complex legal doctrines with accessible explanations, real-world examples, and analytical frameworks. Part of the Carolina Academic Press "Mastering" series, it’s an excellent resource for both exam preparation and foundational understanding.
Mark Strasser, Questions & Answers: Family Law (4th ed., 2022)
The Questions & Answers series offers a wide range of multiple-choice and short-answer questions designed to test comprehension and application of family law topics. Each question includes a detailed explanation, making this a valuable tool for both formative assessment and final review.
Martin Gardner, Understanding Juvenile Law (5th ed. 2020)
Provides a thorough overview of the juvenile justice and child welfare systems, including delinquency, dependency, and the constitutional rights of minors. A strong supplement for students interested in how family law intersects with juvenile legal issues.

Aspen Learning Library Study Aids

Robert E. Oliphant, Nancy Ver Steegh, & Stephanie L. Tang, Examples & Explanations for Family Law (7th ed., 2024).
Combining narrative explanations with hypothetical questions and detailed answers, this book is one of the most popular study aids for mastering family law. It’s especially valuable for understanding how legal principles apply to realistic scenarios and exam-style problems.
D. Kelly Weisberg, Emanuel Law Outlines for Family Law (5th ed., 2021)
A detailed outline that mirrors the structure of a typical family law course, covering legal rules, policy issues, and case analysis. Includes exam tips, flowcharts, and short-answer questions to help students apply concepts and organize their study time effectively.
Joel Friedman, Friedman's Practice Series for Family Law (2011).
Practice makes perfect! Friedman’s Practice Series helps you develop the skills for spotting issues and preparing A+ answers for your next exam. Real laws school exams test your knowledge of the key concepts and rules with a collection of essay and multiple-choice questions. Set up to mirror actual exams, the series features long essay questions as well as some that are relatively short and medium-length, giving you great practice in the length and variation of questions on the final.

CALI Lessons on Family Law

CALI (The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction) offers interactive, self-paced lessons on a wide range of family law topics. These modules are great for reinforcing classroom learning, testing your understanding, and reviewing key doctrines like custody, support, and marital property. Access requires a CALI login—OU Law students can register using the school’s authorization code. If you need assistance with the authorization code, please contact Jacob Black (jblack@ouedu) or stop by the library.

A full collection of CALI Family Law lessons is available here: CALI Family Law Lessons.

Additionally, CALI provides a Family Law Outline that allows you to search for terms of art that correspond to topics you are studying to find suggestions for related CALI Lessons.