Kendall v. Kendall

687 N.E.2d 1228 (1997)

Study Aids
Case Briefs Overview
Casebooks
Case Briefs
K
From our private database of 46,300+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Kendall v. Kendall

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
687 N.E.2d 1228 (1997)

SC

Facts

Barbara Kendall (plaintiff) and Jeffrey Kendall (defendant) were married. The couple had three children. Barbara was Orthodox Jewish, and Jeffrey was a member of a fundamentalist Christian church. Jeffrey believed that anyone who did not accept the faith of his church would go to hell. Accordingly, Jeffrey wished to indoctrinate the Kendall children into his faith. Barbara objected to this indoctrination. Indeed, the couple often fought about their religious differences, and the children were aware of the discord and the reasons for it. The children self-identified as Jewish, but had no desire to disappoint or upset Jeffrey. At one point, Jeffrey cut off his son’s payes. Barbara filed a petition for divorce. The trial court appointed a guardian ad litem to assess the religious conflict and issue a report. The guardian ad litem’s report indicated that the children were suffering emotional distress on account of their parents’ religious differences. Based on this report, the trial court granted Barbara a divorce, awarded joint custody, and ordered that Jeffrey and Barbara not indoctrinate the children in any way that would alienate the other parent or cause the children emotional distress. Jeffrey appealed, arguing that the order violated his free exercise of religion.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Lynch, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 806,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Berkeley, and Northwestern—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 806,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 806,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,300 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Casebooks

Family Law

Key Terms