Abbo v. Briskin

Brief Fact Summary. At a custody proceeding a mother was ordered to not interfere in the development of her child’s Jewish religious training or upbringing based on an oral agreement between her and her husband prior to marriage.

Synopsis of Rule of Law. The First Amendment prohibits the law from enforcing an unwritten agreement to raise a child in a certain faith, especially when it revolves around a good faith change in religious conscience.

Facts. In a second marriage, mother, a Roman Catholic, married a man of the Jewish faith. She had two children of a previous marriage that lived with her and were being raised Catholic. As the parties considered marrying, the mother ultimately agreed that she would convert to Judaism after he insisted he would not marry otherwise. A daughter was born, and shortly thereafter, the mother converted back to Catholicism. When the daughter was 4.