Starting a family may be an exciting moment. However, even the most joyous occasions need the court's assistance to become official. Family law is a vast practice area that encompasses all aspects of domestic relations, such as divorce, property distribution, child custody and support, alimony, and adoption. Whether you want to protect yourself with a prenuptial or post-nuptial agreement, get out of an abusive relationship, or start a new chapter in your love life, LawInfo's family law overview will assist.
Many of these issues may become emotionally charged, argumentative, and complex. It may be beneficial or necessary to talk with and employ a family law attorney when dealing with a family law issue.
Marriage
You must follow precise statutory processes if you want your relationship to be officially recognized and gain the legal advantages of marriage. Although the specific requirements differ by state, couples must apply for a marriage license before the wedding.
Following the ceremony, they must also submit a marriage certificate. While most states have fewer restrictions on who may act as an officiant, some have stricter restrictions on who can conduct legally recognized marriage ceremonies.
Thankfully, same-sex couples now have the constitutional right to marry and do not need to be concerned about civil unions, domestic partnerships, or other ambiguous legal differences. However, other states have refused to recognize same-sex spouses' full legal rights.
Prenuptial Contracts
Before they marry, a couple may enter into a prenuptial agreement. These are often prepared by a lawyer. Prenuptial agreements usually cover how property will be shared in the event of a divorce, waivers of future alimony rights, the obligations and responsibilities of each spouse, and other matters. Child custody and child support clauses may be excluded from the agreements.
Couples Who Aren't Married
Unmarried couples may encounter paternity and other comparable concerns. Typically, family courts handle these cases by conducting paternity testing and enforcing child support judgments when paternity is established.
Marriage by Common Law
In certain jurisdictions, such as Texas, unmarried couples in long-term relationships may be classed as having a common-law marriage. A common law marriage gives the pair the same rights as a married couple as long as they satisfy certain legal conditions, such as cohabitation and acting as married.
Annulments, Divorce, and Legal Separation
You may consider divorce if your honeymoon is gone in more ways than one. You have numerous alternatives depending on how long you've been married and your grounds for divorce.
Divorce
A typical divorce dissolves the marriage and establishes orders for property distribution, spousal support, child support, child custody, and parenting time.
Instead of requiring spouses to identify a cause for the divorce, every state enables divorces to proceed on no-fault grounds. In a no-fault divorce, one spouse claims that the marriage has failed and cannot be salvaged. The court subsequently issues a divorce judgment, thus dissolving the marriage. While some acrimonious divorces may go to trial, the majority of divorces are settled or handled via mediation.
Dissolution
Summary dissolution, sometimes known as "divorce lite," is usually offered to couples who have been married for five years or fewer and do not have any shared minor children. Some states require that teams have no joint "real property" interests, have less than a specific amount of marital property to split, and have no claim to spousal maintenance, sometimes known as alimony, after the separation.
These methods may be speedier and less expensive to terminate a marriage since they need less paperwork, court time, and legal fees.
Annulment
An annulment may be granted if the marriage is legally invalid. When a marriage is annulled, the law regards it as if it never occurred. Bigamy (marriage to more than one person), deception, fraud, concealment, lack of consent, and incest are all invalid marriages.
Legal Divorce
In particular, family law matters, a couple chooses formal separation over completely dissolving their marriage. This is typically done when tax and health care advantages exceed the desire for divorce. Aside from clearing the way for child custody agreements, a formal separation may be the best option for couples wishing to live separately to see whether they really want to divorce.
Child Support and Custody
Legal custody decides which parent will make critical choices for their kid, while physical custody refers to the parent with whom the child lives most of the time. There are several custody and visiting agreements. In all circumstances, courts judge child custody based on what they believe is best for the child.
The issue then becomes who is responsible for paying child support. Child support is often produced by one parent to the parent with primary physical custody of the child. This strategy is designed to give children a quality of living comparable to what they would have had if their parents had stayed together.
Child support standards are used by courts in various jurisdictions to assist them in establishing the monthly amount ordered. Most courts prefer to grant joint custody to both parents rather than exclusive custody to one.
Visitation orders are established after custody judgments and, like previous decisions, are made in the child's best interests. Custodial and visitation arrangements vary, and disagreeing over family time may lead to heated legal problems.
However, it is critical to understand that custody and visitation arrangements are distinct from child support orders. So, if your ex refuses your visitation, you can't stop paying child support, and you can't prohibit your ex from seeing your children if they skip a few support payments.
It's essential to record any violations of child support, custody, or visitation arrangement in court. In addition to the original orders in these situations, the family court will handle revisions to these orders where necessary by state law.
Alimony
Alimony, often known as spousal support, is a monthly payment from a higher-income spouse to their former spouse. Depending on various conditions, it may be prescribed for a short period, forever, or not at all.
The quantity, timing, and duration of support will vary based on the length of the marriage, each spouse's financial resources and earning capacity, contributions to the wedding, and the level of living throughout the marriage. Each state has its own rules for determining spousal support.
Property Separation
Determining how property will be split is an essential component of divorce disputes. Some situations will be dealt with in community property states, while others will be dealt with in equitable distribution states. In community property jurisdictions, the marital assets jointly held by both spouses are considered and divided equally.
In equitable distribution states, courts split the marital property by what they deem fair (but not necessarily equal) allocation. For example, the court may rule that it is appropriate for the custodial parent to retain possession of the home until the youngest kid graduates from high school. Instead of forcing a sale as part of the divorce process, the house will be sold now.
An expert family law attorney can aid in establishing the worth of any assets and assist parties in understanding which items are eligible for division and which are excluded.
Paternity
Paternity confers legal rights on both the father and the kid. It also entails unique legal obligations.
Once the paternity of a child is confirmed, the parent has rights to custody, visitation, and the ability to make important choices in the kid's life. As previously stated, the parent is also responsible for the child's support. The kid also has the right to inherit from both parents, to receive veterans' and social security benefits, and to learn about a parent's genetic and medical history.
Courts infer paternity in certain circumstances, such as when a married man's wife delivers birth. In other cases, it may be necessary to verify paternity by court-ordered DNA testing.
Adoption
Whether you wish to expand your family by adopting a kid or make your stepchild legally equal to your biological child, adoption law dictates the legal procedure you must follow. The adoption procedure varies based on the kind of adoption chosen and the location of the adoption. An adoption lawyer can assist you in navigating this potentially complicated procedure.
Domestic Abuse and Violence
While criminal cases involving abuse and domestic violence are conducted in criminal court, family courts may handle some portions of the proceedings. In cases of child abuse, the family court may need to decide whether a family should be reunified or if parental rights should be revoked. Family law would handle restraining orders against the abusive spouse in domestic violence instances.
Contact a Family Law Attorney Today
Every facet of family law is complicated. It might be tough to learn a case's state and local laws. Working with an experienced family law attorney may make the process go more smoothly. These lawyers can assist you in presenting your case, petitioning the court, negotiating in mediation, and working through any challenges that may arise.