Family law is an area of the law that deals with family-related issues and domestic relations including:
- the nature of marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships;
- issues arising during marriage, including spousal abuse, legitimacy, adoption, surrogacy, child abuse, and child abduction
- the termination of the relationship and ancillary matters including divorce, annulment, property settlements, alimony, and parental responsibility orders (in the United States, child custody and visitation, child support awards).
This list is by no means dispositive of the potential issues that come through the family court system. In many jurisdictions in the United States, the family courts see the most crowded dockets. Litigants representative of all social and economic classes are parties within the system.
For the conflict of laws elements dealing with transnational and interstate issues, see marriage (conflict), divorce (conflict) and nullity (conflict).
[edit] Criticism of Family Law
Members of the fathers' rights movement criticize the "win or lose" nature of family law in determining issues of divorce and child custody in many Western countries. Cross-national parties dealing with legal systems in different countries simultaneously grapple with substantive and procedural issues regarding child concerns.
[edit] See also
Specific jurisdictions
[edit] References
[edit] Further reading
