Family law

For other uses, see Family law (disambiguation).

Family law (also called matrimonial law or the law of domestic relations) is an area of the law that deals with family matters and domestic relations.^[1]

Overview

Subjects that commonly fall under a nation's body of family law include:

• Marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships:
  • Entry into legally recognized spousal and domestic relationships^[1]
  • The termination of legally recognized family relationships and ancillary matters, including divorce, annulment, property settlements, alimony, child custody and visitation, child support and alimony awards^[2]
  • Prenuptial and Postnuptial agreements
• Adoption: proceedings to adopt a child and, in some cases, an adult.^[3]
• Surrogacy: the law and process of giving birth as a surrogate mother^[4]
• Child protective proceedings: court proceedings that may result from state intervention in cases of child abuse and child neglect^[5]
• Juvenile law: Matters relating to minors including status offenses, delinquency, emancipation and juvenile adjudication^[6]
• Paternity: proceedings to establish and disestablish paternity, and the administration of paternity testing^[7]
• Rights: Children's rights, Youth rights, Mothers' rights, Fathers' rights, Parents' rights, Right to family life

This list is not exhaustive and varies depending on jurisdiction.

Conflict of laws

Main articles: Conflict of marriage laws and Conflict of divorce laws

Issues may arise in family law where there is a question as to the laws of the jurisdiction that apply to the marriage relationship or to custody and divorce, and whether a divorce or child custody order is recognized under the laws of another jurisdiction.^{[8][9][10][11]} For child custody, many nations have joined the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction in order to grant recognition to other member states' custody orders and avoid issues of parental kidnapping.^[12]

See also

• Alimony
• Child custody
• Child support
• Divorce
• Family
• Family court
• Legal separation
• Legitimacy (family law)
• Marriage
• Merger doctrine (family law)
• Shared parenting
• Supervised visitation
• cohabitation

Specific jurisdictions

• Algerian Family Code
• Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia
  • Australian family law
• Family Law Act (Canada)
• California Child Actor's Bill, or the Coogan Law
• Family law system in England and Wales
  • Children Act of 1989
• Malian Family Code
• Mudawana, the Moroccan Family Code
• The Philippines' Family Code of 1987
• Nashim, the order of the Mishnah outlining Jewish family law

References

1. Atkinson, Jeff. "ABA Family Legal Guide" (PDF). American Bar Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
2. Weitzman, Lenore J. (1980). "The Economics of Divorce: Social and Economic Consequences of Property, Alimony and Child Support Awards". UCLA Law Review. 28: 1181. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
3. Wadlington, Walter (1980–1981). "Adoption of Adults a Family Law Anomaly". Cornell Law Review. 54: 566. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
4. Capron, A.M.; Radin, M.J. (1988). "Choosing Family Law over Contract Law as a Paradigm for Surrogate Motherhood". Law, Medicine & Health Care. 16 (1–2): 34–43. doi:10.1111/j.1748-720X.1988.tb01048.x. PMID 3060684. S2CID 20125279.
5. Lawrie, Moloney; Smyth, Bruce M.; Weston, Ruth; Richardson, Nich; Qu, Lixia; Gray, Matthew (2007). "Allegations of family violence and child abuse in family law children's proceedings: key findings of Australian Institute of Family Studies Research Report No. 15". Family Matters. 77. Retrieved 9 October 2019.

   • Allegations of family violence and child abuse in family law children's proceedings: A pre-reform exploratory study. Australian Institute of Family Studies (Report). May 2007. Archived from the original on 2019-04-20.
6. Babb, Barbara A. (1998). "Fashioning an interdisciplinary framework for court reform in family law: A blueprint to construct a unified family court". Southern California Law Review. 71: 469. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
7. Lee, Chang Ling (1975). "Current Status of Paternity Testing". Family Law Quarterly. 9 (4): 615–633. JSTOR 25739134.
8. Currie, David P. (1966). "Suitcase Divorce in the Conflict of Laws: Simons, Rosenstiel, and Borax". The University of Chicago Law Review. 34 (1): 26–77. doi:10.2307/1598624. JSTOR 1598624.
9. "Family law | Definition, Examples, Types, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. 2024-05-23. Retrieved 2024-05-29.
10. "legal practice areas Family Law. The University of Law".
11. Ahmady, Kameel Et al 2017: Echo of Silence (book) (A Comprehensive Research Study on Early Child Marriage (ECM) in Iran). Nova publishing, USA. p 10.
12. "International Parental Kidnapping". U.S. Department of Justice. 3 June 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2019.

Further reading

• Finer, Sir Morris (1974). Report of the Committee on One-Parent Families: presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Social Services by command of Her Majesty July 1974. H.M.S.O. ISBN 9780101562911.
• Klaw, Margaret (2013). Keeping It Civil: The Case of the Pre-nup and the Porsche & Other True Accounts from the Files of a Family Lawyer. Algonquin Books. ISBN 978-1616202392.

External links

• Testimony of Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, Ph.D., Co-Director, National Marriage Project Rutgers University, before US Senate Subcommittee
• Wallerstein, Judith (19 December 2000). "The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce". pbs.org. NPR. Archived from the original on 26 January 2001. Retrieved 2019-10-10. (an analysis of the long-term effect of divorce on children)
• R. Partain, "Comparative Family Law, Korean Family Law, and the Missing Definitions of Family", (2012) HongIk University Journal of Law, Vol. 13, No. 2.
• "Hong Kong Family Court Tables" includes a summary of Hong Kong family law principles, a guide to the recent case law and relevant statutes, and a glossary of relevant terms related to the Hong Kong family law.