Generally speaking, family law includes legal issues pertaining to families such as married couples, and parents and children. Owing to the fact that every state has its own family laws, it’s of significance for you to find an attorney with experience in your state on the condition that you need legal assistance in this area.

Family Law and Couples

Have crucial assets, the couple may decide to draft a prenuptial agreement before they marry. This is a legal contract specifically saying how the couple would divide their property and income, alongside their debts, if they should really divorce.

Members of a couple may also look for the services of a family law attorney if they are determined to legally separate. This is not the same action as a divorce or an end to a domestic partnership, because the couples legally separating are not free to remarry if they don’t divorce ultimately. When a legal separation occurs, the court will offer a formal judgment about a couple’s property, money and debts together with any relevant parenting issues.

This judgment would be binding while the couple lives apart in a state of legal separation. A couple may decide to remain legally separated, or they may later decide to reconcile, or to divorce. Issues arising during the legal separation process may involve spousal support. If this process involves children, then issues might also include child custody and visitation rights, plus that of child support.

Divorce cases also fall under the umbrella of family law. Under this backdrop, the marriage is formally dissolved and, once the divorce is finalized, each person has freedom to remarry. To initiate a divorce proceeding, one or both members of a couple must file for divorce in the state where he or she lives.

Most states allow people to file for a no-fault divorce, which means that he or she needn’t prove that his or her spouse did anything incorrect. Depending upon state law, though, the couple may need to live separately for a predetermined amount of time before a no-fault divorce can be pursued.

In other states, the law requires the filing spouse to name a reason for which a divorce is being pursued (in other words, he or she must name a “fault”). Reasons might involve adultery or cruelty, as just two examples.

Ideally, the couple can mutually agree upon who gets to keep each asset and who will pay each debt. When that doesn’t occur, how assets will be divided will largely count on whether the state is a community property state or an equitable distribution property state. In the former, community property is typically divided equally, while each spouse can keep property which is his or hers. In the latter, assets are divided “equitably,” which doesn’t necessarily mean equally. One spouse’s earning potential, for example, may be factored in.

This list is not intended to be comprehensive. It’s a list of some of the most common family law issues that can arise between couples rather.

Family Law and the Parent/Child Relationship

As one example, adoptions fall under the auspices of family law. You can adopt a child through an agency, which is a governmentally regulated process, or you can adopt a child independently/privately, without experiencing an agency. Or, if you’re a stepparent, you might be determined to adopt a stepchild legally. You could also be a foster parent and agree to adopt a foster child whose parents have lost their parental rights. Specifics of the adoption process can vary greatly among types, and laws also vary by state.

Attaining guardianship of a child also falls under family law. If you become a legal guardian, the court has decided that you can protect the rights of another person (your “ward”), who is often a child of whom the parents can’t look after him or her any longer. Or you could become a legal guardian of an adult with disabilities preventing him or her from acting independently and freely. Guardianships can be more temporary than adoptions; they can also take place in emergency situations.

Apart from adoptions and guardianships, there are a great number of child-related issues posed by a divorce, and this involves child custody decisions. At the heart of this type of family law lies determining what arrangement would be in the best interests of the child or children, not the parents. Courts can decide upon joint custody or award it to one parent; whatever is decided, the person having custody now is responsible for tasking care of and making major decisions for the child.

Closely related to child custody decisions are visitation rights. If, for instance, the father is entitled to custody rights of a child, then the mother is often given visitation rights—although, under the backdrop of abuse, a parent may only be allowed to have supervised visitation with his or her child. In rarer cases, a parent is prevented from having any visitation rights at all.

A typical visitation agreement might include where a child would primarily live, what type of visitation schedule the other parent would have, what kind of geographical restrictions there might be on where the child could be taken, what activities are permitted, and more.

A divorce happening, child support decisions will likely need making as well. Each state has guidelines on how much a parent would pay (or receive) in child support, and formulas utilized can get quite complicated. Factors taken into account often involve the salary of the person who would pay the child support, the number of children involved, the ages of the children, and whether the payor will have a new family to support in a new marriage.

More recently, the issue of visitation rights for grandparents has come to the forefront.

According to an inatitute, their rights conventionally denied visitation if a parent objected to the visitation. This doesn’t mean that they are automatically awarded, but grandparents now have the right to ask for this type of court order.

Some states have also extended this right to other relatives, from aunts, uncles and siblings, to stepparents, great-grandparents and others with whom the child has a close relation (without being legally related to them).

Grandparents and other interested third parties typically ask for visitation upon a divorce of the parents, or after a death of one of them. Some states also agree to hear petitions, as just one other type of situation, if a parent is sent to prison.

What is clear is these situations can get complicated, which is why it’s recommended that family law attorneys are consulted so that your interests, and that of your children, can be protected.

Family Law Process

Easily speaking, the parties involved in a family law procedure can stipulate areas where they agree. If, for instance, a divorcing couple agrees upon child custody and support specifics, they can put that in writing. If the court agrees on the document, it then will become a part of the court order. When this type of agreement is made, it’s often the best solution possible.

Often, of course, each party may have different requests. When that occurs, the court often orders mediation, where a neutral third party has cooperation with both parties involved to come up with an agreement. From time to time, mediation allows each party to brainstorm ideas, talk about them with one another, and find solutions benefiting everyone.

If those involved can’t reach an agreement, though, then the case will likely go to trial, where each person needs to testify, submit evidence, and so forth. A family law judge will be appointed to hear the trial and make a ruling.