family law
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Family law (also called matrimonial law or the law of domestic relations) is an area of the law that deals with
family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
matters and domestic relations.


Overview

Subjects that commonly fall under a nation's body of family law include: *
Marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
,
civil union A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, primarily created to provide legal recognition for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage, with ch ...
s, and domestic partnerships: ** Entry into legally recognized spousal and domestic relationships ** The termination of legally recognized family relationships and ancillary matters, including
divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...
, annulment, property settlements, alimony,
child custody Child custody is a legal term regarding '' guardianship'' which is used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent or guardian and a child in that person's care. Child custody consists of ''legal custody'', which is the ri ...
and visitation, child support and alimony awards ** Prenuptial and Postnuptial agreements *
Adoption Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, fro ...
: proceedings to adopt a child and, in some cases, an adult. *
Surrogacy Surrogacy is an arrangement whereby a woman gets pregnant and gives birth on behalf of another person or couple who will become the child's legal parents after birth. People pursue surrogacy for a variety of reasons such as infertility, danger ...
: the law and process of giving birth as a surrogate mother * Child protective proceedings: court proceedings that may result from state intervention in cases of child abuse and child neglect *
Juvenile law Juvenile may refer to: In general *Juvenile status, or minor (law), prior to adulthood * Juvenile (organism) Music * Juvenile (rapper) (born 1975), stage name of American rapper Terius Gray *''Juveniles'', a 2020 studio album by the band Kingsw ...
: Matters relating to minors including status offenses, delinquency,
emancipation Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure Economic, social and cultural rights, economic and social rights, civil and political rights, po ...
and juvenile adjudication * Paternity: proceedings to establish and disestablish paternity, and the administration of paternity testing *
Rights Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of freedom or Entitlement (fair division), entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal sy ...
:
Children's rights Children's rights or the rights of children are a subset of human rights with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to minors.
,
Youth rights The youth rights movement (also known as youth liberation) seeks to grant the rights to Youth, young people that are traditionally reserved for adults. This is closely akin to the notion of evolving capacities within the children's rights mov ...
, Mothers' rights,
Fathers' rights The fathers' rights movement is a social movement whose members are primarily interested in issues related to family law, including child custody and child support, that affect fathers and their children. Many of its members are fathers who de ...
, Parents' rights, Right to family life This list is not exhaustive and varies depending on
jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' and 'speech' or 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, the concept of jurisdiction applies at multiple level ...
.


Conflict of 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. 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.


By jurisdiction


See also


References


Further reading

* David Bradley. ‘Family law’, in ''Elgar encyclopedia of comparative law'', 3rd edn. Vol. 2: ''E-L''. Eds. Jan M. Smits et al. Cheltenham/Northampton, M.A.: Edward Elgar, 2023. * Elizabeth Brake & Lucinda Ferguson, eds. ''Philosophical foundations of children's and family law''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. * Aleck Chloros, Max Rheinstein, & Mary Ann Glendon, eds. ''International encyclopedia of comparative law'', vol. 4: ''Persons and family''. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007. * Shazia Choudhry & Jonathan Herring, eds. ''The Cambridge companion to comparative family law''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. * John Eekelaar. ''Family law and personal life''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. * * Marsha Garrison. ''Family life, family law, and family justice: tying the knot''. Abingdon: Routledge, 2023. * Laurence D. Houlgate. ''Philosophy, law and the family: a new introduction to the philosophy of law''. Cham: Springer, 2017. * Shamil Jeppie, Ebrahim Moosa, & Richard L. Roberts, eds. ''Muslim family law in Sub-Saharan Africa: colonial legacies and post-colonial challenges''. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2010. * * Harry D. Krause. ‘Comparative family law’, in ''Oxford handbook of comparative law''. Eds. Mathias Reimann & Reinhard Zimmermann. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008, p. 1099–1130. * Ziba Mir-Hosseini et al., eds. ''Gender and equality in Muslim family law: justice and ethics in the Islamic legal tradition''. London: I.B. Tauris, 2017. * Jens M. Scherpe, ed. ''European family law''. 3 vols. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2016.


External links


Testimony of Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, Ph.D., Co-Director, National Marriage Project Rutgers University, before US Senate Subcommittee
* (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. {{Authority control Divorce Marriage law