Many Issues Arise under Family Law

Family is one of the most important things in life; however, families are hard work and sometimes things don't always work out the way we planned.
Family law encompasses several major issues from marriage to divorce, as well as the many legal issues that occur with children, including adoption, child support and paternity issues. No matter what stage in life your family is going through, a family law attorney may be able to help.
Marriage
For better or worse, marriage is the legal union of a man and woman as husband and wife. To marry there must be consent, but there are other requirements, such as being of a certain age and having the capacity to consent.
Many states require other procedural steps, including a blood test and a ceremony. There is an exception in a few states known as common law marriage, where if an unwed couple live together for a certain amount of years and meet other requirements, the law may consider them to be married.
The main legal consequence of marriage is that it creates the duty in both the husband and wife to support each other for necessities such as food, shelter and medical expenses.
Marriage also might bring up the issue of a prenuptial agreement, which is a contract made before the marriage. A "prenup" is designed to preemptively resolve issues that would arise should the marriage fail. Though prenups are legally enforceable, there are also requirements that need to be met to assure that one party does not take advantage of the other.
As family law continues to evolve, some states are now recognizing marriage between two people of the same gender. Learn more about current issues in marriage by speaking with a local family law attorney.
Divorce
Divorce breaks the union by court order. Divorce is different from other manners of dividing spouses, such as annulment or legal separation.
Divorce gives rise to several issues, such as determining how much support a spouse will receive and the general distribution of marital property.
When making these decisions, the court will look at several factors to determine how much support one spouse must provide to the other. The divorce proceeding will also resolve issues regarding children, such as child custody and child support.
Children
Parents are obligated by law to support children until they reach the age of majority. This applies both to biological and adopted children.
Legally adopted children are entitled to the same support and privileges as a biological child.
Most issues involving children occur in a divorce case. For example, in child custody matters, courts will usually determine which spouse gets custody based on the best interests of the child. For child custody and child support issues, there are several different factors that courts will use in rendering a decision.
These are just some of the major issues that fall into the category of family law. There are other issues such as power of attorney, same sex marriages, wills and domestic violence.
The important thing to remember about family law is that specific rules vary by state. If you are dealing with legal family issues, consider consulting a family law attorney. Learn more by connecting with a family law attorney through AttorneyFind today.