View source for Family law

{{short description|Area of the law that deals with family matters and domestic relations}}
{{other uses}}
{{Family law|all}}

'''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]].<ref name="abafl">{{cite web|last1=Atkinson|first1=Jeff|title=ABA Family Legal Guide|url=https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/migrated/publiced/practical/books/family/chapter_3.authcheckdam.pdf|website=American Bar Association|access-date=31 October 2017|archive-date=7 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107032929/https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/migrated/publiced/practical/books/family/chapter_3.authcheckdam.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Overview==
Subjects that commonly fall under a nation's body of family law include:
* [[Marriage]], [[civil union]]s, and [[domestic partnership]]s:
** Entry into legally recognized spousal and domestic relationships<ref name="abafl"/>
** The termination of legally recognized family relationships and ancillary matters, including [[divorce]], [[annulment]], [[property settlement]]s, [[alimony]], [[child custody]] and [[Contact (law)|visitation]], [[child support]] and [[alimony]] awards<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Weitzman|first1=Lenore J.|title=The Economics of Divorce: Social and Economic Consequences of Property, Alimony and Child Support Awards|journal=UCLA Law Review|date=1980|volume=28|page=1181|url=http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/uclalr28&div=53&id=&page=|access-date=9 October 2019}}</ref>
**[[Prenuptial agreements|Prenuptial]] and [[Postnuptial agreement]]s
* [[Adoption]]: proceedings to adopt a child and, in some cases, an adult.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Wadlington|first1=Walter|title=Adoption of Adults a Family Law Anomaly|journal=Cornell Law Review|volume=54|page=566|url=http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/uclalr28&div=53&id=&page=|access-date=9 October 2019|date=1980–1981}}</ref>
* [[Surrogacy]]: the law and process of giving birth as a surrogate mother<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Capron|first1=A.M.|last2=Radin|first2=M.J.|title=Choosing Family Law over Contract Law as a Paradigm for Surrogate Motherhood|journal=Law, Medicine & Health Care|volume=16|issue=1–2|pages=34–43|date=1988|doi=10.1111/j.1748-720X.1988.tb01048.x|pmid=3060684|s2cid=20125279}}</ref>
*  [[Child protection|Child protective proceedings]]: court proceedings that may result from state intervention in cases of [[child abuse]] and [[child neglect]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lawrie |first1=Moloney |last2=Smyth |first2=Bruce M. |last3=Weston |first3=Ruth |last4=Richardson |first4=Nich |last5=Qu |first5=Lixia  |last6=Gray |first6=Matthew |title=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 |journal=Family Matters |date=2007 |volume=77 |url=https://aifs.gov.au/publications/family-matters/issue-77/allegations-family-violence-and-child-abuse-family-law-childrens-proceedings |access-date=9 October 2019}}
*{{cite report |date=May 2007 |website=Australian Institute of Family Studies |title=Allegations of family violence and child abuse in family law children's proceedings: A pre-reform exploratory study |url=https://aifs.gov.au/publications/allegations-family-violence-and-child-abuse-family-l/synopsis |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190420224104/https://aifs.gov.au/publications/allegations-family-violence-and-child-abuse-family-l/synopsis |archive-date=2019-04-20}}</ref>
* [[Juvenile court|Juvenile law]]: Matters relating to minors including [[status offense]]s, [[Juvenile delinquency|delinquency]], [[Emancipation of minors|emancipation]] and [[Adjudication#Referring to a minor|juvenile adjudication]]<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Babb|first1=Barbara A.|title=Fashioning an interdisciplinary framework for court reform in family law: A blueprint to construct a unified family court|journal=Southern California Law Review|date=1998|volume=71|page=469|url=http://scholarworks.law.ubalt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1066&context=all_fac|access-date=9 October 2019}}</ref>
* [[Paternity law|Paternity]]: proceedings to establish and disestablish paternity, and the administration of [[DNA paternity testing|paternity testing]]<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Lee|first1=Chang Ling|title=Current Status of Paternity Testing|journal=Family Law Quarterly|date=1975|volume=9|issue=4|pages=615–633|jstor=25739134}}</ref>
* [[Human rights|Rights]]: [[Children's rights]], [[Youth rights]], [[Mothers' rights]], [[Fathers' rights movement|Fathers' rights]], [[Parents' rights movement|Parents' rights]], [[Right to family life]]

This list is not exhaustive and varies depending on [[jurisdiction]].

==Conflict of laws==
{{main|Conflict of marriage laws|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.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Currie|first1=David P.|title=Suitcase Divorce in the Conflict of Laws: Simons, Rosenstiel, and Borax|journal=The University of Chicago Law Review|date=1966|volume=34|issue=1|pages=26–77|doi=10.2307/1598624|jstor=1598624|url=https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6072&context=journal_articles|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-05-23 |title=Family law {{!}} Definition, Examples, Types, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/family-law |access-date=2024-05-29 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=legal practice areas Family Law. The University of Law |url=https://www.law.ac.uk/employability/legal-practice-areas/family-law/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=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}}</ref> 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]].<ref>{{cite web|title=International Parental Kidnapping|url=https://www.justice.gov/criminal-ceos/international-parental-kidnapping|website=U.S. Department of Justice|access-date=9 October 2019|date=3 June 2015}}</ref>

== By jurisdiction ==
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [[Algerian Family Code]]
* [[Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia]]
** [[Australian family law]]
* [[Family Law Act (Ontario)|Family Law Act (Canada)]]
* [[Burmese customary law]]
* [[Marriage in the Catholic Church|Matrimonial law in the Catholic Church]]
* [[Family law system in England and Wales]]
** [[Children Act 1989|Children Act of 1989]]
* [[Malian Family Code]]
* [[Mudawana]], the [[Morocco|Moroccan]] Family Code
* The Philippines' [[Family Code of the Philippines|Family Code of 1987]]
* [[Nashim]], the order of the [[Mishnah]] outlining Jewish family law
}}

== See also ==
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [[Alimony]]
* [[Child custody]]
* [[Child support]]
* [[Cohabitation]]
* [[Divorce]]
* [[Family]]
* [[Family court]]
* [[Legal separation]]
* [[Legitimacy (family law)]]
* [[Marriage]]
* [[Merger doctrine (family law)]]
* [[Shared parenting]]
* [[Supervised visitation]]
}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== 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.
* {{cite book| first = Sir Morris| last = Finer| author-link = Morris Finer| title = 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| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=I-ItAQAAIAAJ| year = 1974| publisher = H.M.S.O. | isbn = 9780101562911}}
* 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.
* {{cite book |last=Klaw |first=Margaret |year=2013 |publisher=Algonquin Books |title=Keeping It Civil: The Case of the Pre-nup and the Porsche & Other True Accounts from the Files of a Family Lawyer |isbn=978-1616202392 }}
* 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==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050310041837/http://marriage.rutgers.edu/Publications/Pub%20Whitehead%20Testimony%20Apr%2004.htm Testimony of Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, Ph.D., Co-Director, National Marriage Project Rutgers University, before US Senate Subcommittee]
* {{cite web |last1=Wallerstein |first1=Judith |title=The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/conversation/july-dec00/wallerstein_12-19.htm |website=pbs.org |publisher=NPR |access-date=2019-10-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010126031400/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/conversation/july-dec00/wallerstein_12-19.htm |archive-date=26 January 2001 |date=19 December 2000 |url-status=dead }} (an analysis of the long-term effect of divorce on children)
* [https://ssrn.com/abstract=2132173 R. Partain, "Comparative Family Law, Korean Family Law, and the Missing Definitions of Family", (2012) HongIk University Journal of Law, Vol. 13, No. 2.]
*"[https://www.duxburyetc.hk/book/ 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.

{{Family rights}}
{{Law}}
{{Family law in the United States}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Family law| ]]
[[Category:Divorce]]
[[Category:Marriage law]]