The family court handles matters related to families, such as divorce, custody disputes and domestic violence cases.
Courts often grant sole legal custody to one parent, giving them authority over decisions regarding health, welfare and education for their child. More often than not though, joint legal custody arrangements allow both parties to participate equally in decision making processes.
Child Custody
Child custody refers to the legal right and responsibility for a minor child. Custody disputes often arise during or after divorce or separation proceedings, but may also involve nonmarried parents, unwed couples and even foster children. Courts usually prefer that both parents remain actively involved in their child’s life and may grant joint custody so both can make decisions about behalf of the child.
Physical custody (also referred to as residential placement or primary placement) determines where a child will reside on an everyday basis. Judges can grant either shared physical custody, giving each parent equal time with their child based on an agreed upon schedule or agreement; or they may grant sole physical custody to one parent while providing visitation rights for both.
Judges in custody cases consider multiple factors when assessing parental cooperation and conflict, each parent’s age, the child’s needs and age as well as any evidence of abuse or neglect, each parent’s relationship with their child as well as evidence of abuse or neglect. A judge also looks at whether either parent has been associated with individuals convicted of criminal charges or domestic violence who could potentially put children in an unsafe environment; additionally they will consider any allegations of parental alienation where one parent tries to turn the other parent against their own through emotional manipulation of child support payments or custody agreements between parents who cannot trust one another in order to gain custody of their child(ren).
Divorce
Divorce can be an emotionally taxing experience. Family court judges must make difficult decisions regarding custody and visitation for children, property division, alimony payments and more that could have lasting repercussions for spouses and their families involved. Therefore, it’s crucial that you find an experienced and qualified lawyer to guide you through these difficulties.
Divorce laws differ depending on your state or province. Some adhere to equitable distribution, while others use community property laws. Equitable distribution means a judge will try to divide assets and debts fairly between spouses – this does not always equal an even division.
Adultery, impotency and cruel treatment are some grounds for divorce. Cruel treatment refers to any mental or physical abuse which has had a substantial impact on one spouse and requires proof. Adultery involves engaging in sexual relations outside of marriage that must be proved. Finally, impotency is recognized as valid grounds in many jurisdictions due to ‘no-fault’ statutes that became popular throughout Western countries during the late 1960s.
Couples seeking separation without divorce may file a petition with New York Supreme Court for legal separation, provided they can demonstrate they have lived apart for at least 12 months and do not share all four fault-based grounds of divorce. This will involve proving they live separately while showing none of these four grounds exist for divorce.
Adoption
Adoption involves welcoming a child into one’s family through legal proceedings filed in family or surrogate courts of their county of residence. For an adoption to become final, a judge must approve it, after ascertaining all legal requirements have been fulfilled by both parents involved, such as receiving consent for adoption from them, terminating rights or giving implied permission through actions such as abandonment by one parent to another.
Historically, family law has primarily fallen under state jurisdiction. However, thanks to congressional legislation and Supreme Court decisions, more areas of family law that were previously left to individual states are now federalized. For instance, the Court has determined that marriage and parental rights are fundamental rights protected under Fourteenth Amendment and has granted federal courts jurisdiction for cases that involve interstate or international issues like death penalty cases or same-sex marriage recognition.
Before legal kinship adoptions can be finalized in North Carolina, prospective adoptive parents must undergo a home assessment conducted by either county department of social services or an approved private agency. A court must then assess whether the parents are suitable adopters with sufficient resources to raise a child. Furthermore, consideration must be given to how best interests of child are affected based on negative and positive factors weighing against each other.
Support
Failure to follow court orders regarding child support could land someone in contempt of court and result in up to six months imprisonment if found guilty.
Typically, courts will only issue orders for child support if both parties involved have come to an agreement on this matter and submitted it for approval to either the family court or support magistrate pursuant to Section 439 of the Domestic Relations Law. When this occurs, no hearing will take place and instead an order for support will be entered that is binding on all respondents.
The Family Court can handle issues related to spousal and child support for unmarried couples as well as proceedings for legal separation, divorce, annulment and remarriage of married people. Under most circumstances both Supreme and Family courts can deal with these types of cases except where custody or matrimonial matters arise – in such instances only Supreme courts handle them in order to avoid conflicting orders from multiple judges and ensure quality decisions based on full understanding of all circumstances involved.