Family law concerns itself with a wide range of legal issues that revolve around marriage and children. The most common issues that they are concerned with are divorce, child custody, visitation rights, child support and alimony. When it comes to children, family law deals with where they will live, who will pay for what and who they will stay with. In extreme cases, adoption and foster care are also decided by family lawyers through family laws.
Before understanding what family lawyers do, it is important to take a look at the issues that arise for family lawyers to be brought in. Some of the main reasons family lawyers are brought into the picture are given below, with an explanation to help understand them better.
Divorce and Annulment
Basically both annulment and divorce end a marriage. Sometimes they are nasty but other times both partners can walk away without problems. The main difference between and annulment and a marriage is that while a divorce dissolves and ends a marriage, an annulment treats the marriage as though it never happened. In the legal world, annulments are not as common as divorce.
Child Support
Once the divorce has been dealt with, it is very important for the court to think of the children and what their future holds for them. Child support is the agreed upon amount of money that one parent has to pay to the one who has primary custody of the children. Child support is only for the benefit of the child and usually includes:
- Food
- Shelter
- Clothing
- Education
- Health
- Medicine
Once these have been paid, the children will benefit from both parents as much as they can.
Spousal Support
Also known as alimony, this is the amount one spouse pays the other, as a way of recognizing their contribution during the marriage. After a separation or divorce, it is important for the spouse making more money than the other to pay this amount until their ex has managed to gain financial independence.
Family Mediation
This is one of the issue that does not have to reach the court. Family mediation is when a lawyer is called in to try and fix the disputes within the family. In Family mediation, a third party is brought in to resolve any issues and conflicts that people of the same family have. It helps in ending fights and in reaching an agreement in various points of contention. However, since the process if somewhat informal, because it never reaches the courts, any agreement that has been settled upon is not official.
The court process of any and all family matters can be very complex. It can become very complicated for you to handle on your own, thus it is a wise idea to get the help pf a trained and experiences lawyer. They can guide you through all paperwork and every little hindrance that you come across and ultimately let you achieve your goal. A good lawyer is one that will be there for you to answer any questions you have to the best of their abilities.
Edna Kerr has helped families from small issues to big ones, following her own battles. Her writing has become a valuable addition in helping families fight legal battles. She recommends the services of http://www.djpsolicitors.com/.