Family
Divorce, custody, support, and family agreements.
20 guides
- Adoption and step-parent adoption basics
Adoption creates a permanent legal parent-child relationship, with rights and responsibilities similar to those of a birth parent. Step-parent adoption usually involves a spouse or partner adopting the child of the other parent, but it can end or change the legal rights of another parent.
- Changing your name after marriage or divorce
Marriage or divorce does not always change your legal name automatically. In many places, your marriage certificate or divorce order can support a name change, but the process for updating government records and identity documents varies by country, state, province, or territory.
- Child custody: how courts decide
Courts usually decide child-custody disputes by focusing on the child’s best interests, rather than on which parent feels more deserving. They commonly consider safety, each parent’s ability to care for the child, the child’s relationships and routines, and—depending on age and maturity—the child’s views.
- Child support: how it is calculated and changed
Child support is usually calculated from the parents’ incomes, the number and ages of the children, and the amount of time the children spend with each parent. It can often be changed when income, parenting arrangements, or the children’s needs change, but the process and effective date depend on the place where the or
- Collecting unpaid child support
Unpaid child support is usually treated as a debt owed for the child’s benefit, and government agencies or courts may have several ways to collect it. The available process depends on whether support was set by a court order, an administrative assessment, or a private agreement, and on where each parent lives.
- Custody when a parent is in another state or country
When a parent lives in another state or country, custody arrangements must address where the child lives, how decisions are made, and how the child maintains a relationship with both parents. Courts usually focus on the child’s best interests and on which court has authority to decide the case.
- Divorce basics: the first decisions to make
If you or your children face immediate danger, contact emergency services or a local domestic-abuse service before making other divorce plans. The first decisions usually concern safety, where to file, living arrangements, children, money, and whether the case may be resolved cooperatively or will need a court.
- Divorce with a business or retirement accounts
Divorce often requires dividing both business interests and retirement savings, even when only one spouse owns the business or account. The result usually depends on when the asset was acquired, how it changed during the marriage, contributions by each spouse, and the rules where you live.
- Grandparents' rights to see grandchildren
Grandparents generally do not have an automatic legal right to visit their grandchildren. Courts usually focus on the child’s best interests, while also giving significant weight to a fit parent’s decisions about the child’s relationships.
- Guardianship of a child when parents cannot care for them
Where a child is in immediate danger, emergency services are the first point of contact. Guardianship can give another adult legal authority to care for a child when a parent cannot do so, but the process and the guardian’s powers depend on local law and the type of order involved.
- How property and debts are divided in a divorce
In a divorce, property and debts are usually identified, valued, classified, and then divided under the law of the place where the divorce or financial case is handled. The result often depends on when an asset or debt was acquired, whose name is on it, whether it was kept separate, and each spouse’s financial and fami
- Legal separation versus divorce
Legal separation and divorce are different ways of dealing with the end of a marriage. Separation may involve living apart and making arrangements for finances, children, and property while remaining married; divorce legally ends the marriage and usually allows you to remarry.
- Mediation in family disputes
Mediation is a private process in which a neutral mediator helps people in a family dispute discuss options and try to reach an agreement. The mediator does not usually decide the case, and participation does not remove a person’s right to go to court if no agreement is reached.
- Moving away with your child after separation
Moving away with a child after separation can affect parenting time, school arrangements, travel, and a court’s ability to make or enforce orders. Whether you can move without permission usually depends on existing orders or agreements, the distance and purpose of the move, and the law where the child normally lives.
- Paternity: establishing or challenging it
Paternity is the legal question of who is recognized as a child’s father; more broadly, the issue is legal parentage. Parentage can arise from marriage, an acknowledgment, a court order, assisted-reproduction rules, or genetic evidence, and legal parentage does not always match biology.
- Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements
Prenuptial agreements are contracts made before marriage, while postnuptial agreements are made after marriage. They commonly address property, debts, inheritances, business interests, and financial support, but courts may refuse to enforce terms that were obtained unfairly or that improperly affect children or statuto
- Protective orders for domestic abuse
A protective order is a court order intended to help protect someone from domestic abuse, threats, stalking, harassment, or related conduct. The order may restrict contact, communication, entry to a home or workplace, possession of weapons, or contact with children, and violating it can lead to arrest or other penaltie
- Separating when you are not married
Unmarried partners generally do not need a divorce to end their relationship, but separation can still raise important issues about children, financial support, housing, property, and debts. The rules usually depend on where you live, whether you have children, how property is owned, and whether you and your partner ma
- Spousal support and alimony
Spousal support—also called alimony or maintenance—is money one spouse may pay the other during or after separation or divorce. The amount and duration usually depend on financial need, ability to pay, the relationship’s length, each person’s income and earning capacity, and the effect of caregiving or career sacrifice
- When a parent will not follow the custody order
A custody or parenting order is legally binding, and a parent who does not follow it may face court enforcement, make-up parenting time, financial penalties, or changes to the parenting arrangements. The appropriate response depends on whether the problem is a missed exchange, denied contact, relocation, safety concern