Deadlines & Filing
Guidance on custody, adoption, guardianship, and other family legal matters beyond divorce.
Family Law covers the legal rules that govern relationships within a family, including child custody, child support, adoption, guardianship, paternity, and domestic relations disputes. Whether you are establishing custody arrangements, pursuing an adoption, or resolving a family dispute, understanding your legal rights and options is essential.
Our Family Law resources explain custody standards, support calculations, guardianship procedures, and how courts approach the best interests of the child in family matters.
Family LawChild custody determines who cares for a child, where the child lives, and who makes important decisions about the child's upbringing. Learn the difference between legal and physical custody, how joint and sole custody work, what courts consider when determining a child's best interests, how parenting plans and visitation work, and when an existing custody order can be changed.
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Adoption is a legal process that creates a permanent parent-child relationship between a child and adoptive parents. The process can vary significantly depending on whether the adoption involves foster care, a private agency, an independent arrangement, a stepparent, a relative, or an international placement. Prospective adoptive parents may need to complete background checks, a home study, legal paperwork, and court proceedings before an adoption is finalized. Birth-parent consent and termination of parental rights can also play important roles, depending on the circumstances and state law. This guide explains the major types of adoption, who may qualify, how the adoption process generally works, what happens during finalization, and why intercountry adoptions involve additional U.S. immigration requirements.
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Family LawAlimony, also called spousal support or maintenance, is financial support that one spouse may be required to pay to another during or after a divorce. Whether alimony is available, how much may be awarded, and how long payments continue depends largely on state law and the circumstances of the marriage. Courts may consider factors such as each spouse's income, financial needs, earning capacity, age, health, length of the marriage, standard of living, education, and contributions to the household. Different forms of support may include temporary, rehabilitative, reimbursement, transitional, and long-term alimony, although the types recognized vary by state. This guide explains how alimony works, who may qualify, how payments are determined, when support can be modified or terminated, and how federal tax rules apply to newer and older divorce agreements.
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