Family law covers concerns relating to family matters. These include divorce, child support, child custody, a division of properties, alimony, adoption, prenuptial agreements, and many more. Most of these laws help the client in times of divorce or other issues related to divorce. The family lawyers also represent the perpetrator against the civil protection in case the victim is manhandled due to family violence.
Family Law, therefore, breaks into the three important areas
- Matrimonial; It is the effect of matrimonial and family law on the rights of married and civil partners. It gives the court wide power to decide who gets what in the long term, financially and property terms.
- Finance; The financial issue is core whether you are separating from your spouse, writing a will or prenuptial agreement. Financial issues can be complex and maybe you cannot be confident enough due to the situation at hand and getting an expert to advice is the only way to get a sober advice.
- Child law; In case of parental disputes, this section of law has information relating to disputes and about where the child should live (custody), who to have contact, child education, parental responsibilities, change of surname and many more.
Divorce
This is the termination of the marriage contract between two people. This automatically leads to division of marital assets and debts. It also determines the care and custody of the child, whether biological or adopted. Divorce may be on grounds of:
- Mutual consent; Both parties signs affidavit consenting that they both need the divorce. The divorce is granted in three months. When one spouse wants a divorce and they have been living separately for two years, the divorce may also be granted because it is considered broken. These are no-faults grounds.
- Fault grounds; Before a fault divorce is granted, there must be an investigation to confirm two things. First, the innocence. Who is innocent and who is not? Secondly, the spouse misconduct which may have led to the breakage of marriage. Example, bigamy, adultery, violence, desertion, insanity, and conviction of a given crime.
Child Custody
Both physical and legal custody should be addressed during divorce.
- Physical custody; allocates rights to parents and day to day responsibilities regarding the child’s care and activities.
- Legal custody; allocates legal rights and responsibilities associated with the child’s upbringing.
The parents may either agree to an agreement or the court must come in and determines who should live with the child. The court favors joint child-rearing responsibilities with the child residing where it is more practical. Therefore, there is a visitation agreement which will allow the other parent to visit the child.
Child support
A parent living with the child claims for support from the other parent and there is an online calculator that calculates the child maintenance service (CMS). It tracks the other parent’s income and links it directly to the parent residing with the child.
Alimony
The court may decide to award the former source with a little support from the other spouse to balance the unfair economic effect that may be caused by the separation.
New York Divorce Lawyers 