What is Family Law?
Marriage, Divorce, Child Custody, Contract Law
What is Family Law?
A family law attorney’s practice is never dull, and, he or she can wear many hats in servicing a client. On a day to day basis a family law attorney must answer many common legal questions that relate to marriage, prenuptial agreements, divorce, custody, wills and much more. A skilled legal practitioner in family law must be able to navigate a wide variety of common legal questions. The modern-day family law attorney doesn’t just represent a client in divorce proceedings; there are many more issues that arise in that particular law practice. For example, the attorney may need to establish or disapprove paternity through the use of DNA testing. There might also be the termination of parental rights, adoption, gay and LGBT relations - even grandparent rights. If you have a legal issue related to family law and you live in the state of New Jersey you should contact a family law attorney in NJ. A family law attorney will work with you to resolve any legal issue you may have related to family and matrimonial law.
A Family Lawyer Can Save You From Pain and Suffering
What Does a Family Law Attorney Do?
A matrimonial attorney deals with many legal matters which pertain to the family unit. This includes matters involving marriages, civil unions, prenuptial agreements, divorces, child custody, adoption, or property settlements. Some of the most frequent family law cases involve solving visitation rights and child custody arrangements. Each of these areas has the ability to be very complicated and complex. A family law attorney also helps families sort through all the possible options within these issues to reach a suitable conclusion.
History of Family Law
Family law in the United States is historically based on European Feudalism. In a traditional marriage prior to the 20th century, the husband not only married a wife, he became her legal guardian as well as the owner of all of her property. Property laws and family law changed over the years to give women more rights in terms of property ownership. By 1900 all of the states in the US except South Carolina allowed for judicial divorces rather than legislative divorces. This meant that to obtain a divorce was a very lengthy and complicated matter.
By the ‘70s family law had already been redefined and was still undergoing rapid changes. There were many more issues wrapped up in the concept of family law such as gender bias, family values, and morality. While family law was constantly changing, perhaps the area that underwent the most substantial change were divorce, child support and child custody arrangements. By the ‘80s states like New Jersey adopted the no-fault divorce which made dissolving a marriage a much simpler process.
What is Civil Law?
The civil division of a court will be focused on processing actions in which an individual, business or a group needs to recover some type of property. Civil laws are in place to force an individual to honor their contract (verbal or written) or to protect an individual’s personal rights. There are a wide variety of civil matters which require legal assistance.
What Types of Cases Pertain to Civil Law?
Civil law covers a very wide spectrum of topics which include family law, consumer law, employment law, and business law. Civil matters also include areas that are not as familiar to the general public such as sports law, entertainment law and animal law. Civil law attorneys also deal with situations where there have been intentional torts like slander, defamation of character, assault and battery or libel. Generally speaking, civil legal matters are anything that is not classified as a criminal offense. Many times these courts deal with issues that stem from divorce, property ownership, personal property damage or the meaning of a contract including warranties. In a civil law case there is a plaintiff who feels as if they have received unfair treatment by another person and are looking for a solution through the courts. The Plaintiff has the burden of proof which means they must prove that they were indeed treated in an unfair manner. The other party in a civil case is the defendant who is being accused of treating the plaintiff unfairly.
Family Law Cases
Civil law includes family law cases which generally refer to marital relationships including civil unions or domestic partnerships. Some aspects of family law include child custody, property division and even domestic violence. In most cases, these types of issues can be settled out of court through the two party’s lawyers. Sometimes mediation is necessary to help work through some of the tough issues such as parenting time with children who are minors, spousal support, and allocation of debt or distribution of property and custody issues. Mediation can be offered through NJ family law attorneys or other licensed professionals such as social workers. Most of the time a family law attorney will encourage a client to work things out through mediation rather than pursuing a court case which will not offer as much flexibility.