family law

1) Abuse, generally: physically, sexually, or mentally injuring a person.

2) Child abuse: physically, sexually, or mentally injuring a child either with intent or through neglect.

3) Substance abuse: excessively using or misusing...

Adoption refers to the act by which an adult formally becomes the guardian of a child and incurs the rights and responsibilities of a parent. At the conclusion of the formal process, a legal relationship between child and guardian will have...

In cases of divorce, the court of jurisdiction for the divorce proceedings also determines child custody arrangements. Under the common statutory provision, if the spouses have children together while married, the...

A child is a person and not a subperson over whom the parent has an absolute possessory interest. The term "child" does not necessarily mean minor but can include adult children as well as adult nondependent children....

A divorce formally dissolves a legal marriage. While married couples do not possess a constitutional or legal right to divorce, states permit divorces because to do so best serves public policy. To ensure that a...

All states have laws dealing with the "emancipation" of minors; that is, laws that specify when and under what conditions children become independent of their parents for important legal purposes. A complete reference to statutory provisions for...

Employment Discrimination laws seek to prevent discrimination based on race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, physical disability, and age by employers. Discriminatory practices include bias in...

During the early 1500's in England landowners found it advantageous to convey the legal title of their land to third parties while retaining the benefits of ownership. Because they were not the real "owners" of the land,...

For the marriage, divorce, and adoption laws of the states see the LII table pages on those subjects: Adoption Law | Divorce Law | Emancipation of Children | Marriage Law

1.  Lack of legal ability to do something, especially to testify or stand trial.  Also known as "incompetency."  May be caused by various types of disqualification, inability, or unfitness.  Someone who is judged...

A relative, in particular, a blood relative. Also a relative by marriage or adoption. Also called kindred, kinsman, and kinswoman. 

See, e.g. Piper Aircraft Co. v. Reyno, 454 U.S. 235 (1981).

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Marital property is property acquired after the parties are married.  Property acquired before the marriage is considered the individual and separate property of the acquiring spouse and the court will have no authority to distribute individual...

The legal union of a couple as spouses. The basic elements of a marriage are: (1) the parties' legal ability to marry each other, (2) mutual consent of the parties, and (3) a marriage contract as...

The Supreme Court does not use the phrase "personal autonomy" very often. Unlike privacy, it is not a fundamental right. As such, it is still a very limited concept regarding its impact on legal jurisprudence.

In Planned Parenthood v....

An abbreviation for qualified medical child support order. See qualified medical child support order.

An indorsement — the placement of a signature on the back of a negotiable instrument — coupled with an additional phrase, e.g. "without recourse" or "for deposit only," limiting the liability of the indorser (signer) in the event the...