Family Law Information: We explain what family law is and how it regulates marital and parent-family relationships. Also, divorce and adoption.
What is family law?
Family law is the branch of civil law that studies the norms and regulations that pertain to the personal and property relationships of every family unit. In other words, it is the law applied to the affairs and interests of the family, understood as the nucleus of society.
Family law is centered on the family, marriage, and filiation, which are central institutions and processes in the composition of modern societies. This ranges from the legal definition of the family and the forms of constitution of family assets, to the types of marital unions and the rights enshrined therein. Must Read About Greek Gods Once.
In many respects, family law concerns duties and obligations that are non-coercive, that is, they cannot be enforced by the State, and their fulfillment rests on ethics and custom. This branch of law often navigates that fine line between the guidelines of public order and family relations.
Marriage and Conjugal Relations
Marriage and filiation are the pillars of family law, as they are the legal concepts available to the State to regulate the formation of a family. Thus, the first family unit is constituted by the spouses, whether or not they have children.
In fact, there can be a family without one, or there can be children outside the constitution of a family, so it is the conjugal union (marriage, civil union, cohabitation, or any other) that gives rise to families.
Similarly, family law contemplates what types of conjugal unions are possible and recognizable before the law: marriage, cohabitation, equal marriage, or in some cases, civil union, depending on each country’s legislation and, in particular, its cultural background.
It is worth remembering that biology and religion play very little role in this regard, since marriage and its legal definitions are clearly a human, subjective, and culturally (if not ideologically) derived concept. Marriage is considered a contract like any other, upheld by law according to specific regulations and standards. Must Read About Greek Goddesses Once.
Parent-Family Relationships
Similarly, family law deals with filiation, which is the legal formalization of offspring, that is, the legal and juridical relationship between parents and offspring. This relationship entails rights and duties, such as:
- Parental authority: That is, parental authority over the rights, property, and destiny of their offspring, until they reach the age of majority and are legally capable of representing themselves.
- Mandatory support: Which assigns to parents (especially in the case of divorce) the task of financially supporting their offspring until they reach legal working age.
- Family identity: Which grants a surname and full social and legal recognition to a person’s offspring, whether biological or not, in accordance with legal and juridical norms that protect the identity of future generations.
- Inheritance: This transfers the assets and capital of deceased parents to their descendants in the absence of a will to the contrary. In many cases, not only assets are inherited, but also debts and obligations.
Divorce and Separation
Just as the family is formed by the decision and union of the spouses, it can also be separated in accordance with legal provisions that regulate the distribution of what was, until then, a marital economic community.
In this way, guidelines or methods of mediation and negotiation are established to ensure that the dissolution of the couple does not violate anyone’s rights. A special effort is made to protect descendants, since the bonds of filiation survive the disintegration of the family: parents remain parents even if they are no longer a couple. Must Read About Magnetic Energy Once.
Adoption and Guardianship
Apart from the biological means of having children, adoption is a legally established mechanism for a child without a family to be incorporated into a new one, even if the child is not biologically the couple’s child. This process is usually reserved for de facto families, that is, for couples, who wish to assume guardianship of a minor in need.
Adoption is usually a complex process, in which the State safeguards the rights of the minor, verifying the good faith and economic, psychological, and social solvency of the adoptive home. If the process is successful, the family receives parental authority over the minor from the State, and from then on becomes its legal and formal offspring.
References
All the information we offer is supported by authoritative and up-to-date bibliographic sources, ensuring reliable content in line with our editorial principles.
- “Family Law” on Wikipedia.
- “Family Law” on the Legal Encyclopedia.
- “Family Law” on the Wolters Kluwer Legal Guides.
- “Family Law” on the Legal Dictionary.
