Family law
Entering into marriage
Prenuptial agreement  · Marriage
Common-law marriage
Same-sex marriage
Legal states similar to marriage
Cohabitation  · Civil union
Domestic partnership
Registered partnership
Dissolution of marriage
Annulment  · Divorce  · Alimony
Issues affecting children
Paternity  · Legitimacy  · Adoption
Legal guardian  · Ward
Emancipation of minors
Parental responsibility
Contact (including Visitation)
Residence in English law
Custody  · Child support
Areas of possible legal concern
Spousal abuse  · Child abuse
Child abduction
Adultery  · Bigamy  · Incest
Conflict of Laws Issues
Marriage  · Nullity  · Divorce

In Family Law, contact (or in the United States, visitation) is one of the general terms which denotes the level of contact a parent or other significant person in a child's life can have with that child. Contact forms part of the bundle of rights and privileges which a parent may have in relation to any child of the family. Image File history File links Scale_of_justice. ... Family law is an area of the law that deals with family-related issues and domestic relations including, but not limited to: the nature of marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships; problems during the marriage including spousal abuse, legitimacy, adoption, child abuse, and child abduction the termination of the relationship... A prenuptial agreement or antenuptial agreement, commonly abbreviated to prenup, is a contract entered into by two people prior to marriage or civil union. ... The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view. ... Common-law marriage (or common law marriage), sometimes called informal marriage or marriage by habit and repute is, historically, a form of interpersonal status (as distinct from a personal status) in which two people are legally married without obtaining a marriage licence, or going through a formal solemnisation process. ... Same-sex marriage is marriage between two people who are of the same characteristic sex. ... Cohabitation is an arrangement where two unrelated people live together, often as part of a sexual relationship. ... A civil union is one of several terms for a civil status similar to marriage, typically created for the purposes of allowing same-sex couples access to the benefits enjoyed by married opposite-sex peoples (see also same-sex marriage); it can also be used by opposite-sex couples who... Domestic partner or domestic partnership identifies the personal relationship between individuals who are living together and sharing a common domestic life together but are not joined in any type of legal partnership, marriage or civil union. ... See also: Civil Union Volker Beck, a member of the Green party caucus of the Bundestag, is the father of the German law. ... Annulment is a legal procedure for declaring a marriage null and void. ... Divorce or dissolution of marriage is YOUR MUM the ending of a marriage before the death of either spouse, which can be contrasted with an annulment which is a declaration that a marriage is void, though the effects of marriage may be recognized in such unions, such as spousal support... In many countries alimony, maintenance or spousal support is an obligation established by law that is based on the premise that both spouses have an absolute obligation to support each other during the marriage (or civil union) unless they are legally separated, though in some instances the obligation to support... Paternity is the social and legal acknowledgment of the parental relationship between a father and his child. ... Freiheitsrechte Recht auf Leben, Freiheit, Eigentum, Sicherheit der Person Allgemeine, nur durch Gesetz beschränkbare Handlungsfreiheit Freiheit von willkürlichen Eingriffen in die Privatsphäre (Wohnung, Briefgeheimnis etc. ... Adoption is the legal act of permanently placing a child with a parent or parents other than the birth parents. ... A legal guardian is a person who has the legal authority (and the corresponding duty) to care for the personal and property interests of another person, called a ward. ... In law, a ward is someone placed under the protection of a legal guardian. ... Emancipation of minors is a process that occurs when a court (or another body given that authority) declares that someone who is still a minor is nevertheless to have the legal rights of an adult, and to be free of any authority from their parent or other legal guardian. ... In the states of the European Union and elsewhere, parental responsibility refers to the rights and privilieges which underpin the relationship between a child and either its parents or those adults who have a significant role in its life. ... In Family Law, residence is an Order of the Family court under s8 Children Act 1989 following the breakdown of a marriage and determining where the child(ren) are to live and with whom. ... Child custody and guardianship are legal terms which are sometimes used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent and his or her child, such as the right of the parent to make decisions for the child, and the parents duty to care for the child. ... In many countries, child support is the ongoing obligation for a periodic payment made by a non-custodial parent to a custodial parent, caregiver or guardian, for the care and support of children of a relationship or marriage that has broken down. ... Spousal abuse is a specific form of domestic violence where physical or sexual abuse is perpetuated by one spouse upon another. ... Child abuse is the physical or psychological maltreatment of a child. ... Child abduction is the abduction or kidnapping of a young child (or baby) by an older person. ... Man and woman undergoing public exposure for adultery in Japan, around 1860 Adultery is generally defined as consensual sexual intercourse by a married person with someone other than their lawful spouse. ... Polygamy, literally many marriages in ancient Greek, is a marital practice in which a person has more than one spouse simultaneously (as opposed to monogamy where each person has a maximum of one spouse at any one time). ... Incest is sexual activity between close family members. ... Private International Law, International Private Law, or Conflict of Laws is that branch of public law regulating all lawsuits involving a foreign law element where a difference in result will occur depending on which laws are applied. ... In Conflict of Laws, the issue of marriage has assumed increasing public policy significance in a world of increasing multi-ethnic, multi-cultural community existence. ... In Conflict of Laws, the issue of nullity (known as annulment in the United States) in Family Law inspires a wide response among the laws of different states as to the circumstances in which a marriage will be valid, invalid or null. ... In modern society, the role of marriage and its termination through divorce have become political issues. ... Family law is an area of the law that deals with family-related issues and domestic relations including, but not limited to: the nature of marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships; problems during the marriage including spousal abuse, legitimacy, adoption, child abuse, and child abduction the termination of the relationship... A right is the power or privilege to which one is justly entitled or a thing to which one has a just claim. ... A privilege is an honour, or permissive activity granted by another person or even a government. ... Parenting comprises all the tasks involved in raising a child to an independent adult. ... A female child A child (plural: children) is a young human. ... A family of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in 1997 A family is a domestic group of people, or a number of domestic groups, typically affiliated by birth or marriage, or by comparable legal relationships including domestic partnership, adoption, surname and in some cases ownership (as was the case in the Roman...

Following ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in most countries, the term "access" was superseded by the term contact. The terminology reflects a substantive change in the law. A parent is not necessarily entitled to have "custody" of or "access" to a child. Instead, a child may reside or have contact with a parent. Ratification is the process of adopting an international treaty, or a constitution or other nationally binding document (such as an amendment to a constitution) by the agreement of multiple subnational entities. ... The United Nations (UN) is an international organization that describes itself as a global association of governments facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, and social equity. ... The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is an international convention setting out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of children. ...

Concepts

In most jurisdictions the nature of a couple’s relationship changes when a child is born to that relationship. In law, there may be differences in the consequences depending on whether the relationship is heterosexual or between people of the same biological sex, and whether it is a marriage, a civil union (sometimes, as in Holland, described as a partnership), and cohabitation (sometimes amounting to a common law marriage in some states). All children are, to a greater or lesser extent, subject to the authority of their parents during the early years of their life, i.e. during what is termed their minority, states impose a range of incapacities until the children reach an age when they are deemed sufficiently mature to take responsibility for their own actions. Issues of access and custody interact and overlap, and represent all of the aspects of care and control that parents may exercise in relation to their children. The extent to which the courts have jurisdiction to regulate access will depend on the nature of the parents' relationship. In the event of a marriage, the courts may adjust access rights as an aspect of proceedings for legal separation, annulment or divorce. In the event of other relationships, jurisdiction may be invoked by either spouse, partner, natural parent (which may sometimes include fathers from unlawful sexual relationships), adoptive parent, legal guardian or by a guardian ad litem appointed to represent any child's interests. Heterosexuality is a sexual orientation characterized by esthetic attraction, romantic love or sexual desire exclusively for members of the opposite sex or gender, contrasted with homosexuality and distinguished from bisexuality and asexuality. ... The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view. ... A civil union is one of several terms for a civil status similar to marriage, typically created for the purposes of allowing same-sex couples access to the benefits enjoyed by married opposite-sex peoples (see also same-sex marriage); it can also be used by opposite-sex couples who... Holland is a region in the central-western part of the Netherlands. ... In the common law, a partnership is a type of business entity in which partners share with each other the profits or losses of the business undertaking in which they have all invested. ... Cohabitation is an arrangement where two unrelated people live together, often as part of a sexual relationship. ... In many jurisdictions, common-law marriage is a legal provision whereby two people who are eligible to marry, but who do not obtain a legal marriage, are nevertheless considered married under certain conditions. ... In law, a person who is not yet a legal adult is known as a minor (known in some places as an infant or juvenile). ... The capacity of both natural and artificial persons determines whether they may make binding amendments to their rights, duties and obligations, such as getting married or merging, entering into contracts, making gifts, or writing a valid will. ... Legal separation is a possible step towards divorce under United States law. ... Annulment is a legal procedure for declaring a marriage null and void. ... Divorce or dissolution of marriage is YOUR MUM the ending of a marriage before the death of either spouse, which can be contrasted with an annulment which is a declaration that a marriage is void, though the effects of marriage may be recognized in such unions, such as spousal support... Adoption is the legal act of permanently placing a child with a parent or parents other than the birth parents. ... A legal guardian is a person who has the legal authority (and the corresponding duty) to care for the personal and property interests of another person, called a ward. ... A legal guardian is a person who has the legal authority (and the corresponding duty) to care for the personal and property interests of another person, called a ward. ...

Policy background

As a specific application of parens patriae (see public policy and the concept of best interests), most states treat the interests of any children caught up in litigation as their first and paramount concern. Usually, the children are not directly the parties to the lawsuit, so the courts have a range of options including the power to appoint a guardian ad litem to protect their interests. This is particularly important in cases involving the breakdown of any family relationship where questions relating to the welfare of the children will become significant in sometimes acrimonious disputes. At a supranational level, the Convention on the Rights of the Child emphasises the need to allow children a voice in any proceedings affecting their welfare. Significantly, it also suggests a change to the terminology, replacing "custody" and "access" with the concepts of "residence" and "contact". Parens patriae is Latin for parent of the fatherland or parent of the homeland. ... Public policy or ordre public is the body of fundamental principles that underpin the operation of legal systems in each state. ... Best interests or best interests of the child is the doctrine used by most courts to determine a wide range of issues relating to the well being of children. ... A lawsuit is a civil action brought before a court in order to recover a right, obtain damages for an injury, obtain an injunction to prevent an injury, or obtain a declaratory judgment to prevent future legal disputes. ... A lawsuit is a civil action brought before a court in which the party commencing the action, the plaintiff, seeks a legal remedy. ... The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is an international convention setting out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of children. ...

However, the most common legal outcome to cases involving the issues of care and control reinforces the sexual stereotype that a mother is always the better qualified person to care for younger children. Whereas some jurisdictions formally prefer joint custody arrangements in situations where there has previously been a stable family relationship, many states have a formalised rebuttable presumption in favour of the mother, requiring a sometimes unreasonably high level of evidence to rebut, with the result that the access rights of perfectly capable men are sometimes denied in favour of women who have demonstrated a poor track record of care. Consequently, a new political trend represented by fathers' rights and men's rights movements, is developing in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other Western countries to demand 50-50 parenting (access and visitation are considered more archaic terms and the movements prefer the term parenting time). Under this system, there would no legal determination of custody, and the rights of both parents to equal time with their child(ren) (and vice versa) would be protected. For example, groups like Fathers 4 Justice, American Coalition for Fathers and Children (ACFC), Alliance for Non-Custodial Parents Rights (ANCPR), and National Congress for Fathers and Children (NCFC) work nationally and internationally. Bob Geldof, of Boom Town Rats, Band Aid, and Live Aid fame, is one of the leaders of the movement in the United Kingdom with Parents 4 Protest and The Sun's Justice 4 Dads campaign. Stereotypes are considered to be a group concept, held by one social group about another. ... Look up mother in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Joint custody is a court order whereby custody of a child is a awarded to both parties. ... In law, a rebuttable presumption is an assumption that is made that will stand as a fact unless someone comes forward to contest it and prove otherwise. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Mens rights is a stream in the mens movement. ... Flexibility seems to be one of the keys to success in bringing about social change in this area. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Bob Geldof Bob Geldof, KBE (born 5 October 1951[1] or 1954[2]) is an Irish singer, songwriter, actor and political activist. ...

Parental responsibility in EU law

The European Union has set up machinery for the mutual recognition of Family Law judgments through Council Regulation 2201/2003 which continues the harmonisation of the rules on jurisdiction and on the recognition and enforcement of all judgments on parental responsibility. The intention is to ensure that parental responsibility orders can be recognised and enforced through a uniform procedure. The courts in the Member State where the child is habitually resident have the primary jurisdiction to rule on parental responsibility. The courts in the other Member States shall enforce those judgments unless: In international law, harmonisation refers to the process by which different states adopt the same laws. ... In the Conflict of Laws, issues relevant to the enforcement of foreign judgments are frequently regulated by bilateral treaty or multilateral international convention to facilitate the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments between states. ... In the states of the European Union and elsewhere, parental responsibility refers to the rights and privilieges which underpin the relationship between a child and either its parents or those adults who have a significant role in its life. ...

• this infringes public policy in the given Member State — an extremely unlikely eventuality;
• the child has not been given the opportunity to be heard except in cases of genuine urgency (in all cases, the fundamental right of every child to be heard and for his or her views to be given due weight in accordance with their age and maturity, is provided in Article 24 Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union which also states that the child's best interest shall be the primary consideration in all cases affecting their interests, whether initiated by public authorities or private institutions);
• the person claiming that the judgment infringes his or her rights of parental responsibility has not been given an opportunity to be heard, or was not allowed a reasonable time to prepare his or her defence (see natural justice); and
• the judgment is irreconcilable with a second subsisting judgment (under certain conditions).

Following a proposal from the Commission in May 2002, a regulation on parental responsibility which was adopted on 27 November 2003 and applies from the 1st March 2005: The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union is a document containing human rights provisions, solemnly proclaimed by the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, and the European Commission in December 2000. ... The doctrine of natural justice is founded in the notion that logical reasoning may allow the determination of just, or fair, processes in legal proceedings. ...

• ensures the right of the child to maintain contact with both parents even when the parents live in different Member States by allowing automatic recognition and enforcement of judgments on access rights, and
• seeks to prevent parental child abduction within the Community. The courts of the Member State of the child's residence before abduction always have the jurisdiction. Some parents have abducted children to their own states in the hope of receiving more favourable treatment. The courts of the abducting parent's nationality can only refuse to return the child immediately if this is necessary:

either because there is a grave risk that the child would be in danger if he or she returned, or

if the child has attained a certain age and maturity and does not want to return.

But the court in the state where the child resided before the abduction takes the final decision as to where the child shall stay, and such decisions must be respected in the state of current residence.

Child abduction is the abduction or kidnapping of a young child (or baby) by an older person. ...

Contact in English law

Contact Orders are made under s8 Children Act 1989 to require the person(s) with whom a child lives to allow that child to visit, stay or have contact with a person named in the order. Orders continue until the child is 16 years. So long as the child is not under the care of a local authority, the following people can apply for a Contact Order: The Children Act 1989 is a British Act of Parliament that altered the law in regard to children. ...

1. the parent or guardian of a child (s10(4)(a));
2. anyone who holds a Residence Order in respect of that child (s10(4)(b));
3. a married step-parent of the child where the child lived with the step-parent as a child of the family (s10(5)(a));
4. anyone with whom the child has lived for at least three years (this period need not have been continuous but must have been recent) (s10(5)(b));
5. anyone who:

a) where there is already a Residence Order in place has the consent of every one who holds that order or

b) who has the consent of the local authority where the chid is in their care or

c) has the consent of every one who has parental responsibility for the child.

If an applicant cannot apply for the order as of right they can make an application to the court seeking leave to issue the application. In deciding whether to grant the leave the court will consider under s10(9), amongst other things: In Family Law, residence is an Order of the Family court under s8 Children Act 1989 following the breakdown of a marriage and determining where the child(ren) are to live and with whom. ...

1. the nature of the application;
2. the applicant's connection with the child;
3. the risk there might be if the proposed application disrupting the child's life to such an extent that they should be harmed by it.

Under s11, the court must attempt to avoid delay in making an Order. The court will only make contact orders for children over sixteen years old in exceptional circumstances. Contact can either be direct e.g. face-to-face meetings with a person or indirect e.g. by letter, video, exchange of Christmas cards etc. Some orders will be very specific as to times, dates and arrangements for contact, other orders will be more open with detailed arrangements to be made between the parties by agreement. These orders are not just obtained by parents for contact with their children, there can also be orders for contact between siblings or the child and wider family members. Sometimes the order will give directions that the contact is to be supervised by a third person. The order may also only be for a specific period or contain provisions which operate for a specific period. These are Orders of the court and a failure to comply can be a contempt of court with serious consequences. Contempt of court is a court ruling which, in the context of a court trial or hearing, deems an individual as holding contempt for the court, its process, and its invested powers. ...

Visitation in the U.S.

Generally speaking, visitation is considered only a privilege granted to the non-custodial parent of any child of the family. The standard visitation awards by the family court in most U.S. states consists of alternating weekends and some holidays (usually amounting to four days a month unless the mother allows an increase in shared parenting time). A female child A child (plural: children) is a young human. ... A family of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in 1997 A family is a domestic group of people, or a number of domestic groups, typically affiliated by birth or marriage, or by comparable legal relationships including domestic partnership, adoption, surname and in some cases ownership (as was the case in the Roman... A family court is a court convened in the UK to make orders in respect of childrens residence. ...

However, the child, at or around the age of 13, depending on the state, may choose in which parent's home to live without government interference.

Parents (and in some jurisdictions grandparents) frequently believe that they have a right to visitation or access; however, courts in several countries have used the subjective doctrine of the best interests of the child to deny parental or grandparental access to the child(ren). This is commonly found in cases when custody of the child(ren) is disputed and there is a history of interference with visitation. In such high conflict cases, there are often allegation of child abuse and/or domestic violence. Grandparent visitation. ... Best interests or best interests of the child is the doctrine used by most courts to determine a wide range of issues relating to the well being of children. ...

In high conflict cases, visitation may be supervised by a social worker, psychologist, guardian ad litem, or other third party while the noncustodial parent visits with the child. A social worker is a person employed in the administration of charity, social service, welfare, and poverty agencies, advocacy, or religious outreach programs. ... A psychologist is a scientist who studies psychology, the systematic investigation of the human behaviour and mental processes. ...

Many noncustodial parents have visitation orders that allow the child to visit with them without any supervision. These visits often take place away from the custodial residence. Often the noncustodial parent is granted overnight visitation, weekend visitation, or vacation visitation. A court order is an official proclamation by a judge (or panel of judges) that defines the legal relationships between the parties before the court and requires or authorises the carrying out of certain steps by one or more parties to a case. ...

Parents may also share custody and may agree to allow visitation. In these situations a court order may not be needed, though sometimes it is obtained to forestall later disputes about what the parents had previously agreed to, and to allow the courts to have some oversight over the children (which they normally have under statute and under the parens patriae power).

Access in Japan

In Japan, there is no legal guarantee of access by a noncustodial parent. Despite this, courts do often grant access rights to a noncustodial parent in the event of a divorce, or to the father of a child born out of wedlock, who by law is declared noncustodial by default. However, these court ordered visits are often only for several hours once a month, and in some cases, only once a year. Further, courts will not enforce these access provisions when the custodial parent is not co-operative. Several groups are working to change related laws and provide more detailed information on these laws and alternatives:

• The Children's Rights Network of Japan (English)
• The Fathers' Website (Japanese)

Further reading

• The Fathers' Crusade The New York Times, May 8, 2005
• "Once divorced, odds are at least even that Dan's ex-wife will interfere with his visitation rights. Three-quarters of divorced men surveyed say their ex-wives have interfered with their visitation, and 40% of mothers studied admitted that they had done so, and that they had generally acted out of spite or in order to punish their exes." Have Anti-Father Family Court Policies Led to a Men's Marriage Strike? by Glenn Sacks and Dianna Thompson