Marriage, Divorce, custody, child or paternity support, adoptions, domestic violence, parents’ rights and several related issues get covered under family law.
If we talk about marital agreements, then contracts are involved which spouses give their consent before entering marriage. This thing is called a prenuptial agreement, and after the wedding, it is called a postnuptial deal. If the marriage ends, then is the case of separation or settlement.
When spouses decide to separate their ways, the law offers options like annulment, where a legal action to challenge the validity of the marriage can get taken. The court then considers declaring the marriage invalid.
Many want Divorce legally so to dissolve the marriage, which is called legal separation. The court rules that spouses will live separately without Divorce. When a marriage ends or spouses get separate, there come many other decisions that spouses must make — for example, property share or rights. Spouses may have some property when they were married or may have obtained it. Now its division is necessary as the marriage got over.
Next is the maintenance section where a spouse needs to ascertain the financial condition of the other spouse. Also called alimony or spousal support, the maintenance comes in the form of payment for a designated duration. Also, the amount is pronounced to be permanent in some cases.
For the temporary maintenance part, the court applies a formula for post-divorce maintenance. There involves an advisory statute that determines the appropriate and reasonable circumstances of the marriage.
There are some cases where the court orders to pay the attorney’s fees of the other spouse. The situation gets more profound when the couple has minor children. More issues get attached to children like visitation, custody and child support.
If any disagreement occurs between spouses over their children, then the court decides how much time a child will spend with each parent. The court also decides which parent must incur expenses and lays their shares out, which is called child support.
There are also issues when unmarried people have children. However, the denial of being a father calls for a paternity test. DNA testing determines the paternity of the accused father.
During divorce cases, violence or harassment can happen between family members. Due to the situation, the court issues a protective order.
There are court systems to deal with family law. If your search is for Divorce, annulment or separation, or you want Family law advice in Ontario, then Rutman Law can assist.