How Much Do You Know about Family Law?

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That branch of law that deals with anything about family and domestic affairs is called family law. Some of the cases that fall under family law are marriage, surrogacy, child adoption, civil unions, child abuse, paternity cases, family property division, divorce, and others. It has been observed that in all judicial courts all over the world there's a spike in the amount of family law cases as people go through divorce, adopt children, and contest paternity cases.

Family law practitioners have considered this branch of law as different from others since it deals with private and quite sensitive matters. Family law lawyers have different hats to wear. They can function as mediator, negotiator, counselor, conciliator and others. Courts that adjudicate family law matters may also act as mediators since they try to reconcile the members of the family to resolve their issues and to find an amicable settlement in an attempt to save the relationship.

The substance of this kind of law differs from one jurisdiction to another since the principles that underpin it are greatly taken from the society. An example of this is the society where same sex marriage is not considered legal, family law requires that this union is not to be recognized by the courts of law.

Same as all the other branches of law, the family law has gone through many changes as part of its attempt to address the mediate issues that families face around the world. As an example, there are some societies that attempted to legalize "come we stay" relationships when the parties that are part of these relationships live together for a certain period.   

Among the most popular trends in family law is called the collaborative law. This refers to the structured process that offers those who are seeking divorce or the parties in dispute an alternative means to resolve the dispute instead of the lengthy, costly, and stressful process of court litigation. 
Modern family law discourages parties in dispute to seek court litigation because the court usually has a win-lose perspective. It is also a complicated process and not to mention that it is lengthy and expensive for the parties involved.

In collaborative family law, it is made sure that the conflicts within the family can be resolved amicably if only to ensure that the relationship as a family is preserved. Collaborative family lawyers agreed that they will represent the disputing parties in court when one of them decides to take the matter to court.