Updated: 2026-08-27
Quick answer: Family law is the branch of state civil law that governs family relationships and what happens when they end — marriage and divorce, child custody and parenting time, child support, spousal support, division of property and debt, paternity, adoption, guardianship, and domestic violence protective orders. In the United States, each state writes and applies its own family law, and cases are heard in state trial courts, usually a family court or a domestic relations division, rather than in federal court. Federal law enters only at the seams: deciding which state has authority over a custody case, and requiring that child support orders and protective orders be honored across state lines.
Legal disclaimer: This article is general information about US law, not legal advice. Family law is written state by state and changes often. For decisions about your own case, consult a family law attorney licensed in your state.
Most people meet the phrase in a sentence someone else says to them. You need to talk to a family law attorney. It arrives with a served petition, a letter from a county child support office, or a school form asking who holds legal authority to sign — and nobody explains what body of law any of that belongs to, or which building it happens in.
This guide answers that. What family law covers, which court hears it, why the answer changes when you cross a state line, and where to find the actual text of the law that applies to you.
Table of Contents
- What is family law?
- What does family law cover?
- Which court hears family law cases?
- Is family law state law or federal law?
- How does a family law case actually move?
- Who else is in the room besides you and the judge?
- Can you handle a family law case without a lawyer?
- Where do you find your own state’s family law?
- Frequently Asked Questions
What is family law?
Family law is the body of law that decides who counts as a family, what family members owe each other, and what happens to those obligations when the relationship ends. Cornell’s Legal Information Institute describes it as governed mostly by state law, which varies highly from state to state, covering marriage, divorce, custody, adoption, and domestic violence.
Two facts about it surprise almost everyone, and both matter on day one.
It is civil law, not criminal law. A family case is a dispute between two private people, not a prosecution. Nobody is charged, there is no criminal record at the end, and the other parent is not a defendant in the criminal sense. The one exception catches people off guard: if you disobey a family court order, the same judge can hold you in contempt and impose a fine or jail time for the disobedience itself. That is a separate proceeding with its own rules — how a motion for contempt works covers it in full.
It is state law. There is no national family code. The federal judiciary’s own explainer puts family law squarely on the state court side of the line, alongside contract and probate matters. So “family law” means something slightly different in Ohio than it does in Oregon — different grounds for divorce, different custody factors, different waiting periods, different names for the court itself.
What does family law cover?
Family law is less a single subject than a cluster of related cases that share a courthouse. Some of them require a marriage. Several do not, which is why unmarried parents and grandparents end up in the same hallway as divorcing spouses.
| Case type | Who the two sides usually are | Governing layer | Read more |
|---|---|---|---|
| Divorce / dissolution | Spouse v. spouse | State only | the contested, uncontested, and no-fault routes a divorce can take |
| Legal separation | Spouse v. spouse | State only | what being legally separated does and does not change |
| Child custody and parenting time | Parent v. parent | State, plus a federal patch (UCCJEA / PKPA) | the difference between a custodial and noncustodial parent |
| Child support | Parent v. parent, or the state agency on a parent’s behalf | State formula, heavy federal conditions | how child support is calculated, paid, and enforced |
| Spousal support / alimony | Spouse v. spouse | State only | how alimony is calculated and how long it lasts |
| Property and debt division | Spouse v. spouse | State, plus federal law for retirement plans | what dividing a household actually costs |
| Paternity / parentage | Parent v. alleged parent, or the state | State, plus a federally required acknowledgment form | what parental rights and responsibilities actually include |
| Protective orders (domestic violence) | The person seeking protection v. the person restrained | State, plus federal full faith and credit | how a protective order changes an existing custody order |
| Adoption | Adoptive parents, with the state as gatekeeper | State, plus ICWA where an Indian child is involved | how a stepparent gains legal rights to a child |
| Guardianship of a minor | Proposed guardian v. parent or third party | State only | how guardianship differs from custody |
| Juvenile dependency (child protective services) | The state v. the parent | State, plus federal funding conditions and ICWA | when parental rights can be ended |
| Termination of parental rights | The state, or a private petitioner, v. the parent | State, plus a constitutional floor | what signing over parental rights involves |
| Name change, emancipation | Petitioner, sometimes against a parent | State only | — |
One row deserves a flag, because the tax treatment changed and old advice is still circulating: alimony is no longer deductible by the payer or taxable to the recipient for orders entered after 2018. We cover how alimony is taxed after the 2017 tax law separately.
Where does family law stop?
Three boundaries confuse people constantly.
Criminal domestic violence is a different case from a protective order. The prosecution belongs to the state and requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The protective order is yours, filed in civil court, decided on a lower standard. Either can proceed without the other, and winning or losing one does not decide the other.
Adult guardianship and conservatorship usually sit in probate court, not family court, even though the paperwork looks similar to a minor guardianship.
Juvenile delinquency is its own track. In some states it shares a building — and a name — with family court, which is exactly why the line is worth drawing. A delinquency case asks whether a minor committed an offense. A dependency case asks whether a parent abused or neglected a child. Different questions, different consequences.
Which court hears family law cases?
A state trial court, always — but the name changes at every state line. Some states run a dedicated family court. Others put a domestic relations division inside a general trial court called the circuit court, the superior court, or the court of common pleas. New York splits the work between two courts entirely.
| Court | What it decides | Who brings the case | Burden of proof | Jury? | Records |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Family court / domestic relations division | Divorce, custody, support, property, protective orders | One private party against the other | Preponderance of the evidence for most findings | Usually not — a minority of states allow one on specific issues | Generally public |
| Criminal court | Whether a crime was committed, including domestic violence charges | The state, as prosecutor | Beyond a reasonable doubt | Yes | Generally public |
| Juvenile dependency | Whether a child was abused or neglected; removal, reunification, termination | The state, against the parent | Rises with the stakes — at least clear and convincing evidence to terminate parental rights | Rarely; a few states allow one on termination | Confidential in most states |
| Juvenile delinquency | Whether a minor committed an offense | The state | Beyond a reasonable doubt | Varies by state | Confidential in most states |
| Probate court | Wills, estates, and in most states adult guardianship | Petitioner | Varies | Rarely | Generally public |
| Federal court | Not divorce, alimony, or custody decrees. Hague abduction petitions, ICWA challenges, retirement-plan division, bankruptcy | Either party, under a federal statute or treaty | Varies | Yes, in civil suits at common law | Generally public |
The burden of proof column is the one worth reading twice. Most findings in a family case are made on a preponderance of the evidence — more likely than not, the lowest standard in American law. Severing the parent–child relationship is different. The Supreme Court held in Santosky v. Kramer that a parent’s interest in their child does not evaporate simply because they have not been model parents or have lost temporary custody of their child to the State, and that ending that relationship requires at least clear and convincing evidence. Under the Indian Child Welfare Act the standard rises again, to proof beyond a reasonable doubt, applied inside a family court.
Do not assume the jury question is settled. In most states, most family matters are decided by a judge alone, because the relief is equitable rather than a claim for money damages. A minority of states go the other way on specific questions, and Texas goes furthest of all: a Texas jury decides who is named managing conservator and which parent holds the exclusive right to designate the child’s primary residence, and the judge may not contravene that verdict. The same statute keeps child support and the possession schedule away from the jury entirely. Georgia allows a jury on divorce and permanent alimony but bars it from custody; Oklahoma allows one on termination of parental rights; Louisiana bars juries across divorce, custody, and support alike. Which questions a jury can reach, if any, is set by your state’s statute and by nothing national.
Family court files are generally public records — civil court files start from a presumption of public access — but the exceptions are real. Child abuse and neglect records sit under a separate regime entirely: to receive federal child-protection funding, a state must certify that it preserves the confidentiality of all such records, with access limited to a defined list. The same statute cuts the other way in the worst cases, requiring public disclosure of findings where abuse or neglect resulted in a child fatality or near fatality. Whether the juvenile court’s own file is sealed is a separate question of state law. Courts also routinely redact Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, and children’s names, some states seal custody evaluation reports, and confidential mediation communications usually stay out of the file altogether.
Is family law state law or federal law?
Both, in a specific and lopsided way. Think of it as three layers.
| The question | Which layer answers it | The law |
|---|---|---|
| Which state gets to decide custody? | Federal patch on state law | The UCCJEA, which Cornell records as adopted by every state except Massachusetts, backed by the federal Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act |
| Does my child support order follow me across state lines? | Federal patch | UIFSA, which Congress made a condition of child support funding, plus 28 U.S.C. § 1738B |
| Does my protective order work in another state? | Federal patch | Full faith and credit for protection orders, 18 U.S.C. § 2265 |
| Can support be taken from my paycheck? | Federal patch | Income withholding is the default for orders issued or modified since 1 January 1994 |
| Can the state take my child away? | Constitutional floor | Santosky v. Kramer — at least clear and convincing evidence |
| Who decides how my child is raised? | Constitutional floor | Troxel v. Granville — fit parents are presumed to act in their child’s best interests |
| Whose marriage does my state have to recognize? | Constitutional floor | Obergefell v. Hodges |
| What if my child is a tribal member? | A third sovereign | The Indian Child Welfare Act |
| Grounds, custody factors, property rules, deadlines | State only | Your state’s family code |
States write the law. Grounds for divorce, the custody factors a judge weighs, whether property is split by community property rules or by equitable distribution, how long you must live somewhere before you can file — all state.
The Constitution sets a floor. In Troxel v. Granville, a plurality of the Supreme Court described the fundamental right of parents to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their children and a presumption that fit parents act in their children’s best interests. It is worth being precise about what that case did and did not do: it struck down an unusually broad Washington visitation statute as applied, it did not abolish grandparent visitation, and it expressly declined to decide whether a grandparent must prove harm to the child.
Congress patches the seams. Not by writing family law — it largely cannot — but by attaching conditions to money and by requiring states to honor each other’s orders. The clearest example is child support. Congress could not order states to adopt the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act, so it made enactment a condition of receiving federal child support funding. That is why support enforcement works roughly the same way in every state while custody law does not. The Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act requires each state to enforce, and not modify, another state’s custody determination — and note that for a child under six months old, the “home state” is where the child has lived since birth, not the usual six-month rule.
Two limits on all of this are commonly overstated. Federal courts are barred from issuing divorce, alimony, and custody decrees — the domestic relations exception — but that is a bar on three kinds of decree, not on the subject. Federal courts still hear Hague child abduction petitions, ICWA challenges, retirement-plan division disputes, and whether a support debt survives bankruptcy. And the Indian Child Welfare Act does not apply to a custody dispute between two parents in a divorce; the statute expressly excludes an award, in a divorce proceeding, of custody to one of the parents. It governs foster placement, termination, and adoption.
How does a family law case actually move?
Start with the question nobody thinks to ask: do you need a court case at all? Two parents can agree on anything they like. What an agreement cannot do is make itself enforceable. Until a judge signs it as an order, there is nothing for a court to enforce if the other parent stops following it — which is the difference between a plan and a judgment.
If you do file, the shape is consistent even where the labels differ:
- Petition — one parent files, opening the case.
- Service — the other parent is formally notified, on the record.
- Response — filed within a set deadline, or the case can proceed by default.
- Temporary orders — who lives where, who pays what, who has the children, while the case runs. These often matter more than the final judgment, because they set a status quo.
- Financial disclosure — most states require both sides to exchange income, assets, and debts, whether or not anyone asks.
- Mediation — required before trial in many courts. Ask whether yours is confidential or recommending, because that changes what you should say.
- Trial — the small minority of cases that get here.
- Judgment — the enforceable order.
- Modification and enforcement — the part people do not plan for.
That last stage is what makes family court different from most civil litigation. In a 2018 study of 147,436 domestic relations cases across eleven courts serving about 8% of the US population, researchers found that approximately 25% of new cases will eventually reopen — and among cases that did reopen, there was an average of 2.68 reopened filings each. A family judgment is a snapshot of a situation that keeps moving.
Federal rules give you one dependable handle on that. A state child support agency must review an order on request every 36 months, under 45 C.F.R. § 303.8. Custody modification standards are state-specific and generally require a material change in circumstances. If you are at the front of this process rather than the back, the step-by-step filing process for a custody case walks through the first three stages in detail.
Who else is in the room besides you and the judge?
More people than most parents expect, and the titles are not standardized.
- The judge — or a magistrate, referee, or commissioner, who in many states hears family matters and issues recommendations a judge then adopts.
- Someone appointed to speak for the child — a guardian ad litem, an attorney for the child, an amicus attorney. The names and the job description vary sharply by state. In some states the appointee advocates for what the child wants; in others, for what the appointee believes is best. Ask which one your court is appointing, because the answer changes what your child’s words will be used for.
- A custody evaluator — a mental health professional who investigates and writes a report the judge will read. What you say to an evaluator is not therapy and is not privileged.
- A mediator — neutral, and does not decide anything.
- A parenting coordinator — appointed in higher-conflict cases to manage day-to-day disputes. What one can decide varies by state; some can make binding determinations subject to court review, others cannot change an order at all.
- Court self-help staff — free, and available to both sides. They cannot give legal advice or represent you.
If your case is heading toward the higher-conflict end of that list, the options for resolving a custody dispute compares them side by side.
Can you handle a family law case without a lawyer?
Yes, and most people do. In that same 2018 study, the majority of cases — 72% — involved at least one self-represented party. Self-representation is the normal condition of American family court, not an unusual one.
The support that exists is real and underused. Many courts run self-help centers staffed by attorneys who assist with forms and procedure without representing either side. California went further and made it statutory: each superior court shall maintain an office of the family law facilitator, staffed by a licensed attorney with family law experience. Most states have no equivalent, but the principle travels — a facilitator helps both of you and represents neither of you. Courts also grant fee waivers to filers who cannot afford the filing fee.
Here is the honest limit, and it is the thing commercial legal pages tend to leave out. There is no automatic right to a court-appointed lawyer in family court. Not in a custody case, and not even in a child support contempt hearing where jail is on the table. In Turner v. Rogers, the Supreme Court held that due process does not require the State to provide counsel at civil contempt proceedings to an indigent noncustodial parent subject to a support order, even facing incarceration — at least where the other parent is also unrepresented and the court supplies specific procedural safeguards, including an express finding on ability to pay. Some states do appoint counsel in termination of parental rights cases. That is a state choice, not a federal guarantee.
None of that answers whether you should represent yourself, which depends on how contested your case is and what is at stake. What a family lawyer actually does and when you need one works through that decision.
Where do you find your own state’s family law?
Two things to know before you search. First, most states keep family law in its own title or chapter of the state code, often labelled “domestic relations” rather than “family law.” Second, almost every state imposes a durational residency requirement — one of you must have lived in the state, and often in the county, for a set period before a divorce can be filed there at all. Which spouse has to meet it varies: some states count either party, others put it on the person filing.
| State | Where family law lives, and which court hears it | Residency before you can file | One thing that surprises people |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | Family Code — Superior Court | 6 months in the state, 3 months in the county (Fam. Code § 2320) | Every superior court must maintain an office of the family law facilitator — a court-employed attorney who helps both parties and represents neither (Fam. Code § 10002) |
| Florida | Fla. Stat. Chapter 61 — Circuit Court | 6 months in the state (Fla. Stat. § 61.021) | Equal time-sharing is presumed to be in the child’s best interests, subject to rebuttal (Fla. Stat. § 61.13(2)(c)) |
| Michigan | MCL Chapter 552; Child Custody Act, MCL 722.21 et seq. — Family division of the Circuit Court | 180 days in the state and 10 days in the county, by either party (MCL 552.9) | Every judicial circuit has a Friend of the Court office that investigates custody and parenting time and enforces support (MCL 552.503) |
| New York | Domestic Relations Law; Family Court Act — Supreme Court for divorce; Family Court for standalone custody, support and paternity | No single rule — DRL § 230 sets five alternatives, from no waiting period up to two years | On the no-fault ground, no divorce judgment can be entered until custody, visitation, support and property division are all resolved (DRL § 170(7)) |
| North Carolina | N.C. Gen. Stat. Chapters 50, 50A, 50B — District Court | 6 months for either spouse (N.C.G.S. § 50-8), plus one year living separate and apart (§ 50-6) | An absolute divorce destroys an equitable distribution claim that was not asserted before the judgment was entered (N.C.G.S. § 50-11(e)) |
| Ohio | Ohio Rev. Code Title 31, Chapter 3105 — Court of Common Pleas, Domestic Relations Division | 6 months for the plaintiff in a divorce (ORC 3105.03); either spouse for a dissolution (ORC 3105.62) | Ohio runs a second track — “dissolution,” filed jointly with a complete settlement attached — and either spouse can convert it into a contested divorce before the decree (ORC 3105.65(C)) |
| Oklahoma | Okla. Stat. Title 43 — District Court | 6 months in the state and 30 days in the county (43 O.S. §§ 102, 103) | Where there is a minor child, no final decree may be entered for at least 90 days from filing (43 O.S. § 107.1) |
| Pennsylvania | 23 Pa.C.S. (Domestic Relations) — Court of Common Pleas | 6 months for at least one party (23 Pa.C.S. § 3104(b)) | A parent cannot relocate a child without every custodial party’s consent or court approval, and must give 60 days’ notice by certified mail (23 Pa.C.S. § 5337) |
| Tennessee | Tenn. Code Ann. Title 36 — Chancery or Circuit Court — Tennessee has no unified family court | 6 months only where the grounds arose out of state while the plaintiff lived out of state; no waiting period for a bona fide resident whose grounds arose in Tennessee (T.C.A. § 36-4-104) | A final decree involving a minor child must incorporate a permanent parenting plan, including a dispute-resolution step to use before returning to court (T.C.A. § 36-6-404) |
| Texas | Texas Family Code — District Court | 6 months in the state and 90 days in the county (Tex. Fam. Code § 6.301) | The standard possession order is presumed to be in the child’s best interest, with statutory exceptions for young children and for parents living within 50 miles (Tex. Fam. Code § 153.252) |
Where to start in each state: California Courts Self-Help · Florida Law Help · Michigan Legal Help · NY CourtHelp · NC Judicial Branch · Ohio Legal Help · OKLaw · PA Courts self-representation · Tennessee Free Legal Answers · Texas State Law Library.
Two cautions about that table. Residency rules and waiting periods are the most frequently amended part of any family code, so confirm the current text before you rely on a date. And several official state statute portals block automated access, which is why the links above point at each state’s self-help or legal-aid front door rather than at raw statutory text — that is also the better place for a parent to start.
For the two subjects that vary most between states, we maintain dedicated comparisons: how custody laws differ from state to state and how each state calculates child support.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is family law state law or federal law?
Family law is state law. Each state writes its own rules for divorce, custody, support, and property division, and cases are heard in state courts rather than federal ones. A small number of federal laws sit on top to settle cross-border problems: which state decides a custody case, whether a support order or protective order follows you when you move, and cases involving tribal children.
Is family law civil or criminal?
Family law is civil law, so a family court case is a dispute between two private parties rather than a prosecution, and losing does not create a criminal record. The exception that surprises people is contempt: if you disobey a family court order, the same court can fine you or jail you for the disobedience itself.
Which court hears family law cases?
State trial courts hear them, but the name changes from state to state — a family court in some states, a domestic relations division of the circuit court or court of common pleas in others. New York splits the work, sending divorce to the Supreme Court and custody, support, paternity, and domestic violence petitions to the Family Court. Look up your state’s court structure before assuming the phrase “family court” means the same thing there.
Can you go to family court without a lawyer?
Yes. In a 2018 study of 147,436 domestic relations cases across eleven US courts, 72% of cases involved at least one self-represented party, and many court systems run free self-help centers staffed by attorneys who assist with forms and procedure. The honest limit is that no one will be appointed for you: there is no automatic right to a court-appointed lawyer in family court, even in a contempt hearing where jail is possible.
What is the difference between family law and divorce law?
Divorce is one branch of family law, not a separate body of law. Family law also covers custody and parenting time, child support, spousal support, property and debt division, paternity, adoption, guardianship, and domestic violence protective orders — and several of those can be filed with no divorce at all, which is why unmarried parents end up in the same courthouse.
Are family law cases public record?
Ordinary divorce and custody files are generally public court records in most states, though courts routinely redact Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, and children’s names. The meaningful exception is child abuse and neglect records, which states must keep confidential as a condition of federal child-protection funding, and juvenile court files, which most states close by statute. Some states also seal custody evaluation reports, and confidential mediation communications usually stay out of the file.
Reviewed by Nora Whitman, Managing Editor. Our research and review process explains how we source and verify legal content.
