A legal proceeding that creates a parent-child relation between persons not related by blood; the adopted child is entitled to all privileges belonging to a natural child of the adoptive parents (including the right to inherit).

An appellate court is a court that hears cases in which a lower court -- either a trial court or a lower-level appellate court — has already made some decision, which at least one party to the action wants to challenge based upon some legal grounds that are allowed to be appealed either by right or by leave of the appellate court. A party who files an appeal is called an appellant, and a party on the other side is an appellee or, in some jurisdictions, a respondent. Cross-appeals can als

The legal term used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent and child, including e.g. the right of the parent to make decisions for the child and the duty to care for it.

A legal judgment that severs the marriage of two people and restores them to the status of single persons. Also call a dissolution of marriage.

An area of the law that deals with family-related issues and domestic relations including, but not limited to marriage, civil unions, divorce, spousal abuse, child custody and visitation, property, alimony, and child support awards, as well as child abuse issues, and adoption.