Custody & Support
This “day-to-day duty” lives with the parent who handles school nights, homework, and bedtime.
What is physical custody/primary caretaking?
Bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative, and periodic are flavors of this post-split money support.
What are types of alimony?
Contrary to myth, most states don’t categorically bar this LGBTQ+ group from adopting.
Who are homosexuals?
Neutral and facilitative, this professional doesn’t wear a robe or issue orders.
Who is a mediator?
No one-size-fits-all here: support math isn’t uniform in all 50 states.
What are non-uniform child support guidelines?
Courts don’t tinker with support orders unless life does first—think job loss, big income jumps, or relocation.
What is a substantial/material change in circumstances?
This proceeding severs parent-child rights by statute, not just case law.
What is termination of parental rights (TPR)?
Skip the shadows: this label brands adoptions that flout state or federal law.
What is a black-market adoption?
This uniform act keeps custody fights from crossing state lines—home state first, kidnapping discouraged.
What is the UCCJEA (Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act)?
This lab-assisted path to parenthood outpaced the law, raising questions older doctrines didn’t foresee.
What is in vitro fertilization (IVF)?
From wage garnishment to contempt, these tools help turn a paper order into paid support.
What is enforcement of child support?
When the parties sign, not spar, this type of dissolution usually skips the courtroom fireworks.
What is an uncontested divorce?
When Alex adopts Sam’s child, not a stranger’s, this two-word adoption applies.
What is a domestic partner adoption (second-parent adoption)?
Subpoenas to third parties prove this is bigger than “just the spouses.”
What is discovery is not limited to the parties?
Living arrangements ≠ decision power—this custody flavor doesn’t automatically confer legal say.
What is physical custody without legal custody?
For tax time, this kind of family payment is neither income to mom nor a deduction to dad.
What is child support?
Start the case file: you’ll need a petition, an answer, and sworn money disclosures known as these.
What are financial affidavits?
Of agency, independent, black market, and inequitable—this one isn’t a recognized adoption type.
What is inequitable adoption?
Deposition, interrogatory, request for production… and the odd one out that’s really bargaining, not discovery.
What is negotiation?
She carries the baby for intended parents, sometimes using their egg and sperm.
Who is a surrogate mother?
Pick your state—because these tables for calculating support aren’t the same nationwide.
What are state-specific child support guidelines?
A state can end a marriage with residency “status” power; it needs more than that to divide money or award support.
What is subject-matter (status) jurisdiction vs. personal jurisdiction?
Some states criminalize arranging birth “for sale” to hand the baby to waiting parents—this legality line targets baby-selling, not lawful placement.
What is laws banning birth for the sole purpose of surrender for adoption?
When discovery gets abusive or overbroad, this court order says “dial it back.”
What is a protective order?
From school choice to bedtime, the gold standard in custody decisions is this child-centric test.
What is the best interests of the child?