Family law is an area of the law that deals with family-related issues and domestic relations including the nature of marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships; issues arising during marriage, including spousal abuse, legitimacy, adoption, surrogacy, child abuse, and child abduction; the termination of the relationship and ancillary matters including divorce, annulment, property settlements, alimony, and parental responsibility orders (in the United States, child custody and visitation, child support and alimony awards).
Bessemer is a Birmingham suburb in Jefferson County, Alabama, United States eight miles west of Hoover. The population was 29,672 at the 2000, but by the 2005 U.S. Census estimates, the city had fallen to a population of 28,641.