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).
Gastonia is a city in North Carolina, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Gaston County. The population was 66,277 according to the 2000 census (35% of the population of Gaston County). It is part of the Charlotte metropolitan area, officially designated the Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). As the second-largest city (in population) in the MSA after Charlotte, Gastonia has experienced steady growth, with a population change during the 1990s of more than +10%.