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).
Raeford is a city in Hoke County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 3,386 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Hoke County. The county was named after Confederate General Robert F. Hoke, as Tar Heel native. The City of Raeford, named after the MacRae family who lived at the 'ford of the creek' was at one time made up primarily of old Highland Scot families. Likewise, the Upper Cape Fear Valley of North Carolina was in the 18th and 19th Century the largest settlement of Gaelic speaking Highland Scots in North America. Today many of these old families continue to live in the area, though their presence is noticeably diminished by the great numbers of newcomers to the area as a result of Fort Bragg. Since World War II many Lumbee Indian families have moved northward from Robeson County and now constitute a significant element of the population that is otherwise European and African-American.