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).
Cotulla is a city in and the county seat of La Salle County, Texas, United States. The population was 3,614 at the 2000 census. The Nueces River flows through southern Cotulla in a southeastward direction to the Gulf of Mexico near Corpus Christi. The La Salle County Courthouse in Cotulla is undergoing extensive renovation. County employees have in the meantime assumed temporary offices. The Brush Country Museum, with various local ranching memorabilia, is located in Cotulla. The city has Roman Catholic, Baptist, United Methodist, Presbyterian, and non-denominational churches. The Presbyterians and Baptists originally shared the Methodist facilities, which began in 1881. New Methodist buildings were constructed in 1906 and again in 1928. In 1883-1884, the Reverend W.D. Johnson organized a Baptist fellowship in Cotulla. After several years of meeting at the Methodist Church, the first Baptist building opened in 1889, with the minister John Van Epps Covey (1821–1898) preaching the first sermon in the new structure. The current church sanctuary on Main Street opened in 1948 under the leadership of the Reverend Jesse Cooke. The 2009 Baptist pastor in Cotulla is Donald G. Proctor. Prevailing Word Church, located in a new sanctuary at 419 South Main, has co-pastors, L. Lynn Beams and Abram De La Garza. It has services at 3 p.m. Sundays, rather than the customary morning hours, and mid-week services on Thursday eveings, instead of Wednesday.