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).
Bridgewater is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. The population was 980 at the 2000 census. Bridgewater contains the hamlets of Bridgewater Village, Bridgewater Corners, West Bridgewater, and Bridgewater Center (formerly called Briggs). Bridgewater was the birthplace of Zadock Thompson, naturalist and identifier of the whale bones found by railroad workers near Charlotte, Vermont.