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).
Ararat is an unincorporated community in Patrick County, Virginia, United States, south of the Blue Ridge Parkway and north of Mount Airy, North Carolina. Ararat is located near the Virginia/North Carolina state line about five miles north of Mount Airy, North Carolina and about 25 miles west of Stuart, Virginia. The community's name comes from the Ararat River which flows through the area. The River takes its name from the Saura Indian name for nearby Pilot Mountain in Surry County, North Carolina. The large Monadnock mountain was thought to resemble a bullfrog and the Indians named it after the sound they thought it made "Ratratrat". Early white settlers thought what they were saying sounded like "Ararat," the mountain which, according to the Bible, was the landing point of Noah's Ark. Blue Ridge Elementary School is located in the community. Several famous people were born in the community, such as the Reverend Bob Childress; "The Man Who Moved A Mountain," Orlean Puckett; the famous midwife whose cabin is along the parkway; and James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart, the Major General of Cavalry for Robert E. Lee during the American Civil War. The J.E.B. Stuart Birthplace, Laurel Hill, is a preserved private park in the community that is open for self-guided tours daily and holds a Civil War encampment the first full weekend of October each year.