family court, special court designed to deal with legal problems arising out of family relations. The family court is usually a consolidation of several types of courts dealing with narrower family problems, such as children’s courts and orphans’ courts.
The family court operates according to looser procedures than do ordinary civil or criminal courts. Special intake procedures also distinguish the family court, which screens potential cases to eliminate those not really requiring judicial attention.
Family courts were first established in the United States in 1910, when they were called domestic relations courts. The idea itself is much older. In the 19th century, the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes was established in England to relieve the ecclesiastical courts of the burden of such cases.
Family courts are created by special statutes defining the types of cases that they are to handle, such as cases involving guardianship, child neglect, juvenile delinquency, paternity, support, or family offenses (i.e., disorderly conduct or minor assaults between spouses).
Most family courts do not handle divorce, separation, or annulment cases, although the civil courts occasionally refer such cases to the family court to determine child custody or modification of alimony payments.