Becoming a parent is one of the biggest steps you will take in life. While parenthood is usually filled with joy, it can also be also rife with questions, challenges, and complications. Issues of parenting and childhood are usually left to the families themselves to resolve, but there are certain areas in which the law will intervene for the sake of the child, the family, and/or the community as a whole.

One of the areas in which the law gets involved in the parent-child relationship relates to support and other money-related issues. For instance, the law requires that parents provide their children with the necessaries of life. Although that requirement is generally met without court intervention, when parents divorce, or when only one parent has custody for other reasons, the court will order the non-custodial parent to pay money to the custodial parent to help take care of the child's needs. Children's money is also a legal matter when kids receive substantial gifts of money through trusts or other "custodial accounts."

The law also intervenes in parent-child relationships involving abuse or neglect. In the most serious cases, the court will terminate a parent's rights to his or her child, meaning that there is legally no longer a parent-child relationship. Juvenile delinquency is another area in which the law gets involved in kids' lives, as well as the lives of their parents.

There's no road map for parenthood, even when things are going smoothly. When legal complications arise, issues of parenthood and childhood can become even more overwhelming. The following tools are designed to help you navigate the parenthood path. A family law or juvenile law attorney can provide even greater assistance by giving you the counsel you need when confronting complicated legal issues involving your children.