Legal Terms

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ABANDONMENT - the action of one spouse leaving the marital home without consent of the other spouse. 

ADMISSIBLE - any form of testimony or evidence that is allowed into court.

ADULTERY - when one spouse has sexual intercourse with a third party. Considered grounds for divorce in some states, but generally not relevant in California.

ADVERSARIAL DIVORCE - a divorce where each spouse is unable to come to any agreement on the issues regarding the divorce. 

AFDC (AID TO FAMILIES WITH DEPENDENT CHILDREN) - financial support in the form of cash given to a family with children in need of financial help. This term has recently been changed to TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families).

AFFIDAVIT - a written statement of facts.  Such a statement usually accompanies a request for relief made to the court and is also known as a declaration and must be sworn under penalty of perjury to be used in a court of law.

AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE - new facts or legal defenses in response to the opposing spouse's pleading. 

AFFIRMATIVE REQUEST- The responding spouses request which is different than that of the spouse filing the original request for relief with the court.

AGREEMENT - a verbal or written resolution of disputes.

ALIMONY - financial support paid to one spouse from the other. May be paid in one lump sum or in installments. It can be temporary or permanent.   This is generally referred to as spousal support.

ALLEGATIONS - claims or complaints made against one spouse by the other in the dissolution process.

ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION (ADR) - methods, such as mediation and arbitration, couples can use to obtain a divorce settlement without a trial.

ANNULMENT - a legal action or lawsuit which may result in treating the marriage as if it never took place.

ANSWER - the formal response for a divorce, separation or annulment petition. The response or answer contains the answering partys requests for relief in the action filed by the petitioner, e.g. it tells the court what the answering party wants the court to do in an abbreviated fashion.

ANTENUPTIAL AGREEMENT - a legal contract signed by two people prior to marriage which states limitations to spouse's rights to property, support, or inheritance if the marriage ends in divorce.  Used interchangeably with Prenuptial.

APPEAL - a legal procedure in which the losing party of a divorce (lawsuit ) requests that a higher court review the decision.  This is not a new trial of the facts, but instead is a review of the procedure and the facts as they are applied under the law.

APPEARANCE - a formal submission to the courts by the defendant (respondent) in response to the complaint or summons.  An appearance will prevent later claims that the court did not have the ability (jurisdiction) to order the defendant to do something.

APPELLANT - the individual who brings the appeal.

APPELLATE COURT - the court in which an appeal is heard.

APPLICATION - the form that tells the court what relief a party is seeking such as custody, support, or injunctive orders.

APPORTION - to divide and assign according to a definite rule. The division is not necessarily equal but is fair according to the respective interests of the parties involved.

APPRAISAL - the procedure for determining the fair market value of an asset for equitable distribution in divorce.  Most commonly applied to a residence or business.

APPRAISAL REPORT - a report of the results of an appraisal which begins with the definition of an appraisal problem and leads to a specific conclusion using reasoning and relevant descriptive data.

ARREARAGES - a term used to describe the amount of money that is unpaid after the court orders an amount of  Child or Spousal Support. If a spouse does not pay the full amount of support, the missing amount is considered the arrearages.

ASSETS - cash, property and investments along with anything else that may be of value to an individual or business.

ASSIGNMENT - the process that occurs when a party entitled to receive support requests the child support enforcement agency to assist in collecting or establishing support, or a party receives TANF (welfare) whereby all support becomes payable to a county rather than the other spouse or parent.

ATRO Automatic Temporary Restraining Orders. These are the orders that go into effect upon the filing of any action in family law court without a hearing or court order which prevent the parties from doing certain acts.  These orders can be found on the reverse side of the Summons.

 

ATTACHMENT - the process by which the court seizes the property of a debtor such as a bank account or tax refund.

AUTOMATIC WAGE DEDUCTION - a court ordered child support system in which the non - custodial parent has the support amount deducted directly from his or her paycheck which is then distributed by the employer.  This is mandatory in California if requested by the party entitled to receive support.

AWARD - a decision made by a court to compensate a person for something, or causing one spouse or the other to receive assets, support or the obligation to pay a debt.

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