Divorce glossary

The person against whom legal papers are filed, also sometimes referred to as the respondent

Defendant

Another word for divorce, which is the legal termination of a marriage relationship.

Dissolution

Financial payments made to help support a spouse or former spouse during separation or following divorce. Also called spousal support or spousal maintenance

Alimony

Money that a non- custodial parent pays to the custodial parent for their child/chldren support.

Child support

Generally, property owned by either spouse prior to marriage or acquired by them individually, such as by gift or inheritance during the marriage.

Non-marital property

The person who initiates legal proceeding, often called the petitioner in family law matters.

Plaintiff

having rights to your child. It can be either legal, which means that you have the right to make important decisions about your child's walfare, or phisical which means that the child lives with and is raised by you.

Custody

A meeting at which the parties and their lawyers attempt to settle the case before trial, often ordered by the court.

Settlement conference

Financial payments made to help support a spouse or former spouse during separation or following divorce. Also called alimony.

Spousal support or maintenance

Physical abuse or threats of abuse occuring between members of the same household.

Domestic violence

the right to make important decisions about the raising of your child, on issues such as health care, religious, upbringing, educations, etc

Legal custody

Generally, all property acquired during the marriages.

Marital property

A form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) for resolving legal disputes without going to trial, bu the use of a trained and impartial third party who attempts to bring the parties together in mutal agreement

Mediation

An agreement entered into before marriage that sets forth each party's rights and responsibilities should the marriage terminate by death or divorce.

Premarital/Prenuptial agreement

The time that a non-custodial parent spends with his/her child/children

Visitation