The Divorce Dictionary is your plain-language guide to 400+ legal, financial, and emotional terms. Whether you're considering divorce or deep in the process, this compassionate glossary helps you feel informed, empowered, and supported. A judicial notice means the court accepts certain facts as true without needing proof, like what day of the week it is or that a holiday falls on a certain date.

The Divorce Dictionary is your plain-language guide to 400+ legal, financial, and emotional terms. Whether you're considering divorce or deep in the process, this compassionate glossary helps you feel informed, empowered, and supported. A judgment is the final decision made by the court, usually written down in the divorce decree. It includes orders about money, custody, and everything else.

The Divorce Dictionary is your plain-language guide to 400+ legal, financial, and emotional terms. Whether you're considering divorce or deep in the process, this compassionate glossary helps you feel informed, empowered, and supported. Joint physical custody means the child spends time living with both parents, even if it’s not exactly 50/50.

The Divorce Dictionary is your plain-language guide to 400+ legal, financial, and emotional terms. Whether you're considering divorce or deep in the process, this compassionate glossary helps you feel informed, empowered, and supported. Joint legal custody means both parents share the right to make important decisions about the child’s life, like school, health care, and religion.

The Divorce Dictionary is your plain-language guide to 400+ legal, financial, and emotional terms. Whether you're considering divorce or deep in the process, this compassionate glossary helps you feel informed, empowered, and supported. Joint custody means both parents share responsibility. This can include making decisions (legal custody) and/or time with the child (physical custody). It doesn’t always mean 50/50.

The Divorce Dictionary is your plain-language guide to 400+ legal, financial, and emotional terms. Whether you're considering divorce or deep in the process, this compassionate glossary helps you feel informed, empowered, and supported. Irreconcilable Differences is a common legal reason (or “cause”) for divorce. It means you and your spouse can’t get along anymore and there’s no realistic way to fix it.

The Divorce Dictionary is your plain-language guide to 400+ legal, financial, and emotional terms. Whether you're considering divorce or deep in the process, this compassionate glossary helps you feel informed, empowered, and supported. Interrogatories are written questions one side sends to the other, and you’re required to answer them truthfully. It’s part of the discovery process.

The Divorce Dictionary is your plain-language guide to 400+ legal, financial, and emotional terms. Whether you're considering divorce or deep in the process, this compassionate glossary helps you feel informed, empowered, and supported—one term at a time. An injunction is a court order that tells someone to stop doing something, like selling property or making threats.

The Divorce Dictionary is your plain-language guide to 400+ legal, financial, and emotional terms. Whether you're considering divorce or deep in the process, this compassionate glossary helps you feel informed, empowered, and supported—one term at a time.  If someone isn’t working but could be earning money, the court might treat them as if they do. That imaginary income is called “imputed income” and is used to calculate support.

The Divorce Dictionary is your plain-language guide to 400+ legal, financial, and emotional terms. Whether you're considering divorce or deep in the process, this compassionate glossary helps you feel informed, empowered, and supported—one term at a time. A hearing is a meeting with the judge where each person can share information, ask for decisions, or respond to the other side. It’s less formal than a trial, but still part of the court process.

The Divorce Dictionary is your plain-language guide to 400+ legal, financial, and emotional terms. Whether you're considering divorce or deep in the process, this compassionate glossary helps you feel informed, empowered, and supported—one term at a time. A guardian ad litem is a person (often a lawyer or trained professional) appointed by the court to investigate and report what is in the best interest of the child during a legal case.

The Divorce Dictionary is your plain-language guide to 400+ legal, financial, and emotional terms. Whether you're considering divorce or deep in the process, this compassionate glossary helps you feel informed, empowered, and supported—one term at a time. The filing fee is the cost to officially file your divorce papers with the court. If you can’t afford it, you may be able to request a waiver.

The Divorce Dictionary is your plain-language guide to 400+ legal, financial, and emotional terms. Whether you're considering divorce or deep in the process, this compassionate glossary helps you feel informed, empowered, and supported—one term at a time. An expert witness is someone with special knowledge, like a doctor, therapist, or accountant, who gives their opinion in court to help explain something.

The Divorce Dictionary is your plain-language guide to 400+ legal, financial, and emotional terms. Whether you're considering divorce or deep in the process, this compassionate glossary helps you feel informed, empowered, and supported—one term at a time. An exhibit is a document or object shown in court to support your case—like emails, photos, or financial records.

The Divorce Dictionary is your plain-language guide to 400+ legal, financial, and emotional terms. Whether you're considering divorce or deep in the process, this compassionate glossary helps you feel informed, empowered, and supported—one term at a time. Ex parte means a legal action that happens without the other person present, usually because something urgent is happening. The court will review the case later with both sides.

The Divorce Dictionary is your plain-language guide to 400+ legal, financial, and emotional terms. Whether you're considering divorce or deep in the process, this compassionate glossary helps you feel informed, empowered, and supported—one term at a time. Evidence is anything used to prove a point in court—like texts, photos, bank records, or testimony.

The Divorce Dictionary is your plain-language guide to 400+ legal, financial, and emotional terms. Whether you're considering divorce or deep in the process, this compassionate glossary helps you feel informed, empowered, and supported—one term at a time. Equitable distribution means property is divided fairly, not always 50/50. The court looks at things like who earned what, who needs more support, and what’s reasonable.

The Divorce Dictionary is your plain-language guide to 400+ legal, financial, and emotional terms. Whether you're considering divorce or deep in the process, this compassionate glossary helps you feel informed, empowered, and supported—one term at a time. Enforcement means the court is making someone follow a court order—like paying child support or following the parenting plan.

The Divorce Dictionary is your plain-language guide to 400+ legal, financial, and emotional terms. Whether you're considering divorce or deep in the process, this compassionate glossary helps you feel informed, empowered, and supported—one term at a time. An emergency custody order is a temporary order that gives one parent full custody right away, usually when there’s a safety concern.

The Divorce Dictionary is your plain-language guide to 400+ legal, financial, and emotional terms. Whether you're considering divorce or deep in the process, this compassionate glossary helps you feel informed, empowered, and supported—one term at a time. Domestic relations court is the part of the court system that handles family-related cases, like divorce, custody, child support, and sometimes domestic violence.