Discovery
Pronounced: dih-SKUV-uh-ree
What it means: Discovery is the part of divorce where both people share information—like income, bank records, or parenting info—so that decisions can be made fairly.
Example: “During discovery, we had to exchange financial records and answer questions about our property.”
When it's used: After the case is filed and before settlement or trial.
Browse terms
The Divorce Dictionary is your plain-language guide to 400+ legal, financial, and emotional terms. A legal separation is when you and your spouse live separately and follow court-ordered rules, but you’re still legally married. It can cover money, kids, and property.
The Divorce Dictionary is your plain-language guide to 400+ legal, financial, and emotional terms. Legal custody means the right to make important decisions about a child’s life—like schooling, health care, and religion. It can be joint or sole.
The Divorce Dictionary is your plain-language guide to 400+ legal, financial, and emotional terms. A kick-out order is a court order that tells one spouse they must move out of the shared home, often due to safety concerns like emotional or physical abuse.
The Divorce Dictionary is your plain-language guide to 400+ legal, financial, and emotional terms. Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict (JNOV) means a judge changes the jury’s decision because they believe the jury got it wrong legally. It doesn’t come up in most divorces.
The Divorce Dictionary is your plain-language guide to 400+ legal, financial, and emotional terms. Just cause means there’s a valid, legal reason for doing something, like changing a custody order or denying visitation.
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 jury trial is a trial where a group of people (the jury) listens to evidence and helps decide the outcome. In divorce, jury trials are rare and usually only happen in certain states or for specific issues.
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. Jurisdiction means the court has the power to hear your case. You have to file in the right place (usually where you or your spouse live).
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.
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 docket is a list of all the events and filings in your case, including hearing dates and paperwork. It’s like your case’s timeline.
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 dismissal means the divorce case is closed without a final decision. This can happen if both people change their minds or the court decides it can’t move forward.
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. Discovery is the part of divorce where both people share information—like income, bank records, or parenting info—so that decisions can be made fairly.