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.

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 deposition is a formal interview where someone answers questions under oath before trial. It’s recorded and can be used as evidence in court.

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 your ex doesn’t respond to the divorce papers by the deadline, the judge can move forward without them and make decisions based only on your side. That’s called a default judgment.

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 decree is the official document from the court that says your divorce is final. It includes the final decisions on custody, support, and property division.

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. Consent order is a court-approved agreement between both parties, written down and signed by the judge. It becomes a legal order you both must follow.

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. Civil contempt means that if someone ignores a court order (like not paying support or not following the custody plan), they can be held in civil contempt. That means they may face fines or other penalties.

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 child custody order is a legal document that says where the child will live and who makes decisions. It can be temporary or final, and both parents must follow 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—one term at a time. A cause of action is the legal reason you’re filing for divorce. It could be something like irreconcilable differences, adultery, or abandonment.

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 case file is the folder or collection of documents about your divorce—everything that’s been filed, signed, or decided goes in there.

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 attorney of record is the official lawyer listed in the court’s records as representing you. Once your lawyer files a notice, they become your attorney of record.

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. Asset disclosure means you list everything you own and how much it’s worth, including money, property, and investments. It helps the court fairly divide things.