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FAMILY / DIVORCE LAW GLOSSARY |
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Glossary of
Family Law Terms
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Damages: The monetary harm caused by the
actions of another person.
Debtor: A person who owes money.
Decree: The final decision made on an
action for divorce.
Deed: A written, legal instrument that
conveys an estate or interest in real property when it is executed
and delivered. There are numerous types of deeds.
Default Judgment: An order or judgment made
based on only the plaintiff's (petitioner's) complaint, due to no
response or presence of the defendant (respondent).
Defendant: The spouse who defends against
the lawsuit brought against him or her by the other spouse.
Deferred Annuity: An income stream that
begins at some time in the future.
Deferred Compensation Package: This
includes all retirement assets (such as a pension, 401K, IRA) and
any other saving or postponed income earned during the marriage.
Deposition: The testimony of a witness
under oath and reduced to writing. It is also used to question
opposing spouse. (See legal process section in your state).
Depreciation: In appraising, a loss in
property value from any cause. In regard to improvements,
deterioration and obsolescence. In accounting, an allowance made
against the loss in value of an asset for a defined purpose and
computed using a specified method.
Descent: The rules of inheritance
established by law in cases in which there is no will naming the
persons to receive the possessions of a person who has died. The
rules of descent vary somewhat from state to state and will
usually be governed by the law of state in which the deceased
party lived. Depending on which relatives survive, the estate may
go all, or in part to the surviving spouse, and down the line from
a parent to children (or if none survive, to grandchildren), or up
to surviving parents, or collaterally to brothers and sisters. If
there are no survivors among those relatives, then aunts, uncles,
cousins, nieces and nephews may inherit, depending on their degree
of kinship (closeness of family relationship), state laws of
descent and distribution, or whether the deceased person lived in
a community property state (in which the wife has a survivorship
right to community property
Desertion: One spouse voluntarily leaves
the other (without justification or consent from their spouse) for
an uninterrupted period of time and with no intentions of
returning.
Direct Examination: The capitalization
method used to convert an estimate of a single year's income
expectancy or any annual average of several years' income
expectancies into an indication of value in one step, either by
dividing the income estimated by an appropriate rate or by
multiplying the income estimate by an appropriate factor.
Direct Payment: Child or spousal support
paid directly to the parent who has custody by the parent who does
not have custody.
Disbarment: The official seizing of an
attorney's license to practice law.
Discounting: The procedure used to convert
periodic income and reversions into present value: based on the
assumption that benefits received in the future are worth less
than the same benefits received now.
Discovery: Procedures used to absorb
information that pertains to the credibility of the opposing
party's case. The term may also be used for the interview
procedure between the attorney and the client at the initial
meeting. (See legal process and or the attorney section in your
state)
Discretion of the Court: An area of choice
available to a judge to make decisions after reviewing reasonable
evidence.
Dismiss: The termination of a case without
a final disposition of the matter.
Dissolution of Marriage: A legal judgment
that severs a marriage relationship and returns each person to
single status.
Dissolution: The legal end of a marriage.
Divorce: The termination of a marriage by
legal action, requiring a petition or complaint for divorce (or
dissolution in some states, including California) by one party.
Some states still require at least a minimal showing of fault, but
no-fault divorce is now the rule in which
"incompatibility" is sufficient to grant a divorce. The
substantive issues in divorces are division of property, child
custody and support, alimony (spousal support), child visitation
and attorney's fees. Only state courts have jurisdiction over
divorces, so the petitioning or complaining party can only file in
the state in which he/she is and has been a resident for a period
of time (as little as six weeks in Nevada). In most states the
period from original filing for divorce, serving the petition on
the other party and final judgment (or decree) takes several
months to allow for a chance to reconcile.
Docket: The calendar schedule of the court.
Docket Number: The number assigned by a
court to a civil or criminal case. It is used to identify all
court actions and it appears on all documents filed with the court
in a specific case.
Domicile: The place where a person has been
physically present with the intent to make that place a permanent
home. A "residence," on the other hand, is the place
where you are living at a particular time. A person can have more
than one residence, but only one domicile.
Dower: A wife's common law right to inherit
from her husband.
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Consultwebs.com, Inc., All rights reserved. Family / Divorce Law
Glossary.
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