How to use this family law glossary
Family law matters are confusing and can be difficult to navigate. This family law glossary defines 92 terms that come up in Missouri divorce, custody, support, adoption and order of protection cases. Search for a single word, or browse by letter.
Every definition here is written for the person reading their own court paperwork, not for another attorney. The language is usually the first barrier in a family law case, and a good family law glossary is the fastest way past it. If a term in your documents is not in this glossary, call our office and we will explain what it means in your situation.
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A · B · C · D · E · F · G · H · I · J · K · L · M · N · O · P · Q · R · S · T · U · V · W · X · Y · Z
A · B · C · D · E · F · G · H · I · J · K · L · M · N · O · P · Q · R · S · T · U · V · W · X · Y · Z
A
Abatement of Child Support
A temporary reduction or suspension of a child support obligation. A Missouri court may order one when circumstances change or when a parent has been wrongfully denied court ordered parenting time.
Adoption
Legal rights and duties of parenting are transferred from the biological parents or the court system to a new parent or set of parents.
Adult Order of Protection
This order can be filed to protect anyone over the age of 17 who was threatened, abused, or stalked.
Affidavit
A written statement of facts signed under oath. Missouri family courts rely on affidavits for income, expenses, assets, and debts.
Agency Adoption
This is the most common way to adopt. Agencies facilitate adoption and provide assistance throughout the entire process. The agency can be private or public.
Alimony
The everyday word for what Missouri law actually calls maintenance. Courts and filings use the term maintenance, so the two mean the same thing here.
Annulment
A court order declaring that a marriage was never legally valid in the first place, which is different from a divorce that ends a valid marriage. Missouri grants these only in narrow circumstances.
Answer
The written response a respondent files after being served with a petition. It admits or denies each allegation and can raise the respondent’s own requests.
Attorney Fees Award
Missouri courts can order one spouse to pay part or all of the other spouse’s legal fees after weighing the financial resources of both parties and the conduct of each during the case.
B
C
Case Management Conference
An early court setting where the judge or family court commissioner reviews the status of a case, sets deadlines, and schedules what comes next.
Child Order of Protection
When a child gets caught in the middle of a domestic violence dispute or is the victim, this order provides security to the child and protection from the accused party.
Child Support
When there is a divorce or the parents aren’t married, the parent who does not have sole custody of the child pays a required amount to assist with providing for the child.
Child Support Guidelines
The formula Missouri courts use to set a support amount. The calculation runs on Form 14 and factors in both parents’ income, overnights, health insurance, and child care costs.
Cohabitation
Living with a romantic partner without being married. It can matter in a family law case because it may support a request to modify or terminate maintenance.
Collaborative Divorce
A process where both spouses and their attorneys agree in writing to settle without going to trial. If the process breaks down, both attorneys withdraw and the parties start over with new counsel.
Commingling
Mixing separate property with marital property, such as depositing an inheritance into a joint account. Commingling can make otherwise separate property harder to protect in a divorce.
Common Law Marriage
Missouri does not recognize common law marriage. No matter how long a couple lives together in this state, they do not become legally married without a license and ceremony. Missouri will, however, honor a valid common law marriage formed in a state that allows it.
Consent Judgment
A judgment the court enters based on terms both parties agreed to rather than terms a judge decided after trial. Most Missouri family law cases end this way.
Contempt of Court
When a party does not follow the decision or does not pay the mandated fees after a custody, domestic violence, or divorce case, they are in “contempt of court.” This brings the problem into the eyes of the court.
Contested Divorce
When a divorce case goes to trial and there are disagreements, this would be considered to be contested.
Custody Evaluation
An assessment by a court appointed professional who interviews the parents and children, reviews records, and recommends a custody arrangement to the court.
D
Decree
The final written order that ends a case. In Missouri a divorce decree is formally called a judgment of dissolution of marriage.
Default Judgment
A judgment entered when the respondent fails to answer or appear after being properly served. The court can grant what the petition requested without hearing the other side.
Deposition
Sworn out of court testimony taken by an attorney, recorded by a court reporter, and usable later at trial. Both spouses can be deposed in a contested case.
Discovery
The formal exchange of information before trial. It includes interrogatories, requests for documents, depositions, and subpoenas, and it is where most of the work in a contested case happens.
Dissipation of Marital Assets
Wasting, hiding, or spending marital money for a purpose unrelated to the marriage, often once a divorce is on the horizon. Courts can account for it when dividing property.
Dissolution of Marriage
The formal Missouri legal name for divorce. Every Missouri divorce case is technically a petition for dissolution of marriage.
Divorce
The dissolution of marriage by the court. When this occurs, the obligations and privileges that accompany marriage are now null and void.
Docket
The court’s calendar and the running record of everything filed and ordered in a case.
Domestic Violence
Any attempt to attack or assault another member of your family or household. This includes stalking, sexual assault, kidnapping, and harassment.
E
Emancipation
A child under the age of 18 becomes emancipated and parental legal obligations cease. This would include child support.
Equitable Distribution
The standard Missouri uses to divide marital property. Equitable means fair given the circumstances, which does not always mean an even split down the middle.
Estate Plan
When you create an estate plan, you decide what will happen to your property and assets after you die. After divorcing, it is important to readdress your estate plan to make sure your property is going to proper parties, possibly not including your former spouse.
Ex Parte Order of Protection
When a victim of domestic violence, the court date sometimes does not come soon enough. When a victim is in danger, this temporary order is issued to keep the victim safe until the hearing.
Exchange Center Program
This is a Court regulated place where parents can exchange the children during a custody switch.
F
Family Court Commissioner
A judicial officer who hears family law cases in Missouri circuit courts. A commissioner’s findings become the judgment of the court unless a party timely requests a rehearing before a judge.
Family Support Division
The Missouri state agency that establishes, collects, and enforces child support, often shortened to FSD. It can act separately from your court case.
Foreign Order of Protection
When you move across the state border, while having a Full Order of Protection, your Order would be deemed foreign in the new state of residence.
Form 14
The worksheet Missouri courts use to calculate the presumed child support amount. A judge can set the Form 14 number aside if the result would be unjust or inappropriate.
Full Order of Protection
One year legal protection for victims of abuse, harassment, or stalking from a member of their household.
G
Grandparent Visitation
Missouri allows grandparents to petition for visitation in defined situations, including when a grandchild has been unreasonably denied contact for a period set by statute. It is a narrow right, not an automatic one.
Guardian ad Litem
An attorney the court appoints to represent the best interests of a child, often shortened to GAL. Missouri requires one when abuse or neglect is alleged in a custody case.
Guardianship
A court arrangement giving an adult the legal authority to care for a child or an incapacitated adult when a parent cannot. It is different from adoption because it does not permanently sever parental rights.
H
Home State
The state where a child has lived for the six months before a custody case is filed. It determines which state’s courts have authority to decide custody.
I
Imputed Income
Income a court assigns to a parent who is unemployed or underemployed on purpose. The support calculation then runs on what that parent could reasonably earn rather than what they actually report.
Income Withholding Order
A court order directing an employer to deduct child support or maintenance straight from a paycheck and send it on. This is the default method of collection in Missouri.
Independent Placement Adoption
Sometimes called a private adoption, this occurs when parents looking to adopt find birth parents on their own and do not operate through an agency or state organization.
Interrogatories
Written questions one party sends the other during discovery, which must be answered in writing and under oath.
Interstate Adoption
When parents are adopting a child from another state, there are certain regulations they must follow, not only in the state they reside in, but in the state they are adopting from.
Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children
The agreement among all states, often shortened to ICPC, that governs moving a child across state lines for adoption or foster placement. It adds required approvals and time to an interstate adoption.
J
Joint Legal Custody
Both parents share the decision making rights and responsibilities for the health, education, and welfare of the child. Joint legal custody says nothing about where the child sleeps.
Joint Physical Custody
Each parent has significant, but not necessarily equal, periods of time during which the child resides with or is under the care of that parent. The goal is frequent, continuing, and meaningful contact with both.
Judgment
The court’s final written decision in a case. Once entered it is enforceable, and violating it can lead to a contempt action.
K
L
Legal Custody
The authority to make major decisions for a child, including schooling, medical care, and religious upbringing. It is separate from physical custody.
Legal Separation
This is quite similar to divorce, however, the main difference is that couples can more easily reunite down the road. Some have the misconception that a couple must be legally separated before divorcing. A legal separation can be motioned to become a divorce after 90 days, however.
M
Maintenance
The Missouri legal term for spousal support, what most people call alimony. A court weighs the requesting spouse’s needs and the other spouse’s ability to pay, and can make an award modifiable or non modifiable.
Marital Debt
Debt taken on during the marriage, which is generally divided along with the assets. Whose name is on the account does not automatically settle who pays it.
Marital Property
Property and assets acquired by either spouse during the marriage, which is what a court divides in a divorce. Retirement accounts, equity built during the marriage, and business interests usually fall in this bucket.
Mediation
A settlement process where a neutral third party helps both sides work toward agreement. Many Missouri family courts order mediation before setting a contested case for trial.
Modification
Changing an existing custody, child support, or maintenance order. It generally requires showing a substantial and continuing change in circumstances since the last order.
Motion
A written request asking the court to do something specific in a pending or closed case, such as modify support, enforce an order, or set a temporary arrangement.
Motion for Family Access
When custody dispute decisions are not followed, it is best to get the court involved by filing a motion for family access. This will cause a speedy hearing to figure out the issues and reprimand the misbehaving parties.
N
Non-Marital Property
Property that stays with one spouse rather than being divided, typically what a spouse owned before the marriage or received during it by gift or inheritance. Also called separate property.
O
P
Parent Education Classes
When parents are going through a divorce, legal separation, or paternity case, these education classes are mandated by Missouri courts.
Parenting Plan
The written document setting out custody, the parenting time schedule, holidays, exchanges, decision making, and how support gets paid. Missouri requires one in every case involving children.
Parenting Time
The scheduled periods each parent spends with the child under the parenting plan. It is the modern term for what older orders called visitation.
Paternity
This is the proof that a father is the biological parent of a child.
Pendente Lite
Latin for while the case is pending, often shortened to PDL. A PDL order sets temporary custody, support, or fees to hold things steady until the case is finished.
Petition
The document that opens a case and states what the filing party is asking the court to do.
Petitioner
The spouse or parent who files the case first. Being the petitioner carries no advantage in the outcome.
Physical Custody
Where the child actually lives and which parent is responsible day to day. It is separate from legal custody.
Postnuptial Agreement
When a couple is married but does not have a prenuptial agreement, they can create a plan for assets and property, just in case the marriage ends. An example of this is property division.
Prenuptial Agreement
Before a marriage, this provides a plan for assets and property in case the marriage ends.
Presumed Child Support Amount
The number the Form 14 calculation produces, often shortened to PCSA. A court starts there and can adjust it if the amount would be unjust or inappropriate.
Pro Se
Representing yourself in court without an attorney. Missouri courts hold pro se parties to the same rules and deadlines as lawyers.
Q
Qualified Domestic Relations Order
A separate court order, often shortened to QDRO, that divides a retirement plan between spouses without triggering early withdrawal penalties. A divorce judgment alone usually will not move the money.
R
Relocation
Moving a child’s residence in a way that affects the other parent’s time. Missouri requires written notice to the other parent by certified mail at least sixty days in advance, and the other parent has thirty days to object.
Respondent
The spouse or parent who is served with the petition and responds to it. The label says nothing about fault.
Right of First Refusal
A parenting plan provision requiring a parent who needs child care for a set block of time to offer that time to the other parent before calling anyone else.
S
Separate Property
Another name for non-marital property, meaning assets a court does not divide between the spouses.
Service of Process
The formal delivery of court papers to the other party, usually by a sheriff or private process server. A case generally cannot move forward until service is complete.
Sole Custody
An arrangement where one parent holds legal custody, physical custody, or both. The other parent typically still has scheduled parenting time.
Spousal Support
After a divorce or separation, some parties are required to provide money or other support to their former spouse.
Subpoena
A court order compelling someone to produce documents or appear to testify. It is how attorneys obtain records from banks, employers, and other third parties.
Supervised Visitation
Parenting time that happens in the presence of an approved third party or at a designated facility. Courts order it when there are safety concerns.
T
Temporary Restraining Order
A victim of domestic violence can be in danger of further violence while waiting for the trial determining whether or not they receive an Order of Protection. In this case, a temporary restraining order is provided.
Termination of Parental Rights
A court order permanently ending the legal relationship between a parent and a child. It is required before a stepparent or agency adoption can be finalized.
Third Party Custody
Custody granted to someone other than a parent, such as a grandparent or relative. A Missouri court can order it when both parents are unfit or unsuitable, or when the welfare of the child requires it.
U
Uncontested Divorce
When a couple comes to agreement and the divorce does not go to trial, it is deemed uncontested. This lessens costs and provides for a more amicable process.
Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act
The law, often shortened to UCCJEA, that decides which state has authority over a custody case when parents live in different states. It exists to stop parents from forum shopping.
V
Valuation Date
The date used to set the value of an asset for division. Choosing it matters when a house, business, or retirement account has moved a lot in value during the case.
Visitation
This is the court given right of a parent or grandparent to temporarily visit with a child. This is commonly given during or after custody disputes.
W
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Where the terms in this family law glossary come from
Most of the terms in this family law glossary are defined or used directly in Chapter 452 of the Missouri Revised Statutes, which covers dissolution of marriage, custody and support. Orders of protection sit in Chapter 455. You can read the statutory text yourself on the Missouri Revisor of Statutes site, and court forms and self help materials are published by the Missouri Courts.
A family law glossary tells you what a word means. It cannot tell you how a judge in your county is likely to apply it, which is usually the question underneath the question. Bardol Law Firm handles family law and nothing else, in St. Louis County, St. Louis City, St. Charles County and Jefferson County. We generally return calls within one business day.
Contact Bardol Law Firm or call 314.918.0100.
This family law glossary is general information, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney client relationship. The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements.