GLOSSARY/DEFINITIONS OF FAMILY LAW TERMS
Following are definitions of some of the terms you will hear frequently during the course of your case. Familiarize yourself with these
definitions to avoid confusion and misunderstandings. If you are unclear about words or expressions being used by your lawyer or in
legal documents, ask for clarification. Do not assume anything.
Action: A lawsuit or some other legal proceeding.
Affidavit: A written statement made under oath. It is signed by the "affiant" in the presence of a Notary Public.
Answer: A document filed with the court in response to a lawsuit.
Asset: Anything owned by you and your spouse. (Ex: real estate, cars, retirement benefits, etc.)
Bench Trial: A trial to the judge rather than to a jury.
Characterization: The process of determining whether property is separate or community property.
Closely Held Business: A privately owned business. Ex: A family business.
Commingling: The process of mixing together separate and community funds. When it is not possible to segregate out the
community funds from the separate funds in a commingled account, the presumption is that all funds are community property.
Common Law Marriage: This happens when a man and woman who are free to marry agree to live together as husband and wife,
they live together as husband and wife in Texas, and they represent to others that they are married.
Contempt: Failure to follow a court order, punishable by fine and/or imprisonment.
Contested Issues: Issues that the parties cannot agree upon are contested and must be resolved by a court or jury.
Contingent Asset: An asset that you may acquire at a later date, such as a settlement in a lawsuit or a potential cause of action or
claim against a third party.
Continuance: The postponement of a trial or hearing.
Corroborating Witness: A witness who backs up your testimony.
Counter-Petition: An action filed by the respondent after being served with a petition.
Default: A party's failure to answer a motion or petition after having been properly served. This inaction could result in the entry of a
final order without notice to the person being served with the motion or petition.
Deferred Compensation: Includes pensions, annuities which are payable at a future time and other forms of deferred income.
Divorce Decree: The final document which contains all the agreements of the parties and/or orders of the court with regard to
child related issues and property division. The final decree is signed by the judge and becomes the court order. This is the
document which grants the divorce.
Discovery: A method of getting information from the other side or from third parties.
Dissolution: The legal end of a marriage.
Docket: The court's list of cases scheduled to be heard on a specific day.
Enjoined: When a person is required by the court to do or to not do a specific act.
Ex Parte: A communication with the judge by only one party or his/her attorney. This is strictly prohibited in most cases.
Expert Witness: A person qualified in a certain area who is allowed to give his/her opinion to the court. Examples are
psychologists and appraisers.
Fault: A determination as to which spouse is responsible for the breakup of the marriage. Texas is a no-fault state; however, fault
is often alleged in order to support a request for a disproportionate division of the community estate.
Filing: Giving the clerk of the court your legal papers so that they can be filed in the court's file. Generally requires a fee payable to
the clerk.
Forensic Accountant: This person prepares an investigation of finances and/or traces assets for the purpose of discovering
information in a lawsuit, and testifies in court as to his/her findings.
Hearing: A legal proceeding before a judge or associate judge on an ancillary matter i.e. a motion or request other than the final
trial.
Injunction: A court order prohibiting a person from doing a specific act.
Joint Managing Conservatorship: The sharing of the rights and duties of a parent by two parties, ordinarily the parents, even if the
exclusive right to make certain decisions may be awarded to one party.
Jurisdiction: The power of a particular court to hear a case.
Market Value: The typical measure of an object's value. Defined as the amount a willing buyer who wants to buy the item but is
under no obligation to buy would pay to a willing seller who desires to sell but is under no duty to sell.
Obligee: A person or entity entitled to receive payments of child support, including an agency of this state or of another jurisdiction
to which a person has assigned the person's right to support.
Obligor: A person required to make payments under the terms of a support order for a child.
Order: A final order unless identified as a temporary order or the context clearly requires a different meaning. The term includes a
decree and a judgment.
Party: A person involved in a court case, typically a petitioner or a respondent.
Paternity/Parentage Suit: Filed for the purpose of determining whether a particular individual is the father of a child.
Petition: The legal document that starts a court case when it is filed.
Petitioner: A person who files a petition.
Pleadings: The legal documents filed in a court case.
Primary Residence: The home where the child will spend most of his/her time.
Pro Se Litigant: A party to a lawsuit who represents himself/herself without benefit of counsel.
Qualified Domestic Relations Order ("QDRO"): A Court order used to divide retirement benefits upon divorce.
Render: The pronouncement by a judge of the court's ruling on a matter. The pronouncement may be made orally in the presence
of the court reporter or in writing, including on the court's docket sheet or by a separate written instrument.
Respondent: The person who a lawsuit is filed against.
Response: A written reply to a petition or a motion.
Retainer: An amount of money charged by an attorney before he/she begins working on a client's case.
Ruling: A court's decision.
School: A primary or secondary school in which a child is enrolled, or if the child is not enrolled in a primary or secondary school,
the public school district in which the child primarily resides.
Service: Refers to service of citation of a lawsuit upon the respondent after the lawsuit has been filed with the court. With personal
service (the typical type of service) the paperwork is hand delivered by a constable/sheriff or private process server to the respondent.
Standard Possession Order: An order that provides a person, ordinarily a parent, with rights of possession of a child in accordance
with the terms and conditions set out in the Texas Family Code.
State Disbursement Unit: The registry that has responsibility for maintaining records with respect to child support orders.
Suit Affecting the Parent-Child Relationship: A suit in which the appointment of a managing conservator (sole or joint) and/or a
possessory conservator, access to or support of a child, or establishment or termination of the parent-child relationship is requested.
Temporary Hearing: A hearing before the court which deals with matters that affect the parties and their children during the course
of the litigation. Ex: Custody, support, visitation, use of property, etc.
Temporary Order: The court order that results after a temporary hearing.
Texas Family Code: The law dealing with marriage, divorce, and child related issues.
Trial: The final hearing at which all contested issues are decided.
Venue: The location of the court where the case is filed i.e. the county where filed.
Waiver of Citation: A document signed by the Respondent, in the presence of a notary public, acknowledging that he/she does not
want to be formally served with citation. The document also acknowledges receipt of a copy of the petition for divorce.
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PAMELA A. CALHOUN Attorney & Counselor at Law Lyric Centre 440 Louisiana, Suite 900 Houston, Texas 77002 713-236-7793 Office 713-236-7748 Fax pcalhoun@pdq.net BOARD CERTIFIED-FAMILY LAW TEXAS BOARD OF LEGAL SPECIALIZATION |