Breaking Up Is Hard To Do
This term refers to the legal process of dissolving a marriage.
What is divorce?
This type of custody allows both parents to share physical and legal responsibility for their children.
What is joint custody?
This is the legal process that allows a person or couple to become the legal parents of a child who is not their biological offspring.
What is adoption?
This term pertains to the physical delivery of a summons in a divorce action.
What is service of process?
This document officially starts the process of ending a marriage, detailing the grounds for divorce and other requested orders.
What is a divorce petition (or complaint)?
This is the term used when a court determines that one spouse will pay regular support payments to the other after divorce.
What is alimony?
In these situations, the parent who does not have physical custody of the child may be required to make regular payments to the custodial parent.
What is child support?
This is the term for when an adopted child's original birth certificate is replaced with one listing the adoptive parents.
What is an amended birth certificate?
This agreement, signed after a marriage, serves a similar purpose to a prenuptial agreement, adjusting terms for division of assets if the couple separates.
What is a postnuptial agreement?
This document outlines the terms of custody, visitation, and support between parents, often signed during a divorce or separation.
What is a parenting plan?
This type of divorce involves the couple agreeing on all terms and presenting their agreement to the court for approval.
What is an uncontested divorce?
This term refers to a court order granting one parent the exclusive right to make major decisions about the child's education, health care, and religion.
What is sole legal custody?
This type of adoption involves the child being placed with an adoptive family through the state child welfare system.
What is foster care adoption?
Courts may invalidate a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement if it involves this, meaning one spouse was pressured or misled into signing.
What is duress or coercion?
This is the formal document a person files to request protection from abuse, commonly issued in cases of domestic violence.
What is a protection order (or restraining order)?
A divorce based on one spouse's misconduct, like adultery, falls under this category of divorce.
What is a fault-based divorce?
This is the primary consideration in determining child custody
What are the best interests of the child?
This document legally terminates the birth parents' rights and allows the adoptive parents to assume responsibility.
What is a consent to adoption?
This type of property—like a family heirloom or inheritance—can sometimes be excluded from division in a divorce if specified in a prenuptial agreement.
What is separate property?
This agreement, typically signed before marriage, specifies how assets and debts will be divided in the event of divorce, and can help avoid lengthy litigation.
What is a prenuptial agreement?
This legal concept refers to dividing property equitably between spouses during divorce, even if the distribution is not necessarily equal.
What is equitable distribution?
A parent who has this type of custody has the child living with them full-time.
What is physical custody?
In the United States, this is the typical minimum period that must pass before an adoption is finalized, to ensure the birth parents' rights are properly relinquished.
What is six months?
In some jurisdictions, prenuptial agreements may not be enforceable if they violate this concept of fairness during a divorce.
What is unconscionability?
This court document confirms the final, binding terms of a divorce or custody arrangement after a trial or settlement.
What is a final judgment (or decree) of divorce?