| A | B |
|---|
| parenting plan | A document made between the parents going through a dissolution or legal separation regarding the arrangements for the children such as legal and physical custody. |
| paternity | The state of being a father. |
| paternity suit | A lawsuit filed to determine the father of a child and if paternity is confirmed, provide for the support of the child. |
| petition for dissolution | Initial document in a dissolution proceeding. |
| petitioner | Initiating party, including plaintiff. |
| physical custody | A parent's rights concerning the residence of the child. |
| prenuptial or antenuptial agreement | One entered into by prospective spouses prior to marriage but in contemplation and in consideration thereof. |
| PKPA | Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act of 1980 |
| pro se | Term used to designate a person who represents himself in court. |
| property settlement | The provisions for dividing property owned by a married couple at the time of their separation. |
| putative | Alleged, supposed; reputed. |
| putative father | Alleged father. |
| putative spouse | A person who lives with another person of the opposite sex and believes in good faith that she/he has a common law marriage. |
| reconcile | To adjust, make, agree, as a bank statement and a check register. In family law, to resume-after a separation-full marital relations. |
| rehabilitative maintenance | Support paid by one spouse to the other for a physical or vocational disability. |
| residential plan | A document made between the parents going through a dissolution or legal separation regarding the arrangements for the physical custody of the child(ren). |
| respondent | The party against whom a dissolution of marriage proceeding is initiated, including defendant. |
| response | Initial pleading of a respondent in a no-fault proceeding. |
| restraining order | A court order made upon the request of one party forbidding the other party to do something. |
| separate property | Property acquired prior to marriage or during marriage that is owned exclusively by either the husband or wife. |
| spousal maintenance/alimony | An allowance that a spouse pays for the support of the other spouse. |
| stepchild | The child of one of the spouses by a former marriage not adopted by the other spouse. |
| temporary restraining order | An emergency remedy of brief duration issued by a court only in exceptional circumstances, usually when immediate or irreparable damage or loss might result before the opposition could take action. |
| UCCJEA | Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Enforcement Act of 2004 is designed to deter interstate parental kidnapping. |
| UIFSA | Uniform Interstate Family Support Act of 1996; an act adopted by the majority of states to enforce duties of support in foreign jurisdictions. |
| uniform laws | Laws in various subject areas, approved by the Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, that are often adopted, in whole or substantially, by individual states; their purpose being to make the laws on various subjects uniform throughout the states. |
| visitation rights | In a marriage dissolution or custody action, the right granted by the court that allows or permits a noncustodial parent to visit child or children. |
