| A | B |
|---|
| adoption | legally taking another's child as ones's own |
| annullment | judicial declaration that a marriage never existed |
| emancipation | release by parents of their parental rights |
| financial responsibility | proof of the ability to pay at least a specified minumum amount of damages if a fault in an auto accident |
| guardian | person who acts in place of parents |
| guardian ad litem | adult named to sue or defend on behalf of a minor |
| juvenile delinquent | a child under a specified age who commits a criminal act or is incorrigible |
| majority | age at which one is legally bound to contracts |
| minor | person who is under the age to have full adult rights and duties |
| reckless driving | driving by anyone who fails to exercise reasonable care, unreasonably interferes with the use of a public road by other, or deliberately disregards his or her own safety or that of others |
| truants | minors who do not attend school when lawfully required to do so |
| administrator | (male) court-appointed representative of an intestate |
| administratrix | (female) court-appointed representative of an intestate |
| alimony | support paid by the wage earner of the family to the other spouse according to the terms of the separation agreement |
| annulled | declared legally void |
| bigamist | a person who knowingly marries a second spouse while still married to the first |
| codicil | a modification of a will, executed with the same formality of the will, witnessed... |
| common law marriage | a marriage recongnized by law, when a single woman and a single man live together, share common property, and hold themselves out as husband and wife over a prolonged period of time |
| divorce | a court action that terminates a marriage and divides the property and remaining responsibility between the parties |
| estate | all the property owned by a decedent at death |
| executor | (male) personal representative named by the testator to carry out the directions in the will |
| executrix | (female) personal representative named by the testator to carry out the directions in the will |
| holographic will | will written entirely n the testator's or testatrix's own handwriting |
| intestate | one who dies without a valid will |
| marital consortium | the mutual obligations, both practical and legal, of the husband and wife in a marriage contract |
| no fault divorce | divorce granted without any listing of grievances or attempt to establish blame |
| nuncupative will | an oral will proclaimed during the maker's last illness, or by service personnel on active duty, which must be witnessed, and is often limited to controlling distribution of personal property |
| prenuptial contract | a contract by which the marital partners to be typically give up any future claim they might have to part or all of the other's property |
| separation | the fist step toward divorce, in which the spouses maintain separate living quarters, but their marital rights and obligations remain intact |
| testamentary capacity | knowlege by the maker of a will of the kind anmd extent of the property involved and the person who stand to benefit, and awareness that he or she is making arrangements to dispose of his or her property after death |
| testamentary intent | clear intention to make one's will, free of pressure or undue influece from others |
| testate | leaving a valid will upon death |
| testator | (male) person who makes a will |
| testatrix | (female) person who makes a will |
| void marriage | a marraige which occurs whenever laws are violated by the matrimonial union; considered invalid from the beginning |
| voidable marriage | a marriage contract having fraudulent grounds which may end the marriage; the contract remains valid until termination |
| will | legal expression of how a person's property is to be distributed after the person dies |
