Family Law Glossary of Terms
Are you going through a divorce or child placement/custody trial and don’t understand the language being used? Here’s our Family Law Glossary of Terms to help you out.
Family Law Glossary of Terms:
Guardian Ad Litem (GAL): Attorney appointed to represent the best interest of the child(ren). Their interest is to do “what is best for the child(ren).”
Financial Disclosure Statement (FDS): A record containing financial and professional information about the filer and his or her spouse for a calendar year.
Marital Settlement Agreement (MSA): Written agreements between a husband and wife that resolve all issues regarding child custody and placement, division of marital property, and division of marital debts.
Child Support Agency (CSA): A government agency that helps parents get court orders for financial and medical support for their children.
Family Court Commissioner (FCC): A Court Official responsible for the overall administration of the office.
Maintenance (Alimony): is monthly payment of money from one spouse to the other during or after a divorce.
Annulment: A marriage can be dissolved in a legal proceeding in which the marriage is declared void, as though it never took place.
Contempt: A failure to follow a court order. One side can request that the court determine that the other side is in contempt and punish him or her.
Custody – Sole & Joint: The legal arrangements for whom a child will live with and how decisions about the child will be made. Custody has two parts: legal and physical. Legal custody is the decision-making part: physical custody refers to where the child lives on a regular basis. Generally, the parent that the child does not live with will be allowed to have regular visits with the child. Custody is “best interest of the child”.
Affidavit: A written statement under oath.
Agreement: A verbal or written resolution of disputed issues.
Filing: Officially submitting your papers to the clerk of Court.
Petitioner: The one that filed the legal action.
Respondent: The person receiving the legal action.
Mediator: A neutral third-party who attempts to help people involved in a conflict come to an agreement.
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Lisa Derr
Lisa Derr is an experienced Divorce and Family Mediator with three offices in east central Wisconsin. She started the family mediation practice in 1995. Lisa earned her BA in psychology from the University of Wisconsin in 1984 in four years despite a serious car accident that involved a 2-month hospital stay. She began practicing law in 1987. For the first 8 years of her career, Lisa litigated personal injury and divorce cases. But she was frustrated with the tremendous financial and emotional cost of divorce trials. Contested hearings inhibited reconciliation and healing for thewhole family. She started the Beaver Dam divorce mediation practice in 1995 and with her partner, Cassel Villarreal, expanded to Oshkosh and West Bend ten years later.