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Divorce Terms You Need to Know -by UK Law Sites a Lawyers Directory

Alimony :- Money paid by court order to a former spouse post-divorcefor their daily support and maintenance. Many courts now are using rehabilitativealimony - alimony paid for a limited period of time to gain job skills, schoolingor a new job - as opposed to a lifetime grant of permanent alimony.

Alimony pendente lite :- money paid by court order to the dependentspouse during the divorce on a temporary basis, to defray some of the expenseof conducting the litigation.

Child support :- Money paid by the non-custodial parent tothe custodian to be used for the regular and daily maintenance of the child.It is not intended to cover all the expenses of the child, particularly costslike day care, special classes or private schooling. and dance/sport/musicalinstrument lessons, which may have to be paid in addition.

Costs :- Costs of litigation include fees required to filepapers at the court, deposits for master or mediation, appraisal of assets andpension plans, real estate appraisals, expert witness fees, child custody evaluation

fees :- the cost of actually conducting the litigation which are paid to thecourt or persons other than your attorney.

Counsel fees :- Money you pay your attorney and his/her officefor conducting your case.

Custody :- the care, control and maintenance of a child. Legalcustody is usually understood to be the right to have input and make decisionsregarding the child in medical, education and religious decisions. Physicalcustody is used to describe the actual physical possession of the child in thehousehold.

Divorce :- The legal separation of man and wife by court orderor decree which dissolves the marital relationship. Most states have fault groundssuch as bigamy, cruelty, insanity, and so on, and no-fault grounds of irretrievablebreakdown or irreconcilable differences

Legal separation :- Some states have a process where the partiesmay declare themselves separated and obtain a court order dividing the propertyand finances on a temporary basis until a divorce is filed and entered. Otherstates don't. Check your local laws.

Marital torts :- an additional cause of action in a divorceto obtain damages, both compensatory (to replace what you've spent) andpunitive (to punish) for incidents that one marital partner commits againstthe other such as assault and battery, by hitting or physical abuse or by knowinglyor negligently giving the other party an STD such as AIDS or herpes; false imprisonment,infliction of emotional distress (mental cruelty), harassment, fraud and destructionof evidence regarding financial information, invasion of privacy through wiretapping,and interference with custody by taking the children or not allowing visitation.These all can be filed as part of the divorce case