Glossary - Family Law
In Family Law
A pension plan administrator is a person or a group of people, who manage a pension fund. They are responsible for many things, including giving plan members certain information and making pension payments to them. A pension plan brochure or annual pension statement usually has contact information for its pension plan administrator.
In Family Law
Primary residence is the place where your child lives most of the time.
Probation can be something a criminal court orders that you have to do as part of your sentence. A sentence is the punishment the court gives you if you’re found guilty.
Probation usually comes with conditions. For example, you may have to report to a probation officer or go to a drug treatment program.
In Family Law
A procedural order is an order for something that helps move your case along. For example, an order that has a timeline for you and your partner to exchange certain documents, or an order that gives you more time to file documents with the court.
In Family Law, Tribunals and Courts
A process server is someone who is in the business of serving or giving documents to a party involved in a court case. To find process servers in your area, look in the yellow pages or visit www.canada411.ca and search for “process server”.
In Family Law
Property division is the process of dividing a married couple’s assets and debts. This usually happens after they separate or divorce.
Married couples usually share the value of their property. This means that the partner who has more property usually pays money to the partner who has less property. Usually, the property itself is not physically divided.
This is not true for people in a common-law relationship. They usually don’t have to share the value of their property if they separate.
In Abuse and Family Violence, Child abuse and neglect, Family Law
A protection application is when the Children’s Aid Society starts a court case against a child’s parent because they think that the child is in need of protection.
In Family Law
Re-examination is when a party, or their lawyer if they have one, gets to question their own witnesses again. This is done after direct examination and cross-examination. They can only ask the witness about anything new that was discussed in cross-examination.
In Family Law
Reasonable arrangements for the children mean that money or financial plans have been made to look after the children from a marriage. For example, plans have been made for child support.
In Family Law
Reasons for judgment is a judge’s written or oral explanation of a decision they have made. If a judge gives oral reasons, they read the reasons for judgment out loud in court. The parties may order a transcript from the court to get a copy of the judge’s reasons.
