Glossary - Family Law
In Family Law
To serve a document by regular service means you have to give a copy of that document to your partner or their lawyer by either:
- courier
- document exchange
- fax
There are rules about how to serve a document by regular service that depend on how you serve the document. For example, you can serve a document by electronic document exchange or email only if the person you are serving agrees or you have a court order that allows you to serve documents this way.
Most documents can be served by regular service. In some cases, such as when you are starting a court case, you have to serve your document by special service.
In Family Law
The respondent is the party responding to the family law court case started against them. The party who starts the court case is called the applicant.
In Family Law
The responding party is the person responding to a motion. The moving party is the person asking the court to make an order after a motion.
In Criminal Law, Family Law, Housing Law
A restraining order is a court order that limits what a person can do in any way the family court thinks is appropriate to your situation. The order might limit where a person can go, or who they can contact or communicate with. For example, it can say one or more of these things:
- your partner cannot come within 500 metres of you and your children
- your partner cannot talk to or contact you or your children except through an agency or another person
- your partner cannot come within 500 metres of your home and work
In Family Law
Retroactive support is child support or spousal support that you should have received before you started your court case, but did not get.
In Abuse and Family Violence, Criminal Law, Family Law, Immigration Law
A sentence is a punishment given to someone found guilty of an offence. A sentence for an adult can include jail time, but it doesn’t have to. A sentence can also include a fine or a period of probation. Sentences for youth are different.
In Family Law
A separation agreement, sometimes called a domestic contract, is a written contract that partners can make after they have separated or divorced that says how they will deal with their issues. For example, it can say how much spousal support and child support one partner will pay the other, and who will have custody of or access to the children. A separation agreement can deal with some or all of your family law issues.
In Family Law, Housing Law, Human Rights, Tribunals and Courts
Give or deliver a document to someone. Usually the law says how you can give or deliver the document, who has to get it, and the deadline by which they have to get it.
In Family Law, Tribunals and Courts
A settlement conference is a meeting between a judge, the parties, and their lawyers if they have any. The purposes of a settlement conference include:
- talking about ways to solve those issues without going to a trial
- if possible, obtaining the judge’s view of how the court might decide the case
- thinking about any matter that may help solve the case
In Family Law
Shared care, also called shared custody, is when children live at least 40% of the time with each parent. Shared custody may affect how much child support is paid.
