Family Exam Flashcards
(22 cards)
Adultery
Voluntary sexual intercourse by a married person with someone other than his or her spouse.
Annulment
A court ruling that a relationship was never a marriage.
Applicant
The spouse initiating a divorce action, as opposed to the respondent.
Best interest of the child
The principle upon which a judge makes a decision regarding custody of and access to children.
Child abuse
Any behaviour that endangers a childs physical, mental, or moral well being, includimg physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and neglect.
Common law relationship
A close relationship between two people who live together as a married couple but who are not legally married.
Custody
In criminal law, actual imprisonment or physical detention; in family law, the care and control of a child awarded by court.
Divorce
The legal dissolution or ending of a marriage.
Marriage Breakdown
The only ground for divorce under the Divorce Act, 1985
Monogamy
The state of being married to only one person at a time.
Separation
A partial dissolution of a marriage in which the spouses live separate and apart.
Solemnization of Marriage
The various steps and procedures, including the ceremony, leading to the marriage.
Cohabitation
The act of living together without being married.
Domestic contract
The cohabitation agreement, marriage contract, or separation agreement; made between two partners in a relationship and concerning property and obligations to each other.
Equalization
The process of dividing the value of property equally between spouses when they divorce.
Family Asset
Property owned by one or both spouses and ordinarily used and enjoyed for family purposes by the spouses and/or any children; as opposed to non-family assets.
Maintenance
Another term for spousal support.
Matrimonial Home
The home in which the spouses live during their marriage.
Net family property
The total value of the couples assets, less any debts, on the date of separation; a figure needed to calculate any equalization payments.
Self-sufficient
To be able to support oneself financially; a consideration of the Divorce Act that each spouse has an obligation to support herself or himself within a reasonable period of time after divorce.
Separate property system
An approach to the division of family property that allows each spouse to own and control property as though a single person.
Spousal support
Financial assistance paid by one spouse to another after a relationship or marriage breakdown; also called maintenance.
