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Divorce Glossary

The Inside Divorce glossary should help you to understand the legal jargon associated with the separation and divorce process.

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Abduction: The wrongful removal of a child from the person who has the legal care of him or her.

Absolute ownership: Unconditional and unrestricted ownership.

ACAS: Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service, set up in 1975 to support collective bargaining and work to improve employer/employee relations.

Access: Now called 'contact'.

Accounting Reference Date: The date a company's annual return to Companies House is made up.

Acknowledgment of Service: The document that the Respondent receives with the Petition. He or she must sign and return it to confirm that they know about the Petition.

Acquittal: A finding by a criminal court that the accused is not guilty of the offence for which he has been tried.

Adjournment: Postponing an event, such as a court case or a company meeting, to a later date.

Admission: The acceptance that a fact or statement is true which then, in court proceedings, cannot be denied without the court's permission.

ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution)ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution): A mediation procedure that has, since 1999, been encouraged by the courts to avoid cases taking up the courts' time when they could be settled.

Adultery: Sexual intercourse between a married person and someone of the opposite sex.

Adverse possession: The possession of property without the permission of the owner. If this continues for a sufficient time, not secretly but openly for all the world to see, the owner may be prevented from claiming it back.

Affidavit: A written statement to be used in court, the truth of which has been sworn or affirmed by the person making it.

Allotment: The issue of new shares in the capital of the company or the shares themselves

Ancillary Relief: Financial arrangements made by the court in consequence of a divorce.

Annulment: Invalidity; especially a declaration that a marriage has never existed in law because of some basic defect like bigamy.

Answer: A defence to a Petition by the Respondent (rarely used, as it is very expensive to defend a Petition).

Appeal: To ask a higher court or authority to change the decision of a lower one.

Application: A document which sets out what the court is being asked to do.

Arrangement Fees: Fees payable to lenders for arranging a loan. They may be added to the loan or paid upon completion.

Assets: Any description of property or rights other than land or an interest in land.

Attachment of earnings order: A court order obtained by a creditor to make a debtor's employer deduct and hand over to the creditor a proportion of the debtor's earnings to pay off the debt.

Authorised share capital: The nominal value of the share capital of a company. It cannot issue shares to a greater value without a special resolution to increase it.


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