separate property. 1. Property that a spouse owned before marriage or acquired during marriage by inheritance or by gift from a third party, and in some states property acquired during marriage but after the spouses have entered into a separation agreement and have begun living apart or after one spouse has commenced a divorce action. […]
A privilege, based on the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers, that exempts the executive branch of the federal government from usual disclosure requirements when the matter to be disclosed involves national security or foreign policy. Cf. executive immunity under IMMUNITY(1). [Cases: Witnesses 216. C.J.S. Witnesses §§ 361–364.]
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marital agreement. An agreement between spouses or two people engaged to be married concerning the division and ownership of marital property during marriage or upon dissolution by death or divorce; esp. a premarital contract or separation agreement primarily concerned with dividing marital property in the event of divorce. — Also termed marriage settlement; property settlement.
severance pay. Money (apart from back wages or salary) paid by an employer to a dismissed employee. • Such a payment is often made in exchange for a release of any claims that the employee might have against the employer. — Also termed separation pay; dismissal compensation. [Cases: Master and Servant 72. C.J.S. Employer–Employee Relationship
joint and several, adj. (Of liability, responsibility, etc.) apportionable either among two or more parties or to only one or a few select members of the group, at the adversary’s discretion; together and in separation. [Cases: Contracts 181; Torts 22. C.J.S. Contracts §§ 366, 371; Torts §§ 39–44.]
A trust in which the payor spouse transfers to the trustee property from which the payee spouse, as beneficiary, will be supported after a divorce or separation.
divorce agreement. A contractual agreement that sets out divorcing spouses’ rights and responsibilities regarding property, alimony, custody, visitation, and child support. • The divorce agreement usu. becomes incorporated by court order as a part of the divorce decree and thus is enforceable by contempt, among other remedies. — Also termed agreement incident to divorce; marital
dissolution of marriage. 1. DIVORCE. 2. Archaic. A divorce-like remedy available when both spouses have signed a separation agreement that deals with (1) the issue of alimony (providing either some or none), and (2) if there are children, the issues of support, custody, and visitation. • Under a dissolution of marriage in this sense, the
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title of right. A court-issued decree creating, transferring, or extinguishing rights. • Examples include a decree of divorce or judicial separation, an adjudication of bankruptcy, a discharge in bankruptcy, a decree of foreclosure against a mortgagor, an order appointing or removing a trustee, and a grant of letters of administration. In all the examples listed,
An adoption in which the biological mother (sometimes with the biological father) chooses the adoptive parents and in which the child often continues to have a post-adoption relationship with his or her biological family. • Typically the birth parents meet the adoptive parents and participate in the separation and placement process. The birth parents relinquish