Glossary
Divorce
– a court judgment that causes a marriage to cease to exist. See the consequences of divorce.
Separation
– a court judgment that in practice causes a marriage to cease to exist, but a new marriage cannot be entered into. See the effects of separation and the differences between separation and divorce.
Breakdown of marital cohabitation
– means that the spouses no longer have an emotional bond (they simply do not love each other), a physical bond (physical contacts have ceased), and an economic bond (they do not live together or run a joint household). See guilt for the breakdown of life.
Alimony
– in practice, a monetary amount paid every month. The amount of maintenance may change depending on the needs of the entitled person as well as the earning and financial capacity of the person obliged to pay maintenance. See the amount of child support.
Parental responsibility
– a collective term for parents’ duties and rights towards a child, grouped into three elements: caring for the child, managing the child’s property, and representing the child. Parental authority may be limited, terminated, suspended or otherwise changed only by a court. See parental authority in a matter of divorce or separation.
Contacts
– regardless of parental authority, parents and their child have the right and responsibility to maintain contact with each other. Contacts with a child include, in particular, being with the child (visits, meetings, taking the child outside their habitual residence) and direct communication, correspondence, and other means of distance communication, including electronic means. See contact.