family & personal matters

visitation order

Court order allowing visitation privileges for a parent or other relative of a child.

Visitation rights are limitations or restrictions on child custody. When a couple divorces, they may either have shared custody, joint custody, split custody, or one parent can have sole custody. When sole custody is granted by the court to...

void marriage

A marriage that was for some reason never valid from the start and cannot be made valid. Common reasons for a court to find a marriage void ab initio are that the marriage is incestuous or polygamous.

Compare with voidable marriage.

voidable marriage

A marriage that is valid until declared invalid. The grounds for invalidation of marriage vary depending on state. Common grounds for voiding a marriage include that one of the parties is below the age of consent, a party was incapable of consenting...

wage attachment

Wage attachment, also known as wage garnishment, is a court order by which the court attaches debtors' wages to help pay their creditors by directly transferring the wages to the creditors. Although a wage attachment order can be obtained...

ward

Courts may appoint guardians to care for people who cannot properly take care of themselves, due to age or legal incompetence. These protected people are the wards of their guardians.

widow

According to 17 USC § 101 a widow is a person whose spouse died during their marriage and has not since remarried. Also known as a surviving spouse.

[Last updated in March of 2022 by the Wex Definitions Team]

widow's election

See: elective share

[Last updated in September of 2021 by the Wex Definitions Team]

widower

A widower is a person whose spouse died during their marriage and has not since remarried.

[Last updated in May of 2022 by the Wex Definitions Team]

youthful offender

A youthful offender is an adolescent who committed a crime, who may not be tried in an adult court; instead will be tried in a juvenile court. The youthful offenders may take some responsibility for the unlawful behavior and may not be...