What Do These Initials Mean?

You often see initials, short forms or references to sections, rules or forms in court endorsements and other legal documents. The list below will give you a starting point for figuring out what some of these short forms mean:

• 14B: See Form 14B
• 14C: See Form 14C
• A: applicant
• ADHD: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
• App: applicant
• AF: applicant father
• AM: applicant mother
• ASD: autism spectrum disorder
• Assignee: when the Ministry of Community and Social Services provides social assistance (e.g. Ontario Works) or other assistance to individuals who are entitled to receive spousal support (and formerly child support) the recipient "assigns" to the Ministry any support that may be collected from the payor
• ATIA request: Access to Information Act request, a request to the federal government for copies of information it holds that are not personal to you
• Adj.: adjourned (moved to a later date)
• Baby bonus: informal name given to Canada Child Benefit
• Best interests: usually means best interests of a child, the principle that governs decisions about custody, access and other child-related matters
• CAS: Children's Aid Society
• CC: case conference (or rarely child care or credit card)
• CCB: Canada Child Benefit - in 2016 it replaced the Canada Child Tax Benefit (CCTB) and the National Child Benefit Supplement (NCBS)
• CCC: Criminal Code of Canada
• Certificate: the document that states that Legal Aid Ontario will pay a lawyer to represent a given client
• CFSA: Children's and Family Services Act, the statute governing children's aid societies
• CJA: Courts of Justice Act
• CLRA: Children's Law Reform Act
• CLT number : a client number assigned by Legal Aid Ontario
• Consent: can be "consent to late file" that one party gives another party who missed a filing deadline or consent to third parties to disclose information like financial records or school records of children
• Court office: the room in the courthouse where court forms are filed
• CPIC: Canadian Police Information Centre, a database of information about offences and convictions maintained by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
• CPIC sheet : a document issued by the court to the police when a restraining order is granted
• CPL: certificate of pending litigation - in some cases, a party can obtain a court order allowing it to register a notice in a land registry office altering potential buyers and lenders that a property is subject to litigation
• CPP: Canada Pension Plan
• CPP credits: credit for years worked and earnings/contributions an individual makes to CPP
• CRA: Canada Revenue Agency
• CS: child support
• Ct.: Court (judge)
• CTB: Child Tax Benefits (also CCTB
• DA: Divorce Act
• D/L: driver's licence, can be revoked for non-payment of child or spousal support
• Default/Noted in Default: usually means a judge has decided that a party who has missed filing deadlines is excluded from further participation in the case - the case proceeds without the party (but it can also refer to non-payment of an amount ordered to be paid - default in payment)
• DRO: a Dispute Resolution Officer, a senior lawyer who volunteers to help parties negotiate settlements - in some courthouses, a case conference before a Dispute Resolution Officer is the first step in a Rule 15 Motion to Change a Final Order
• DSA: Director's Statement of Arrears, a printout obtained from the Family Responsibility Office that lists child and spousal support "accruals" and payments
• DUI: driving under the influence of alcohol
• DWI: driving while intoxicated (an American term for Driving Under the Influence)
• EI : employment insurance
• EP: equalization payment, pursuant to s. 5 of the Family Law Act (rarely exclusive possession)
• Exit TMC: a procedure in some courthouses to conduct a conference on the eve of trial with a view to settling a case
• Ex parte: a Latin legal term meaning "without the other party" - called a "motion without notice" in the Family Law Rules - these motions are brought in urgent situations where there is no time to give the other party notice or some other compelling reason to argue the motion without the other party present
• Family Wizard (also MyFamilyWizard): an online tool for information sharing about children's issues for separated parents
• FLA: Family Law Act
• FLR: Family Law Rules
• FLIC: Family Law Information Centre, a place in courthouses for self-represented parties to get limited amounts of information and assistance with their cases
• File/filing: having a court form accepted and added to the court file by the court office, almost always after it has been served on the other party or parties
• FLV: Statement of Family Law Value, a value assigned to a party's interest in a defined benefit pension plan
• FOAEA: Family Orders and Agreements Enforcement Assistance (Act) - this a federal statute that allows diverts income tax refunds and HST credits to the Family Responsibility Office (for Ontario cases) when child support or spousal support payments have gone into arrears - it appears as "Receipt FOAEA Diversion" on the Director's Statement of Arrears
• Form 2: under the Mental Health Act, used to compel a psychiatric examination when a Justice of the Peace believes a person may be a danger to himself, to herself or to others
• Form 8: an Application under the Family Law Rules
• Form 10: an Answer under the Family Law Rules
• Form 13: a Financial Statement under the Family Law Rules (for cases involving claims about support but not property)
• Form 13.1: a Financial Statement under the Family Law Rules that is more detailed than a Form 13 for cases involving claims about property whether or not support is also an issue
• Form 14B: A short, simple type of motion used for unopposed, uncomplicated and similar motions.
• Form 14C: Confirmation form, to be filed by 2 p.m. two days before court conferences and motions
• Form 15 and Form 15A: The court forms filed by a party bringing a Motion to Change a Final Order or Agreement under Rule 15 of the Family Law Rules
• Form 23C: an affidavit that one party fills out seeking to justify the final order he or she wants a court to make when the other party fails to file an Answer or other court materials on time or otherwise fails to meet deadlines and gets "noted in default" and excluded from the case
• FRO: Family Responsibility Office
• FSCO: Financial Services Commission of Ontario, the regulator of most pension plans in Ontario - it issues the forms used to obtain Statements of Family Law Value for pensions
• GIS-Guaranteed Income Supplement: a top-up payment to senior citizens with very low incomes
• Hair follicle test: a controversial test for recent drug and alcohol consumption performed on hair samples
• HST: Harmonized Sales Tax (13% sales tax)
• ID: a document establishing a person's identification
• IEP: Individual Education Plan, a school document setting out modifications to the regular program for children who have exceptionalities but who need not have gone through IPRC process
• IPRC: Identification, Placement and Review Committee, a procedure used in schools to determine whether a student has exceptionalities such as learning disabilities and specifying special education measures
• ITA: Income Tax Act
• ITC: Input Tax Credits - they reduce the amount of HST a business needs to remit to the Canada Revenue Agency
• ITR: income tax return, personal or corporate
• JP: Justice of the Peace, court officials who can exercise a few of the powers that judges have, e.g. authorizing a search warrant
• LAO: Legal Aid Ontario, the agency that funds lawyers for some people who cannot afford them
• Leave to: a common term meaning "permission from a court to . . . "
• Line 150 : Line 150 of the personal income tax return (statement of an individual's total income)
• Line 236 income: Line 236 of the personal income tax return (stating an individual's income after certain deductions are made)
• LIRA: Locked-In Retirement Account, often created when an employee leaves an employer with a pension plan many years before retirement date - the accrued pension assets are paid into a LIRA that the person cannot access until retirement except in a few circumstances
• LSUC: Law Society of Upper Canada, the regulator for lawyers and paralegals
• Mat leave: maternity leave
• Mediation: A voluntary process in which both parties meet with a neutral mediator who tries to help them come to a compromise agreement. Some courhtouses offer mediation services but strictly speaking they are not a court procedure.
• MIP: Mandatory Information Program, a requirement for most first-time parties in family law proceedings
• MCSS: Ministry of Community and Social Services
• MH: matrimonial home
• M.P.: Member of Parliament (federal parliament sitting in Ottawa)
• M.P.P.: Member of Provincial Parliament (sitting in Toronto)
• MTO: Ministry of Transportation of Ontario, the agency that controls driver's licences
• NCBS: National Child Benefit Supplement, a benefit replaced by the Canada Child Benefit in 2016
• NOA: Notice of Assessment (the document that Canada Revenue Agency sends back to the taxpayer after processing his or her tax return - may come with a refund cheque)
• Noted in default: see default
• OAS: Old Age Security, a federal retirement benefit paid to most senior citizens
• OCJ: Ontario Court of Justice, the level of court empowered to handle child protection matters as well as support, custody and access claims but not property or divorce claims
• OCL: Office of Children's Lawyer
• ODSP: Ontario Disability Support Program, a form of social assistance for disabled people
• OHIP: Ontario Health Insurance Plan or the card issued by the plan
• OPP: Ontario Provincial Police
• Option C printout: a Canada Revenue Agency document that reproduces most of the information that would have appeared on a Notice of Assessment in connection with the tax return filed for a particular year; also called "Proof of Income" or "Income Tax Return - Information Regular"
• OSR: Ontario School Record - each elementary and high school student has a file called the OSR that hold report cards, attendance records, the results of educational assessments and other relevant information
• OT: Occupational Therapy, children may require OT services to overcome physical delays and disabilities
• OW: Ontario Works, a social assistance program
• PA: Partition Act is the tool used by one joint tenant to force the sale of a property over the objections of other tenants; but PA may also refer to a Power of Attorney
• P.A. days: Professional Activity days (about 6 per school year) when children do not attend school and child care arrangements may be necessary
• PBA: Pension Benefits Act - established the Statement of Family Law Value process for pension plans regulated by the Province of Ontario subject to equalization
• PGT: Public Guardian and Trustee who may step in and appoint a lawyer to represent a person who lacks mental capacity to manage his or her legal affairs
• Pink Sheet: a document filled out by a judge when granting a restraining order
• PJI: prejudgment interest
• Privacy Act request: an application to the federal government for copies of documents about you (such as tax records) that it holds
• R: respondent
• RCMP: Royal Canadian Mounted Police
• Resp: Respondent
• RESP: Registered Education Savings Plan
• RF: respondent father
• RM: respondent mother
• RO: restraining order
• RSP, formerly RRSP: Retirement Savings Plan, formerly Registered Retirement Savings Plan
• R.S.C.: Revised Statutes of Canada, a numbering sytems for "acts" or laws created by the federal Parliament of Canada
• R.S.O.: Revised Statutes of Ontario, a numbering system for "acts" or laws created by the Ontario provincial parliament
• Rule 1 hearing : a procedure for a short contested final hearing disposing of a case as an alternative to a full-blown trial
• S.4 and s. 5: under Family Law Act, determinations of what is property subject to equalization process
• S. 7: special and extraordinary expenses (for a child) under s. 7 of the Child Support Guidelines
• S. 24 or s. 24(1) or s. 25: obligation under Child Support Guidelines of payor parent and usually recipient parent to disclose income tax and expense information annually
• S. 9: shared parenting and other variations on parenting arrangements
• Ss. 17-20: under the Child Support Guidelines, a set of rules for determining income of payors
• S. 24: CLRA best interests of the child
• S. 28 order: under the Children's Law Reform Act an order regulating communication and meeting of parties
• S. 30 assessment : under the Children's Law Reform Act
• S. 33: factors on support
• S. 35 Notice : a notice about business records under the Evidence Act
• SA: Supervised Access
• SC: Settlement Conference under Rule 17 of the Family Law Rules
• SC/TMC: a combined Settlement Conference and Trial Management Conference under Rule 17 of the Family Law Rules
• Schedules: various meanings (documents attached to income tax returns; documents that appear at the end of various statutes and guidelines; the schedule for access visits or the progress of a court case)
• SCJ: Superior Court of Justice, the level of court empowered to handle divorce and property claims as well as support, custody and access
• SDO: Support Deduction Order, a court order that authorizes the Family Responsibility Office to collect child support or spousal support directly from the payor's employer as a payroll deduction
• SDO Information Form (Form 2): an information form that lets the Family Responsibility Office know where to collect and where to pay the support it is ordered to collect
• Serve/Service: delivering a copy of a court form or other case-related document to another party or that party's lawyer in compliance with the Family Law Rules
• SIN: Social Insurance Number
• Sine die: a Latin legal term meaning "another day" and used to indicate that an event (like a conference or motion) is being adjourned to another date that has not yet been selected
• Society: a children's aid society
• SS: spousal support
• SSAG: Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines
• T-4 slip: a document employees receive from their employer in February of every year stating their total income in the previous year and showing deductions for income tax, Canada Pension Plan and Employment Insurance
• T-5 slip: a document reflecting pension income or RRSP contributions, issued to taxpayers by financial institutions and pension plans every February
• TBD: to be determined, often inserted into Financial Statements when the value of an asset (such as pension rights) needs to be calculated but is not known when the form is being filled out
• TCHC: Toronto Community Housing Corporation
• TFSA: Tax Free Savings Account, an asset that may be subject to equalization
• Timetable: a schedule for court events like conferences and motions set by a judge
• TMC: Trial Management Conference under Rule 17 of the Family Law Rules
• TSE: Trial Scheduling Endorsement
• UFC: Unified Family Court, courts that combine OCJ and SCJ powers as in Oshawa and Newmarket courts
• UI: Unemployment Insurance, now called EI for employment insurance
• Urine screen: a test performed on urine samples for recent drug and alcohol consumption
• Vacated: date cancelled (rather than merely adjourned to another date)