Terms Used In California Codes > Family Code > Division 8 > Part 3 > Chapter 2 - Jurisdiction

• Abandoned: means left without provision for reasonable and necessary care or supervision. See California Family Code 3402
• Child: means an individual who has not attained 18 years of age. See California Family Code 3402
• Child custody determination: means a judgment, decree, or other order of a court providing for the legal custody, physical custody, or visitation with respect to a child. See California Family Code 3402
• Child custody proceeding: means a proceeding in which legal custody, physical custody, or visitation with respect to a child is an issue. See California Family Code 3402
• Commencement: means the filing of the first pleading in a proceeding. See California Family Code 3402
• County: includes city and county. See California Health and Safety Code 14
• Court: means an entity authorized under the law of a state to establish, enforce, or modify a child custody determination. See California Family Code 3402
• custody: means the legal right to custody of the child unless that right is held jointly by two or more persons, in which case "custody" means the physical custody of the child by one of the persons sharing the right to custody. See California Welfare and Institutions Code 17.1
• department: means State Department of Health Services. See California Health and Safety Code 20
• Department: means the State Department of Developmental Services. See California Welfare and Institutions Code 4401
• Director: means the Director of Developmental Services. See California Welfare and Institutions Code 4401
• Home state: means the state in which a child lived with a parent or a person acting as a parent for at least six consecutive months immediately before the commencement of a child custody proceeding. See California Family Code 3402
• Initial determination: means the first child custody determination concerning a particular child. See California Family Code 3402
• institutions: include every hospital, sanitarium, boarding home, or other place receiving or caring for developmentally disabled persons. See California Welfare and Institutions Code 4416
• Modification: means a child custody determination that changes, replaces, supersedes, or is otherwise made after a previous determination concerning the same child, whether or not it is made by the court that made the previous determination. See California Family Code 3402
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• order: include a decree, as appropriate under the circumstances. See California Family Code 100
• Person: means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, or government. See California Family Code 3402
• Person acting as a parent: means a person, other than a parent, who: (1) has physical custody of the child or has had physical custody for a period of six consecutive months, including any temporary absence, within one year immediately before the commencement of a child custody proceeding. See California Family Code 3402
• Petitioner: includes plaintiff, where appropriate. See California Family Code 126
• Physical custody: means the physical care and supervision of a child. See California Family Code 3402
• Proceeding: includes an action. See California Family Code 110
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Health and Safety Code 23
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See California Family Code 3402