Ottawa County Legal Self-Help Center

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O

OATH
A promise that what you say or said is true. If you lie under oath, you can be punished for perjury. See also AFFIRMATION, PERJURY, VERIFICATION.
OBJECTION
A formal protest made in court by one side to testimony or evidence that the other side tries to bring up in court or to a question that the other side asks because there is a good reason it should not be allowed. The judge must "sustain" the objection-ruling that the evidence won't be admitted or that the question doesn't have to be answered-or "overrule" the objection-ruling that it will allow the evidence or the answer.
OBLIGATION
A legal or moral duty to do something. Often it is the duty to pay money. For example, a parent may have a duty or obligation to pay child support.
OBLIGEE
The person, state agency, or institution that is owed a debt or duty, like child support.
OBLIGOR
The person or corporation or government that has a duty to do something or owes a debt and must pay money to someone (like child support).
OFFENSE
An act that breaks the law.
OFFENSE AGAINST CHILD
Any act by a person other than the child that is the basis to bring the child within the scope or control of the Juvenile Code/court.
OFF-SET
The amount of money taken from a parent's state or federal income tax refund or from another government payment before he or she receives it, to pay child support that is owed.
ONE COURT OF JUSTICE
The idea set out the Michigan Constitution of 1963, Article VI, Section 1, that there is only one court in the state that is made up of several divisions, including a supreme court, a court of appeals, a circuit court, a district court, a probate court and other courts created by the Legislature.
ONE DAY, ONE TRIAL
A method of calling and choosing jurors where a person serves as a juror for either one day or for one trial. The reasons for this method are to reduce how long one person has to serve as a juror and to increase the number of people who are asked to serve as jurors.
ORDER
A court's direction or decision, made in writing. It's how the court tells parties to a lawsuit what to do or how it decides some issue (or the whole case) involved in the case.
ORDER ASSIGNING RESIDUE
A probate court order that lists who should get part of an estate and how much of the estate each person should get.
ORDINANCE
A local law or regulation passed by a municipal government, that is, a city or village. It is not enforceable outside that city or village.
OWN RECOGNIZNCE
When a person is released from jail and not required to pay bail because he or she promises to come to court for his or her trial and hearings. See Personal Recognizance.