Legal Definitions - court order

Definition: Court orders are decisions or judgments issued by judicial officers from a court. They can be made after a hearing or when parties have reached an agreement and applied for consent orders.

Examples:

• A judge issues a court order for a defendant to pay a fine for their crime.
• After a divorce settlement, the couple applies for consent orders to make the agreement legally binding.

The first example illustrates a court order made after a hearing, where the judge has made a decision on the punishment for a crime. The second example shows a court order made after parties have reached their own agreement, but need the court to make it legally binding.