{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/family-law-act-1986/section-18",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/family-law-act-1986/section-18.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/1986/55",
  "legislation_title": "Family Law Act 1986",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/family-law-act-1986",
  "path": "section/18",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "18",
  "heading": "Interpretation of Chapter III.",
  "text": "(1) In this Chapter—\n“child” means a person who has not attained the age of sixteen;\n“civil partnership proceedings” means proceedings for dissolution or nullity of a civil partnership or for the separation of the partners in a civil partnership;\n“matrimonial proceedings” means proceedings for divorce, nullity of marriage or judicial separation.\n(2) In this Chapter, “the date of the application” means, where two or more applications are pending, the date of the first of those applications; and, for the purposes of this subsection, an application is pending until a Part I order or, in the case of an application mentioned in section 16(1) of this Act, an order relating to the guardianship of a child, has been granted in pursuance of the application or the court has refused to grant such an order.",
  "extent": "S",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Words in s. 18(1) inserted (5.12.2005) by The Civil Partnership Act 2004 (Consequential Amendments) (Scotland) Order 2005 (S.S.I. 2005/623), arts. 1, 16"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F2",
      "text": "Words in s. 18 substituted (14.10.1991) by Children Act 1989 (c. 41, SIF 20), s. 108, Sch. 13 para. 62(2)(a) (with Sch. 14 para. 1(1)); S.I. 1991/828, art. 3(2)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F3",
      "text": "Words in s. 18(2) substituted (25.9.1991) by Age of Legal Capacity (Scotland) Act 1991 (c. 50, SIF 49:8), ss. 10(1), 11(2), Sch. 1 para. 46."
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/55/section/18",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T09:54:01.745039+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}