Allocation of Risk

A term describing which party bears the risk of loss in certain situations. It is generally a term for contracts, e.g., in a contract where goods are to be transported to the buyer, a contract can assign which party (buyer or seller) will bear the loss if the goods are damaged during shipping. In family law, the term is seldom but applied can be a useful framework for describing how certain decisions are made. For example, if the parties agree that Spouse A will pay Spouse B spousal maintenance and agree to make it non-modifiable, the Spouse A bears the risk that if they are injured or cannot continue working for wahtever reason, they are still required to make these specified payments to Spouse B.