Declaratory judgment

Declaratory judgment means asking a grown-up called a "judge" to make a decision about something before it becomes a big problem. Imagine you and your friend want to play with the same toy but you both think it belongs to you. Instead of fighting over it, you can ask the grown-up judge to decide who the toy belongs to before the fighting gets worse. This is what declaratory judgment does: it helps settle legal disputes before they become bigger problems.