Legal Terms: Chapter Six - Property and Family Law Flashcards
Affinity
The relationship that a person has to the blood relatives of his or her spouse.
Agreement for Sale
Agreement by which a person selling his property agrees to finance the purchase himself, keeping the title to the property while allowing the purchaser to take possession of it, and then transferring the title to the purchaser once the balance of the purchase price is paid.
Annulment
The legal cancellation or invalidation of a marriage.
Banns of Marriage
The public announcement in church of an impending marriage.
Beneficial Owner
Also called an equitable owner, the person on whose behalf and for whose benefit the trustee holds and manages the property.
Charges and Encumbrances
Any claim on a parcel of real property - for example, mortgages, property taxes or water rights.
Chattels
Tangible, movable objects such as furniture, equipment and cars.
Chose in Action
The right to sue someone for an unpaid debt or liability; an intangible personal property right.
Consanguinity
A blood relationship between relatives
Conveyancing
The part of the real estate transaction that begins after the contract is entered into and that involves the actual transfer of title, or conveyance.
Deeds
Formal documents showing ownership of property
Defeasible
Term used for life estates that can be terminated by the fee simple owner if certain condition are not met or certain defined events occur.
Essential Validity
Concerns a person’s capacity to marry and the substantive requirements of a valid marriage.
Fee Simple Ownership
The most absolute form of private ownership, entitle the owner to possess the property, to build on it, and to transfer it to others during her lifetime or in a will at her death.
Fixtures
Things that are attached to the land
Foreclosure Proceedings
Proceedings that the mortgagee (the lender) brings against the defaulting mortgagor (borrower) in order to foreclose the mortgagor’s right to redeem her property.
Formal Validity
Concerns the formalities or ceremonial requirements of a marriage
Freehold Interests
Form of property ownership that does not imply an obligation to pay rent.
Indefeasible
Not able to be annulled, made void, or overturned.
Intellectual Property
Property derived from the intellect, or mind - works of art, inventions and designs.
Interest
Any right, claim or privilege that an individual has with respect to real or personal property.
Joint Tenancy
A form of co-ownership that features the right of survivorship as well s the “four unities” of possession (each co-owner has an equal right to possess the entire property), interest (each co-owner has an identical interest in the property), time (the co-owners receive their interests at the same time), and the title (the co-owners receive their interests under the same instrument, such as a will).
Leasehold Interests
Form of property ownership that implies an obligation to pay rent.
Life Estate
Type of ownership whereby the fee simple owner grants a person (the life tenant) exclusive possession of property for that person’s lifetime, with the condition that the estate reverts to the fee simple owner at the life tenant’s death.
Mortgage
A kind of charge against land that secures a debt owed by the landowner.
Personal Property
Tangible, movable objects as well as intangible interests such as shares in a company.
