Louisiana Notary exam

Abstract

a history of the title to property as revealed by the public records.

A summary of a property’s ownership history based on public records.

Acceleration Clause

clause used in an installment note and mortgage which gives the lender the right to demand payment in full upon the happening of a certain event, such as failure to pay an installment by certain date, change of ownership without the lender's consent, destruction of the property, or other event which endangers the security of the loan.

A part of a loan that lets the lender demand full payment if something goes wrong, like a missed payment, selling the property without approval, or damage to the property.

Accession

acquiring title to additions or improvements to property as a result of natural growth, labor, the annexation of fixtures or the accretion of alluvial deposits along the banks of streams.

Gaining ownership of improvements or natural additions to your property, like buildings, crops, or land added by a river.

Accessory Contract

a contract is accessory when it is made to provide security for the performance of an obligation. Suretyship, mortgage, pledge, and other types of security agreements are examples of accessory contracts.

A contract that supports another contract by offering security, like a mortgage or loan guarantee.

Accretion

1. Additions or improvements to property as a result of natural growth, labor, the annexation of fixtures or the accretion of alluvial deposits along the banks of streams. 2. In succession law, the increase in property to an heir or legatee resulting from the failure of another heir or legatee, renunciation, failure of the legacy, or the heir being ineligible to inherit. 3. In trust law, an increase in a beneficiary's interest in the trust income or principle (or both) that occurs because of the inability of another beneficiary to receive his interest, usually occurring as a result of another beneficiary's death or refusal of an interest.

1. Gaining more property through natural causes like soil buildup, crops, or added fixtures.

2. In inheritance, getting a larger share because another heir couldn’t or didn’t take theirs.

3. In a trust, getting more because another beneficiary can’t receive their share.

Acknowledged act

Any act or instrument in writing signed by the parties in the presence of two witnesses and then taken by the party(ies) or the witness(es) before a notary and two witnesses; the original act was signed out of the presence of the notary.

A written document signed in front of two witnesses, then later confirmed in front of a notary and two witnesses to make it official.

Acknowledgement

a formal declaration by a party before a notary public in the presence of two witnesses by the person who signs an instrument to the effect that it is his own free and voluntary act done for the purposes therein expressed. As state in Civil Code article 1836, an act under private signature is regarded prima facie as the true and genuine act of a party executing it when his signature has been acknowledged, and the act shall be admitted in evidence without further proof. An act under private signature may be acknowledged by a party to that act by recognizing the signature as his own before a court, or before a notary public, or other officer authorized to perform that function, in the presence of two witnesses. An act under private signature may be acknowledged also in any other manner authorized by law. An act under private signature may be acknowledged not only by the party who executed it, but also by a witness in whose presence it was executed.

A person formally declaring in front of a notary and two witnesses that they signed a document willingly and for the stated purpose. This makes the document legally stronger and usable as evidence without more proof.

Acknowledgment of paternity

A signed statement where a man legally says he is the child’s biological father.

Acquets and gains

A civilian concept referring to the matrimonial regime of community property; acquets means all things acquired, and gains in the increase in the value of property through the skill or labor of a person, particularly a spouse.

Property and income earned during a marriage, including things bought and any increase in value from a spouse’s work.

Acquisitive prescription

A mode of acquiring ownership of other real rights by uninterrupted possession for a period of time.

Gaining legal ownership of something by using or possessing it continuously for a certain number of years.

Acquittance

A release, usually in writing, from an obligation.

A written document that shows a person no longer owes a debt or obligation.

Act under private signature

Any act or instrument, in writing, signed by a person or persons not in the presence of a notary that may or may not be witnessed.

A written document signed without a notary present; it may or may not have witnesses.

Administrator

A person appointed by the court as the succession representative to manage the assets and liabilities of an intestate decedent.

A person chosen by the court to handle the property and debts of someone who died without a will.

Affiant

one who makes an affidavit

A person who swears that a written statement (affidavit) is true.

Affidavit

A declaration or statement of facts personally known to the affiant reduced in writing and sworn to by the affiant before a notary.

A written statement of facts that someone swears is true in front of a notary.

Affidavit of distinction (also called affidavit of identification)

An affidavit executed before a notary by a person providing identifying information to distinguish said person from a judgment debtor with a same or similar name and then recorded in the mortgage records of the parish where the judgment is recorded. This affidavit is executed if the judgment creditor cannot be located or does not comply with R.S. 9:5501

A sworn statement used to prove you’re not the person named in a judgment, recorded in parish records when there’s a name match and the creditor can’t be reached.

Agent

See MANDATARY Mandatary - One who is authorized to act for or represent another (principal), usually in business matters, whose authority may be expressor implied; a representative. Sometimes referred to by common-law terms as "agent" or "attorney-in-fact."

A person who is legally allowed to act for someone else, usually in business, either through direct permission or assumed authority.

Agreement

A contract.

A legally binding arrangement or contract between two or more people.

Agreement to sell or buy

Binding contract to buy and sell in future.

A contract where both sides agree to complete a sale or purchase at a future date.

Aleatory contract

An agreement in which the effects thereof depend on an uncertain event.

A contract where something happens only if an uncertain event takes place.

Alienate

To transfer property or a right to the ownership of another, especially by an act of the owner rather than by inheritance.

To give or sell property or rights to someone else while you're still alive.

Aliquot part

A legal subdivision of a section by division into halves or fourths, ad infinitum

A legally defined portion of land, created by dividing a larger section into equal parts like halves or fourths.

Alluvion

An increase to the land caused by the buildup of deposits from running water.

Land that’s added naturally over time by water carrying and depositing soil.

Antichresis

A civilian contract no longer authorized or used in Louisiana. Traditionally, it was the pledge of immovable property wherein a debt or obligation was secured through the right to retain the civiland/or natural fruits of the property. Former C.C. art. 3176 (repealed by Acts 2014, No. 281).

An old, no longer used contract where someone could use the income or crops from land as payment for a debt.

Appearance clause

Clause giving full status of a natural or juridical person (e.g., corporation or partnership) in any legal instrument.

A statement in a legal document that officially identifies and gives full legal status to a person or business.

Appearer

A person who goes before an official authorized to administer oaths, take acknowledgments, or make authentic acts, and who makes a declaration, executes or acknowledges an instrument of writing.

A person who appears before a notary or official to sign or confirm a document.

Appraisal

The process of valuing property; a valuation of property by two or more appraisers who are appointed to authorized by a court to place a value on designated property as a part of a court proceeding.

A court-ordered estimate of a property’s value, done by two or more appointed appraisers.

Appurtenances

A right, privilege, or property that is considered incident to the principal property for purposes such as passage of title, conveyance, or inheritance; a thing that is necessarily connected with the use and enjoyment of another thing.

Something that belongs to and goes with a property, like a right or feature that’s needed to use or enjoy it.

Ascendant

One who precedes in lineage (parent, grandparent); an ancestor.

A family member from whom you descend, like a parent or grandparent.

Assignment

The transfer of a claim, right, interest, or property from one to another; the instrument by which this transfer is effected.

The act of legally giving someone else your rights, claims, or property through a written document.

Assumption deed

An act of sale in which the buyer agrees to assume payment of the seller's mortgage.

A property sale where the buyer agrees to take over the seller’s mortgage payments.

Attest

To witness something.

To be present at and confirm that something, like a signature, is real or true.

Attorney in fact - Agent

See MANDATARY Mandatary-One who is authorized to act for or represent another (principal), usually in business matters, whose authority may be expressor implied; a representative. Sometimes referred to by common-law terms as "agent" or "attorney-in-fact."

A person who is legally allowed to act for someone else, usually in business, either through direct permission or assumed authority.

Authentic act

A writing executed before a notary public or other officer authorized to perform that function, in the presence of two witnesses, and signed by each party who executed it, by each witness, and by each notary public before whom in was executed.

A formal document signed in front of a notary and two witnesses, and signed by everyone involved.

Base line

East-West reference line

An imaginary east-west line used in land surveys to help measure and map property.

Bequest

See legacy Legacy - A testamentary disposition of property, rights, or obligations included in a decedent's estate. A legacy may comprise corporeal or incorporeal things as well as movable or immovable things.

A gift of property or rights left to someone in a will. It can include physical items, rights, money, or land.

Bill of sale

Instrument translative of title of movable property.

A written document that shows ownership of movable property has been transferred from one person to another.

Bond, Personal surety

A surety bond provided by an individual, personally, on behalf of a notary. The bond must be recorded in the mortgage records in the parish in which the notary is seeking or holds a commission. A notary who is bonded with a personal surety only needs to provide a new bond if the surety dies, if the surety is no longer solvent of $10,00.00, or if the surety withdraws his suretyship.

A promise made by a person (not a company) to cover a notary’s duties. It’s recorded in parish records and must be replaced if the person backing it dies, lacks money, or withdraws.

Bond-for-deed contract

A contract regarding immovable property whereby the vendor agrees to transfer title to the property when the purchase price is paid in full; the vendee is usually given possession during the existence of the contract.

A contract where the buyer gets to use the property now, and the seller gives them full ownership once it’s fully paid off.

Boundary line

The line of separation between contiguous lands.

The dividing line where one piece of land ends and another begins.

Cancellation of mortgage

A process whereby the clerk of court adjusts the public records to reflect that the mortgage has been extinguished. Collateral mortgages are cancelled by the presentment of the paid collateral mortgage note. Multiple obligations mortgages are cancelled via a letter directing such from the creditor/mortgage holder.

Updating public records to show a mortgage is paid off. For collateral mortgages, this is done with the paid note; for others, it’s done with a letter from the lender.

Capacity

A legal qualification, including age and other factors. Parties, unless emancipated, must be 18 tears of age to contract. witnesses for wills must be 16.

The legal ability to do something, like sign a contract. Most people must be 18 (or emancipated), and will witnesses must be at least 16.

Cash deed

Common-law term for an act of sale of immovable property in which the buyer pays and the seller acknowledges receipt of the purchase price.

A property sale where the buyer pays in full and the seller confirms getting the money.

Chattel

In general, used to designate movable property, as in the case of a "chattel mortgage," which is a mortgage of movable property.

Movable property, like furniture or equipment. A chattel mortgage uses this type of property as loan security.

Code

A collection of laws; Louisiana has many codes: the Civil code, the Criminal Code, The Code of Civil Procedure, the Code of Criminal Procedure, The evidence Code, etc.

A book or collection of laws organized by topic, like Louisiana’s Civil Code or Criminal Code.

Codicil

Common-law term. An amendment, modification, supplement or addition to a will that must be in the form of a testament.

A legal change or addition to a will, made in the same formal way as the original will.

Collateral

Property in which a security interest is granted.

Property promised as security for a loan, which the lender can take if the loan isn’t repaid.

Collateral mortgage

A mortgage designed, not to directly secure an existing debt, but to secure a mortgage note pledged as collateral security for a debt. The maker may reissue the mortgage note from time to time, and have it returned to him without extinguishing the mortgage. It is both a mortgage and a pledge. Thrift Funds Canal, inc. v. Foy, 261 La. 573, 260 So.2d 628 (La. 1972). A collateral mortgage or collateral chattel mortgage may provide on its face that the mortgage is grated in favor of a designated mortgage and any future holder or holders of the collateral mortgage note. R.S. 9:5550(1).

A special type of mortgage that secures a mortgage note instead of a specific debt. It lets the borrower reuse the note without ending the mortgage and acts as both a mortgage and a pledge.

Collaterals

Any relation not directly in the line of ascent or descent.

Relatives who are not parents, grandparents, children, or grandchildren—like siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Collation

The supposed or real return to the mass of succession property given to forced heirs by donations inter vivos in order to divide the property with the other effects of the succession.

Adding gifts given to forced heirs back into the estate so everything can be fairly divided among all heirs.

Common Things

Things that may not be owned by anyone (air, the high seas)

Natural things like air or the ocean that no one can privately own.

Community property

A matrimonial regime whereby property acquired or produced through the labor of either spouse is owned in common by the husband and wife.

Property earned by either spouse during marriage that legally belongs to both of them equally.

Component parts of tracts of land

Buildings, other constructions permanently attached to the ground, standing timber, and unharvested crops or ungathered fruits of trees are component parts of a tract of land when they belong to the owner of the ground.

Things like buildings, trees, or crops that are permanently attached to land and belong to the landowner.

Conditional obligation

An obligation that is dependent upon the occurrence of an uncertain event.

A duty or promise that only takes effect if a specific uncertain event happens.

Confession of judgement

A person's agreement in a mortgage to the entry of judgement if he defaults on the obligation secured by the mortgage.

When someone agrees in a mortgage contract that a court can automatically rule against them if they don’t meet the loan terms.

Confusion

When the qualities of obligee and obligor are united in the same person, the obligation is extinguished by confusion. C.C. art. 1903. For example: a predial servitude is extinguished by confusion when the dominant and the servient estates are acquired in their entirety by the same person. C.C. art. 765.

When the same person becomes both the one who owes and the one who is owed, canceling out the obligation.

Consideration

A common law term which refers to something promised, given, or done (such as money) that has the effect of making an agreement a legally enforceable contract. In Louisiana contracts are supported by "cause"; consideration is frequently the cause that will support an obligation.

A common law term for something of value (like money or a promise) given to make a contract legally binding. In Louisiana, this idea is called “cause.”

Conventional mortgage

A voluntary mortgage created by contract. See Also MORTGAGE Mortgage - A right created over property to secure the performance of an obligation in which the property remains in the possession of the mortgagor. A mortgage may be general or special as regards property that is the subject of the mortgage. A mortgage may also be legal, judicial, or conventional in nature as regards the method of its creation. See also GENERAL MORTGAGE, CONVENTIONAL MORTGAGE, MORTGAGOR General mortgage - A mortgage that burdens all present and future property of the mortgagor. A general mortgage may be legal, judicial, or conventional. Mortgagor - The person whose property is subject to mortgage whether a conventional, judicial, or legal mortgage. The term is generally used in conjunction with conventional and legal mortgages where the person consents to a mortgage over property owned by him. In the case of judicial mortgages, the mortgagor is referred to as the judgment debtor. See Also JUDGEMENT DEBTOR Judgement Debtor - A person that a court of law has decided is responsible to pay money to another person.

A voluntary agreement where a person (the mortgagor) uses their property as security for a loan or obligation but keeps possession of it. The lender doesn’t take the property unless the borrower fails to meet the terms. It can apply to specific property (special mortgage) or all present and future property (general mortgage). This type of mortgage is created by contract, not by court order or law, and is commonly used in home or land purchases.

Conveyance records

The record of all sales and donations of immovable property kept by the clerk of court of each parish

Official public records kept by the parish clerk showing all sales and gifts of land or buildings.

Corporation

A business entity with separate legal personality from its shareholder, directors, and officers formed by filing articles of incorporation with the Secretary of the State.

A legal business organization that is separate from the people who own or run it, created by filing paperwork with the state.

Corporeals

Things that have body, whether animate or inanimate, and can be felt or touched.

Physical things you can touch, like a chair, a car, or a tree.

Counter letter

Separate writing expressing the true intent of the parties rather than the intent purported to be manifested in another instrument; not binding on third parties unless recorded.

A private agreement that shows what the parties really meant, even if another document says something different. It doesn’t affect outsiders unless it’s officially recorded.

Credit deed

Common-law term. An act of sale of immovable property on credit terms.

A property sale where the buyer agrees to pay over time instead of paying the full price upfront.

Cum onere

When the vendee purchases immovable property on which there is an existing mortgage, and the vendee does not assume the indebtedness secured by the mortgage or agree to pay the indebtedness of his vendor. Simply state, Cum onere means "with burden"

A property sale where the buyer takes the property “with the burden” of an existing mortgage but does not agree to pay off the seller’s debt.

Curator

A court-appointed guardian who manages the affairs of another incapable of doing so himself.

Someone chosen by a court to handle the personal or financial matters of a person who can’t do it themselves.

Dation en paiement

An act in which a debtor transfer ownership of a thing to his creditor in payment of a debt; "giving in payment"

When someone pays off a debt by giving the creditor property instead of money.

Decedent

A person who has died

A person who has passed away.

De jure

French, "of law." An official who holds his office by law and who is possessed of all lawfully necessary qualifications for office.

A person who legally holds a position or office and meets all the legal requirements for it.

Descendants

All offspring of a person in a direct line, i.e., children, grandchildren, etc.

A person’s children, grandchildren, and other direct-line family members.

Dishonor

The non-acceptance of an instrument, such as a check or promissory note.

When a check or other payment document is not accepted or paid.

Disinherison

A means of depriving a forced heir of his inheritance due to some act upon his part which the law deems sufficient cause.

Legally cutting a forced heir out of an inheritance because of something serious they did, as allowed by law.

Disposable portion

The portion of a testator's property which he can will to anyone he chooses.

The part of a person’s estate that they’re free to leave to anyone they want in their will.

Domicile

With respect to a natural person, the place of his habitual residence.

A person’s main and usual home where they live regularly.

Donation inter vivos

A contract by which a person, called the donor, gratuitously divests himself, at present and irrevocably, of the thing given in favor of another, called the donee, who accepts it.

A gift made during the donor’s lifetime that is given permanently and accepted by the person receiving it.

Donation mortis causa

An act to take effect of the death of the donor by which he disposes of the whole or part of his property. A donation mortis causa is revocable during the lifetime of the donor.

A gift that only takes effect when the person giving it dies, and it can be changed or canceled while they are still alive.

Donee

One who receives a donation or gift

The person who receives a gift or donation.

Donor

One who gives or donates

The person who gives a gift or donation.

Drawee

The party on which an order for the payment of money is drawn, usually a bank.

The person or bank that is ordered to pay money, like the bank named on a check.

Drawer

One that draws, especially one that draws an order for the payment of money.

The person who writes and signs a check or payment order.