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341 meeting

Often called the creditor's meeting. In bankruptcy, first meeting of creditors and, Equity security holders at which time a trustee may be elected and the debtor examined under oath.

341 notice

A notice given by the bankruptcy court to all Creditors of a meeting of creditors; also known as the notice to creditors.

Acceptance

In contracts, the situation occurring when the offeree is In total agreement with the offeror.

Access or secondary physical custody

Also called visitation, the right of the noncustodial parent for reasonable access to the child or children.

Accord (and satisfaction)

Accord is accepting a substituted item or service in place of the one promised in the original contract. Satisfaction occurs when the substitution is accepted.

Accredited Legal Professional (ALP)

The basic certification designed for the individual at the apprentice level of the legal support staff.

Acknowledgment

Consists of a statement that the person who signed the document declared to and before the notary public that it was the person who signed the document.

Acquittal

In criminal law, a finding of not guilty.

Active voice

Refers to the use of active voice and normal sentence structure.

Ademption

When a testator gives specific property in a will but no longer owns the property at the time of death.

Adjective(s)

Word which modifies, describes or limits nouns, pronouns, and gerunds.

Adjudicate (not defined in this chapter)

To settle controversies and disputes between parties.

Administration

The supervision of an estate by an administrator or executor; the court probate process when a person dies without a will.

Administrative agencies

Agencies created by the legislative branch of government to administer laws pertaining to specific areas, such as the environment, taxes, transportation, and labor.

Administrator

A person appointed by a court to administer an intestate estate.

Advance sheets

Paperback pamphlets published weekly which contain reporter cases, including correct volume and page number.

Adverb(s)

Word used to describe or limit a verb, adjective, or another adverb.

Adversary proceeding

Individual lawsuits brought within a bankruptcy case.

Adverse possession

A method of acquiring title to real property under certain conditions by possession for a statutory period.

Affiant

The person who is making an affidavit.

Affidavit

A written statement sworn to as being true before a notary public.

Affirmation

A solemn or official declaration that the statements the person has just made or is about to make are true, but does not include an appeal to God or any supreme being.

Affirmative defenses

A defense to the plaintiff's complaint raised in the defendant's answer.

Allegations

Numbered paragraphs setting forth the background and reasons for filing a suit.

Alphabetic filing

A system of filing in which files are labeled and stored in alphabetical order, generally by the name of the client.

Alphanumeric filing

A combination of an alphabetic filing system and a numeric system in which numbers are assigned to files in blocks according to the letter of the alphabet which identifies the client.

ALP

The basic certification designed for the individual at the apprentice level of the legal support staff. See Accredited Legal Professional.

Amendment [to a pleading]

An amended pleading is one that is corrected in regard to facts that existed at the time the original pleading was filed. Contrast to supplemental pleading.

Animal cases

Tort litigation involving injuries or damages caused by animals, including livestock, domesticated wild animals, household pets, or farm animals; these cases fall under strict liability tort law.

Annulment

A proceeding that establishes that a marriage never existed.

Answer

A formal, written statement by the defendant in a lawsuit that answers each allegation contained in the complaint. In family law, in a divorce action, the defendant's first pleading is called an answer; in a no-fault action, it may be called a response.

Apostrophe

A punctuation mark used to form contractions of words and figures, in place of omitted letters or figure, to form possessives, to form plurals of lower case letters and upper case letters when the lack of an apostrophe may create confusion, to set off quoted material within a larger quotation, in names with the prefix "O."

Appeal

A proceeding brought to a higher court to review a lower court's decision.

Appellant

The party who takes an appeal from one court or jurisdiction to another.

Appellate jurisdiction

Authority of a court to review cases tried in lower courts.

Appellee

The party in a cause against whom an appeal is taken.

Append

Allows the operator to gather or collect, in order, each item deleted and then insert them as a group in another location or document.

Application

Term used to refer to the specific tasks a computer can do.

Arraignment

The hearing at which the accused is brought before the court to plead to the criminal charge in the indictment.

Arrest

The actual restraint of a person for submission to custody.

Assault

An act that creates in a person immediate fear of an attempted battery.

Assign (assignment)

Assignment is a substitution of one party for another in a contractual relationship. If the assignee fails to perform under the terms, the contract responsibility falls back on the assignor.

Assignee

A person to whom an assignment is made.

Assignor

A person who assigns a right, whether or not he or she is the original owner thereof.

Assumption of risk

The legal rule under which a person may not recover for an injury received when voluntarily exposed to a known danger.

At issue (joined)

The term used to describe the status of litigation when the complaint and a responsive pleading have been filed.

Attestation clause

The clause of a will immediately following the signature of a testator.

Attorney-client privilege

The privilege that protects confidential communications, oral or written, between the attorney and a client in the course of the professional relationship that cannot be disclosed without the consent of the client.

Bailiff

The peace officer of the court (or court officer) responsible for keeping order and maintaining appropriate courtroom decorum.

Balance

The difference between the total debits and total credits posted to an account.

Balloon payment

A provision that requires payment in full of the unpaid balance of a loan a certain number of years from the date of initiation of the contract.

Bank draft

A check issued by a bank upon its funds in another bank usually located in some other city.

Bankruptcy

A proceeding in which an individual or legal entity requests protection under Title 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code.

Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA)

The BAPCPA covers all bankruptcy cases filed on or after October 17, 2005, and institutes a number of changes, most notably means testing and required credit counseling and financial management courses for creditors.

Bar

All attorneys admitted to practice law in a given state or court system.

Bar association

Organization of attorneys admitted to practice law in a given state or court system.

Battery

A harmful offensive touching of another's person.

Bench (the)

The raised podium at the front of the courtroom behind which the judge sits, and also refers to the judge in a given court.

Bench trial

Trial by a judge rather than a jury.

Beneficiary(ies)

A person named to receive property in a will or trust.

Bequest

Personal property transferred by will.

Bilateral contract

A contract in which both parties make a promise.

Bill of costs

A certified, itemized statement of the amount of costs in an action or suit.

Bill of particulars

A motion by a criminal defendant that requests details concerning the offense charged.

Blank endorsement (endorsement in blank)

The simple signature of the payee which makes the check payable to bearer.

Blue sky laws

State laws regulating the registration, offering and sale of securities.

Board of Directors

Governing body of a corporation elected by the shareholders.

Breach of contract

The failure of one party to carry out any condition of a contract.

Brief

A memorandum of material facts, points of law, precedents, etc., prepared to familiarize the court with the facts and the law of a particular case.

Brief bank

A law firm's collection, either in electronic form or in hard copy, of legal research, briefs, and forms that may be reviewed or reused for other projects.

Bureau of Land Management (BLM)

The federal agency that has jurisdiction over and manages approximately 245 million acres of public land and 700 million subsurface acres located primarily in the west and Alaska.

Business corporations

Corporations organized to make a profit.

Bylaws

Rules and regulations under which the corporation will operate.

Byte

Refers to the amount of space required to store one character of information.

megabyte (MB) is one million bytes;

gigabyte (GB) is one billion bytes.

kilobyte (KB) is one thousand bytes;

Calls

One-line segment of a property in a metes and bounds description.

Capital case(s)

A felony case punishable by death.

Caption or style

The title of the case, which usually includes the name of the court, the names of the parties, and the court number.

Case law

That body of court decisions resulting from legal controversies over interpretations of substantive and procedural law.

Case Management/Electronic Case Filing (CM/ECF)

The electronic filing system used in the federal court system.

Case number (civil number, docket number, index number)

The number assigned to a new case and used on all pleadings and documents filed in a case.

Cashier's check

A check drawn by a bank on its own funds.

Cause of action

A wrong for which relief can be sought in court. The incident or facts that give a person a right to relief in court.

CD-ROM

Compact Disk-Read Only Memory.

Central processing unit (CPU)

Hardware and software are linked by the operations and calculations performed by the CPU.

Centralized filing

A filing system in which the files are maintained at a single, central location and also include controlled access.

Certificate of mailing

A receipt issued by the USPS that shows evidence of mailing.

Certified check

A check issued by a bank that reduces the drawer's account by the amount of the check. The bank holds those funds for payment of the check and becomes responsible for its payment.

Certified mail

A postal service that provides proof of delivery for First-Class Mail and Priority mail.

Challenge for cause

A request by a plaintiff or defendant to a judge that a prospective juror not be allowed to be a member of the jury because of specified causes or reasons; see peremptory challenge.

Change of venue

A change in the location of a trial,

Chapter 11 reorganization

Available to businesses and individual debtors who seek to reorganize their affairs rather than liquidate.

Chapter 12 reorganization

Under the bankruptcy code, an action that allows family farmers or fisherman to reorganize rather than liquidate debt.

Chapter 13 (or wage earner plan)

A plan in bankruptcy which gives a salaried debtor or wage earner the protection of the court from creditors while he or she pays a percentage of his or her wages to a trustee to pay off his or her debts.

Citation

A legal authority, such as a constitution, statute, case, or other authoritative source, which is used to support a written legal document.

Citators

A publication that lists the citations to all of the judicial decisions that have cited a given case.

Civil cover sheet

A cover sheet required by many courts listing the parties, the type of action, and other information related to the case that may be administratively useful to the court.

Civil law

Law that is based on a series of written codes or laws.

Claimant

The injured party in a litigation case. One who claims or asserts a right; persons who are owed money by the debtor.

Clerk of court

Administrator or chief clerical officer of the court.