Terminology
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EARNEST MONEY: The advance, by a purchaser, of a small part of the purchase price as evidence of good faith.
EASEMENT: A right held by a person to enjoy or make limited use of another's real property.
EASEMENT APPURTENANT: Easement created for the benefit of a parcel of land.
EASEMENT IN GROSS: Easement created for the benefit of an individual, rather than for a parcel of land, e.g., a public utility easement.
EASEMENT OF NECESSITY: An easement which is indispensable to the enjoyment of the dominant estate. An easement by necessity arises by operation of law when land conveyed is completely shut off from access to any road by land retained by grantor or by land of grantor and that of a stranger.
EGRESS: The right to a path or right-of-way over which a person may leave his own real estate.
EJECTMENT: Legal action by a landowner for return of his property and for damages when, for example, a defaulting buyer under a land sales contract refuses to relinquish possession.
ELEEMOSYNARY: Charitable or altruistic.
EMINENT DOMAIN: The right of a government to take privately owned property for public purposes under condemnation proceedings upon payment of its reasonable value. (See "Condemnation.")
ENCROACHMENT: The extension of a structure from the real estate to which it belongs across a boundary line and onto adjoining property.
ENCUMBER: To burden the title to real property with a claim, right or lien held by someone other than the owner.
ENCUMBRANCE: A claim, right, or lien upon the title to real estate, held by someone other than the real estate owner.
ENDORSEMENT: The act of signing one's name on the back of a check or promissory note to transfer it to a third party. Also, a rider attached to an insurance policy to expand or limit coverage. Also spelled "Indorsement."
EQUITABLE RIGHTS: Rights established primarily by court decisions based upon principles of fairness, honesty, justness and morality and not upon enacted law or common law.
EQUITY: A system of jurisprudence supplementing the common law and enacted law under which justice, impartiality, and fairness is applied in circumstances not covered by enacted or common law.
EQUITY IN PROPERTY: Amount of value of a person's interest above the total of liens or charges; the difference between the market value of the property and the amount of liens against it.
EQUITY OF REDEMPTION: The right of one who has mortgaged his property to redeem that property upon payment of the mortgage debt, and especially the right to redeem within a reasonable time after the due date.
EROSION: The wearing away of land surfaces by forces of nature such as winds and water.
ESCHEAT: The reversion of property to the state when an owner dies leaving no legal heirs, devisees or claimants.
ESCROW: A writing, deed, money, stock, or other property delivered by the grantor, promisor or obligor into the hands of a third person, to be held by the latter until the happening of a contingency or performance of a condition, and then by him delivered to the grantee, promisee or obligee. A system of document transfer in which a deed, bond, or funds is delivered to a third person to hold until all conditions in a contract are fulfilled; e.g. delivery of deed to escrow agent under installment land sale contract until full payment for land is made. Black's Law Dictionary, 5th Edition.
ESCROW AGREEMENT: A written agreement usually made between buyer, seller and escrow agent, but sometimes only between one person and the escrow agent. It sets forth the conditions to be performed incident to the object deposited in escrow, and gives the escrow agent instructions with respect to the disposition of the object so deposited.
ESCROW HOLDER: The person who holds the papers and/or money during an escrow transaction.
ESTATE: (1) A sizable piece of rural land usually with a large house and other pretentious improvements. (2) The whole of one's possessions, especially all of the property, assets, debts, and liabilities left by a deceased or bankrupt person. (3) The nature and extent of an owner's rights in real estate.
ESTATE AT WILL: Occupation of lands and tenements by a tenant for an indefinite period, terminable by either party at any time.
ESTATE BY ENTIRETIES: An estate or interest in real estate predicated upon the legal fiction that a husband and wife are one person. A conveyance or devise to them (unless contrary intent is expressed) vests title in them as one person. Upon the death of either husband or wife, full title passes to the survivor.
ESTATE FOR LIFE: Estate held by a person to continue during his life or for the life of any other designated person.
ESTATE FOR YEARS: Interest in land based on a contract for possession of the land by a tenant or lessee for a definite or fixed period of time. (See "Lease.")
ESTOPPEL: A legal restraint which stops or prevents a person from contradicting or reneging on his previous position or previous assertions or commitments.
ET AL: A latin term meaning "and others."
ET UX.: Abbreviation of Latin "et uxor" meaning "and wife." Joe Doaks et ux. means Joe Doaks and wife.
ET VIR: A Latin term meaning "and husband." Jane Allen et vir means Jane Allen and husband.
EVICTION: To expel or oust a person, by legal process, from possession of real estate.
EXAMINATION: In title industry parlance, to peruse and study the instruments and muniments incident to a chain of title and to determine their effect and condition in order to reach a conclusion as to the status of the title.
EXAMINER: Usually referred to, in title industry parlance, as title examiner. One who examines and determines the condition and status of real estate titles.
EXCEPTION: In title industry parlance, a provision in a title insurance binder or policy which excludes liability regarding a specified title defect or an outstanding lien or encumbrance.
EXCLUSIVE AGENCY: An arrangement with one agent that property shall be listed with him and not any other agent; does not prevent owner himself from selling without paying commission.
EXECUTE: (1) To create and make valid a real estate instrument. A deed is said to be executed when it is signed, sealed, witnessed and delivered. (2) To perform or do whatever is required.
EXECUTION: The act of executing. (See "Execute.") (See "Writ of Execution.")
EXECUTOR: A person named in a will to carry out its provisions.
EXECUTORY: A contract or agreement not yet performed.
EXECUTRIX: Feminine of executor.
EXEMPTION: Immunity from a burden or obligation.
Security Title Company of Montana
600 South 19th Avenue
Bozeman, MT 59718
FALSE PERSONATION: The act of a person who falsely and fraudulently claims to be another person.
FALSIFICATION: The forging, altering, or counterfeiting of a document, or knowingly making untruthful statements or misrepresentations.
FEE SIMPLE ABSOLUTE: (Commonly called fee simple) A term describing the total interest a person may have in land. Such an estate is not qualified by any other interest and passes upon the death of the owners to the heirs free from any conditions.
FEE SIMPLE DEFEASIBLE: A fee simple estate that can be lost or defeated by the happening of some event which occurs after the initial grant, e.g., a breach of a condition as contained in a deed restriction.
FEOFFMENT: The granting of a fee.
FEUDAL SYSTEM: A political and economic system which prevailed in Europe based upon the relation of overlord to vassal. The feudal lord held paramount title to the land. The interest in land acquired by vassals was impermanent, and title always reverted to the lord upon the vassal's death.
FICTITIOUS NAME: A name used for business purposes that differs from the true name of the owner of the business.
FIDUCIARY: A person who bears a special relationship of trust, confidence, and responsibility to others, such as a trustee or agent.
FILE AND USE: In most states, title insurers file rate schedules, title insurance policy forms and endorsement forms with the State Insurance Department or other state agency and then may use such items or rates within a specified period of time after filing. Rates so filed ususally are mandatory.
FILING: In the title industry, this term relates to the delivery of real estate instruments to a recorder for recording.
FINANCING STATEMENT: Evidence of a personal property security agreement that may be filed with the Secretary of State or recorded with the county recorder under prescribed conditions. The financing statement has replaced the chattel mortgage and will affect real property if it relates to crops or timber.
FIRST MORTGAGE: A mortgage having priority as a lien over any other mortgage or lien on the same property.
FIXTURE: Personal property which is permanently attached to real estate such as plumbing fixtures. So long as a fixture is permanently attached, it is usually regarded as part of the real estate.
FORECLOSURE: A legal proceeding for the collection of real estate mortgages and other types of liens on real estate, which results in cutting off the right to redeem the mortgaged property and often involves a judicial sale of the property to pay the mortgage debt.
FORECLOSURE SALE: Sale of property pledged as security for a debt. The property is sold to pay the debt after a default occurs.
FORESHORE: Land between the low water mark and high water mark, covered and uncovered by the ebb and flow of the tide.
FORFEIT: (1) Money or a right which a person loses upon failure to perform an agreement, obligation, or duty. (2) The act of losing money or a right as described.
FORGED: Fraudulently executed; counterfeited.
FORGERY: The fraudulent signing of another's name to an instrument such as a deed or mortgage or check.
FRANCHISE: (1) A right or privilege conferred by law, e.g., Right to operate a railroad or a bus service. (2) A contractual right to engage in a particular business using a trade name or designation owned by another person.
FRAUD: A deception deliberately practiced in order to obtain an unfair or unlawful gain.
FRAUDULENT: Obtained, performed, or characterized by deceit or fraud.
FREEHOLD: A life estate or a fee simple estate.
FRONT FOOT: A unit of measurement, one foot in length, along the front boundary line of a piece of property which measurement, when assigned a dollar value, is a factor in determining the total value or sale price of a tract.
FUTURE ADVANCE CLAUSE: Clause in a deed of trust permitting the lender to make additional advances in the future that will also be secured by the deed of trust. (See "Open-end Mortgage.")
FUTURE INTEREST: An estate in real property entitling the owner to possession and enjoyment at a future date.
Security Title Company of Montana
600 South 19th Avenue
Bozeman, MT 59718
GARNISHMENT: Statutory proceeding whereby a debtor's personal property, in possession of a third party, is seized and applied to payment of the debt.
GENERAL PLAN RESTRICTIONS: Restrictions on use of real property imposed for the benefit of all lots in a subdivision.
GENERAL WARRANTY: A warranty provision in a deed or mortgage or other real estate instrument containing all of the common law items of warranty. Also known as a full warranty.
GORE: A sliver of land usually of triangular shape between two tracts, resulting from failure of land descriptions to adjoin.
GRANT: A transfer of real estate between individuals, by deed. A transfer of real estate from a sovereign by patent or royal decree.
GRANT DEED: One of many types of deeds used to transfer real property. A grant deed contains warranties against prior conveyances or encumbrances.
GRANTEE: One to whom a grant is made.
GRANTOR: One who makes a grant.
GROUND LEASE: Lease covering land only and not improvements which are to be installed by the lessee.
GUARANTY: An agreement in which a guarantee or assurance of a state of facts or the performance of an objective or obligation is given.
GUARDIAN: A person who is legally responsible for the care and management of the person or property of one who is legally incompetent to manage his own affairs.
Security Title Company of Gallatin County
600 South 19th Avenue
Bozeman, MT 59718
HABENDUM CLAUSE: That provision in deeds which begins with the words "to have and to hold" and which, in effect, defines the quality of the estate or interest which is being conveyed to the grantee.
HAZARD: A danger, peril or risk. Incident to title insurance, it relates to the risk assumed under a title insurance policy.
HEIR: A person who inherits or who is entitled to inherit real estate by provisions of law or under the provisions of a will.
HEREDITAMENTS: Any and all kinds of estates, interests, and rights in real estate which can be inherited.
HIATUS: In title industry parlance, a separation, gap or unaccounted for area. Usually a strip of land between two tracts where the two tracts do not adjoin because of faulty descriptions. (See "Gore.")
HOLDER IN DUE COURSE: One who takes a negotiable instrument before maturity, for value, and without knowledge of any defect therein.
HOMESTEAD: (1) Property designated by the head of a family as his home, which is protected by law from forced sale to pay his debts. (2) Land claimed by a settler under the national homestead act. (3) Under some state laws, the real estate upon which one's home is situated.
HYPOTHECATE: To give a thing as security without parting with possession.
Security Title Company of Montana
600 South 19th Avenue
Bozeman, MT 59718
IDEM SONANS: The doctrine that, if any two names may be sounded alike, any variance in spelling is immaterial.
IMPROVEMENT LIENS: Liens imposed by municipalities on real estate which has been directly benefitted by municipal improvements such as the construction of streets, sidewalks and sewer lines. Such liens secure payment of the proportionate costs of such improvements.
IN GROSS EASEMENT: A right in another's land not created for the benefit of any land owned by the easement holder. It is a personal right attached to the person of the easement holder.
IN PERSONAM: Against the person.
IN RE: In the matter of.
IN REM: Against a thing (property) and not against a person.
INCHOATE: Immature; not fully developed; an early stage; incomplete; only partially existing. An inchoate right of dower held by a wife matures and becomes exercisable only upon the death of her husband.
INCOMPETENT: Person who is incapable of managing his own affairs because of a disability.
INCORPOREAL: Having no material substance or form, but existing in the eyes of the law.
INDEMNITY: Insurance against possible loss or damage. A title insurance policy is a contract of indemnity.
INDENTURE: A deed or other real estate contract executed between two or more parties.
INDEX: (1) An alphabetical or geographical listing in the public records of the names of parties to recorded real estate instruments together with the book and page number of the record. (2) The listing in abstract and title plants of recorded real estate instruments in groups according to land descriptions, known as a geographic index. (3) The alphabetical listing in abstract and title plants, by names of the parties, of all recorded instruments which affect but do not describe particular real estate, such as judgments, powers of attorney, wills and probate proceedings. These indexes are known by various names such as general index, judgment index, and name index.
INDORSEMENT: See "Endorsement."
INGRESS: The right or permission to enter; also the means or place of entry such as a right-of-way across adjoining land.
INHOLDER: Inholders are those with private property that is surrounded by federal [not 'public'] lands.
INSTALLMENT CONTRACT: A real estate purchase agreement providing for the payment of the purchase price in several successive payments such as monthly payments. A land contract is an installment contract.
INSTRUMENT: Any written document by which something is done regarding rights or interests in real estate.
INSURABLE INTEREST: Interest in property of such a nature that the occurrence of the event insured against would cause financial loss to the insured. The interest may be that of an owner, mortgagee, lessee, trustee, etc.
INSURER: One that insures, sometimes called an underwriter, such as a title insurance company.
INTANGIBLE: Incorporeal; something that does not have material or physical existence. An example is an asset such as the goodwill of a business as compared with the stock-in-trade.
INTERESTS: Estates, rights, or legal claims in and to real estate.
INTERIM LOAN: Short term loan usually made during construction of a building. After completion of the structure, a permanent loan (takeout loan) is customarily arranged.
INTESTATE: Dying without leaving a legal will. The intestate laws are the laws of distribution of the estate of a deceased person who dies without a will.
INTRA: Within.
INURE: To serve to the use or benefit of.
INVOLUNTARY LIEN: Those liens in which a parcel of land is, by operation of law, put up as security for the payment of a debt.
IPSO FACTO: Of itself; by the very fact.
Security Title Company of Montana
600 South 19th Avenue
Bozeman, MT 59718
JOINT TAKE-OFF: When a group of title companies shares the cost of one take-off made for the use and benefit of each member of the group, it is called a joint take-off. A take-off is an abbreviated copy of the principal features of recorded instruments required for the purposes of indexation in an abstract plant or for purposes of making abstracts or examining titles.
JOINT TENANTS: Two or more persons who hold title to real estate jointly, with equal rights to share in its enjoyment during their respective lives with the provision that upon the death of a joint tenant, his share in property passes to the surviving tenants, and so on, until the full title is vested in the last survivor. A joint tenant cannot legally sell or encumber his interest without the consent or joinder of all of the other joint tenants.
JOINT VENTURE: Business undertaking by two or more persons to conduct a single enterprise for profit. Joint venture has characteristics of a partnership, but relates to a single venture.
JUDGMENT: A conclusion or determination by a court of law usually awarding the payment of money or relief of some kind to one of the parties to a lawsuit.
JUDICIAL: Of or pertaining to courts of law or the administration of justice.
JUNIOR MORTGAGE: A mortgage lower in lien priority than a first mortgage.
JURAT: Certificate evidencing that an affidavit was properly made before an authorized officer, an acknowledgment.
JURISDICTION: (1) The right and power of courts to interpret and apply the law. (2) The legal power of control over persons and property. (3) A geographical area in which a court has power and authority to act.
JURISPRUDENCE: A system of laws. The science or philosophy of the law.
KAPUT: Destroyed, incapacitated, useless, terminated.
KICKBACK: A return of a part of a fee given back because of a confidential agreement or coercion.
KITE CHECKS: To execute and deliver a check in payment of a debt at a time when the drawer has insufficient money in the bank, but with the intention of making a deposit to cover the shortage before the check is presented for payment.
Security Title Company of Montana
600 South 19th Avenue
Bozeman, MT 59718
LACHES: Material delay or negligence in the timely assertion of one's rights. Laches is a legal principle under which one is barred from asserting or claiming a right.
LAND: The solid ground of the earth as distinguished from the sea.
LAND CONTRACT: A contract between buyer and seller for the purchase and sale of land, the purchase price usually being payable in installments over a considerable period. The seller (vendor) holds legal title and the buyer (vendee) holds the equitable title until the sales price is paid in full.
LANDLORD: (1) A person from whom a tenant leases land or buildings. (2) One who runs a rooming house or inn.
LANDOWNER'S ROYALTY: Fractional interest in production of oil and gas created by the owner of the land, either by reservation when an oil and gas lease is entered into or by a direct grant to a third person.
LATENT: Existing, but lying hidden or concealed. (See, also "Patent.")
LATERAL SUPPORT: Support that soil of an adjoining owner gives to the neighbor's land.
LEASE: An agreement granting the use or occupancy of land during a specified period in exchange for rent.
LEASEHOLD: (1) Property held by lease. (2) The estate or interest in real estate created by a lease.
LEGACY: A gift of personal property by will.
LEGAL: (1) Relating to or concerned with the law. (2) The conformity with or permitted by law.
LEGAL DESCRIPTION: Description by which property can be definitely located on the ground by reference to government surveys or approved recorded maps; sometimes referred to simply as the legal.
LEGAL TITLE: Title which is enforceable in a court of law, or title which is perfect in its right of ownership and possession, but carries no beneficial interest in the property.
LEGATEE: Person to whom personal property is given by will.
LESSEE: A tenant holding a lease.
LESSOR: One who gives a lease to a lessee.
LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION: Formal written evidence of court appointment of a personal representative of the estate of an intestate decedent.
LETTERS OF GUARDIANSHIP: Formal written evidence of court appointment of a guardian for the person, estate, or person and estate of a minor or of an incompetent.
LETTERS TESTAMENTARY: Formal written evidence of court appointment of a personal representative of the estate of a testate decedent.
LEVY: A seizure of property by judicial process.
LIABILITY: A legal obligation or responsibility for the payment of a loss or damages or a debt.
LICENSE: In title industry parlance, permission to go upon or use the land of another, the permission being a personal privilege and not constituting an interest in the land.
LIEN: The liability of real estate as security for payment of a debt. Such liability may be created by contract, such as a mortgage, or by operation of law, such as a mechanics lien.
LIFE ESTATE: An estate of ownership in real estate which exists only during the term of a certain person's life.
LIFE TENANCY: An estate in real property in which the tenant has a freehold interest for his life or for the life of another (pur autre vie). Black's Law Dictionary - 5th Ed.
LIFE TENANT: One who holds an estate in lands for the period of his own life or that of another certain person. Black's Law Dictionary - 5th Ed.
LIMITED WARRANTY DEED: A written warranty which fails to meet one or more of the minimum standards for a full warranty. 15 U.S.C.A. Section 2303.
LINEAL: (1) Being in the direct line of descent and inheritance from an ancestor. (2) A direct line as related to a measurement.
LIS PENDENS: A pending lawsuit. A lis pendens notice is legal notice to the world that a lawsuit is pending, particularly as relates to real estate.
LISTING: (1) Placing real estate with a broker for sale or lease. (2) A conditional agreement to pay a commission to the broker if and when he finds a qualified buyer or tenant.
LITIGATION: Legal proceedings, a lawsuit in which a dispute is submitted to a court for determination.
LOAN POLICY: A policy of title insurance intended to protect the party providing a loan.
LOCK BOX DEED: Deed placed in a safe deposit box which is not opened until after death. It raises the legal issue of delivery.
LOSS: (1) In the title industry, damage suffered by a person resulting from defects in or liens upon his title to real estate. (2) Money paid by a title insurance company in settlement of policy claims.
LOT SPLIT: Sale of part of a pre-existing parcel of land. Lot splitting is generally regulated by local zoning ordinances.
Security Title Company of Montana
600 South 19th Avenue
Bozeman, MT 59718