Alluvion is the slow accretion or erosion of soil, sand, and other parts of land. Water usually causes alluvion by moving the shoreline over time. In some areas located besides rivers and oceans, land can continuously change its shape through the daily movement of water. If land becomes eroded, the owner of the property where the erosion occurred loses right to any removed part of the property.
An alternate beneficiary is someone who will benefit from or gain ownership of property only if the primary beneficiary is unable or unwilling to take ownership. An alternative beneficiary in property law arises when someone bequests property to someone else, and if that person does not want or is unable to accept the property, the property can be willed to a designated alternative beneficiary.
Ameliorative waste refers to modifications that increase the value of property made by a tenant who failed to obtain the landowner or future interest holder’s permission.
To amend is to make a change by adding, subtracting, or substituting. For example, one can amend a statute, a contract, the United States Constitution, or a pleading filed in a lawsuit. Generally, procedures dictate the way in which one amends a specific item.
An ancestor is a predecessor in the family.
Ancillary administration is the performance of ancillary probate which is a proceeding for estate assets located in another state than where the deceased lived. Each state has its own property laws, so administrators of estates must have a probate proceeding in each state that assets are located in a will.
Ancillary probate is a secondary proceeding required in another state than the original probate proceeding. This secondary proceeding is required where the deceased left property or assets in more than one state, and because each state has different property laws, a probate proceeding must be made in each state where property is located.
[Last reviewed in June of 2021 by the Wex Definitions Team]
Anti-contest clauses (also known as in terrorem clauses, contest clauses, no-contest clauses, noncontest clauses, and forfeiture clauses) are clauses in a will that impose a condition upon a devisee or legatee that they wi
Anti-lapse statutes are laws enacted in every state that prevent bequests from lapsing when the intended beneficiary has relatives covered by the statute.
