An ancestor is a predecessor in the family. In a legal sense, especially in the law of inheritance, any person whose estate is inherited by legal act or descent is an ancestor. The term ancestor applies only to natural persons. Predecessors...
property law
anti-contest clause
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 will not dispute the...
anticipation
Anticipation is the performance of an act or obligation before it is legally due. Some common uses of the term “anticipation” in a legal sense include:
In the context of patent law, anticipation refers to the prior invention or...antilapse statute
Anti-lapse statutes are laws enacted in every state that prevent bequests from lapsing when the intended beneficiary has relatives covered by the statute. Without the statutes, if someone were to bequeath something to an intended beneficiary...
appointees
In the context of a power of appointment, the appointees are the people the donee actually selects from the objects of the power. They are selected by the power of possession holder to receive the appointive assets subject to that power of...
appointive assets
Appointive assets refer to the property, both real property and chattel, subject to a power of appointment. Once the power of appointment is exercised, ownership of the appointive assets will transfer to the appointees.
For...
appurtenance
An appurtenance refers to something that, while technically detachable, is so fundamental to something else that it should be regarded as a part of the whole. In the event that property transfers hands, all appurtenances usually transfer as...
ARM
ARM stands for ‘adjustable-rate mortgage’, which is a type of home loan that has a fixed interest rate for an initial period of time, then after a certain point the rate changes, which means it is no longer a fixed interest rate, but rather...
assessor's parcel number
An assessor’s parcel number is a unique number assigned to parcels of property such as land by the tax assessor of the property jurisdiction, which is used for record-keeping and tax purposes of such property.
[Last updated in...
asset protection trust
An asset protection trust is a self-settled spendthrift trust. This means it is a trust that an individual creates for themselves that is protected from creditors. Asset protection trusts are normally found outside of the United States....