Legal and land terms

Wills, probate, deeds and land patents. Free to print and share. Full explanations: dailyancestor.com/dictionary/legal-land

Abstract of title

Summary of a property's recorded history

Acre

43,560 square feet of land

Administrator

Court-appointed settler of an estate

Administratrix

Feminine form of administrator (court-appointed)

Appraisement

Valuation of an estate's goods

Assignee

Person who receives a transferred right

Attest

Witness and confirm by signature

Bequeath

Give personal property by will

Bond

Promise to pay a sum if duties fail

Bounty land warrant

Land rights granted for military service

Cash entry

Federal land bought outright for cash

Chancery

Equity court for disputes like estates

Chattel

Movable personal property, not land

Codicil

Later addition that amends a will

Consideration

Price or value paid in a deed

Conveyance

Transfer of property, or the deed doing it

County court

Local court, often also running county business

Curtesy

Widower's life right in his wife's land

Deed

Written document transferring land

Deed of gift

Deed giving property for no payment

Deed of trust

Land put in trust to secure a debt

Devise

Give land by will

Devisee

Person who receives land by will

Dower

Widow's life right in part of husband's land

Escheat

Land passing to the state when no heirs exist

Executor

Person named in a will to settle the estate

Executrix

Feminine form of executor (named in a will)

Fee simple

Full ownership of land

Fee tail

Land that had to pass to direct descendants

Final certificate

Land office proof that a claim was complete

Freehold

Land owned for life or forever, not rented

Grantee

Person who receives land in a deed

Grantor

Person who transfers land in a deed

Guardian bond

Bond guaranteeing a guardian's honest care

Guardianship

Court-given care of a minor's affairs

Gunter's chain

Surveyor's chain of 66 feet

Headright

Colonial land grant per person transported

Heir at law

Person who inherits by law, with no will

His mark

X signed in place of a name

Holographic will

Will in the testator's own handwriting

Homestead entry

Claim to free federal land by settling it

Indenture

Formal agreement, such as a deed

Intestate

Died without a valid will

Inventory

List of a dead person's property for court

Legatee

Person who receives money or goods by will

Letters of administration

Court order appointing an administrator

Letters testamentary

Court document confirming an executor

Life estate

Right to land for one person's lifetime

Lis pendens

Notice of a pending lawsuit over land

Lot

Numbered parcel of land on a plat

Messuage

House with its outbuildings and yard

Metes and bounds

Land described by boundary lines and landmarks

Mortgage

Land pledged as security for a loan

Nuncupative will

Oral will spoken before witnesses

Orphans' court

Probate court (Pennsylvania, Maryland)

Partition

Division of jointly owned land

Patent

First grant of title from the government

Per stirpes

By branch: heirs' children share their part

Personal estate

Personalty: all property except land

Power of attorney

Document authorizing someone to act for you

Preemption

Settler's right to buy land first

Probate

Court proof of a will and estate settlement

Probate court

Court that handles wills and estates

Quarter section

160 acres, one fourth of a section

Quitclaim

Deed releasing any claim, with no guarantee

Quitrent

Yearly land rent owed to the Crown or proprietor

Range

Column of townships east or west of a meridian

Real estate

Land and buildings (real property)

Recorder of deeds

County officer who records land papers

Release of dower

Wife giving up her dower right in a sale

Rod

Measure of 16.5 feet (pole or perch)

Section

One square mile (640 acres) in a survey

Sheriff's sale

Court-ordered auction by the sheriff

Survey

Surveyor's measuring of a tract before title

Tenant in common

Co-owner whose share passes to heirs

Tenement

Land or building held by someone

Testate

Died leaving a valid will

Township (survey)

Six-mile-square block of 36 sections

Vendue

Public auction (as of estate goods)

Warrant

Authority to survey and claim public land

Warranty deed

Deed guaranteeing clear title

Widow's third

Popular name for the one-third dower share