Real Estate Lawyer in South Florida

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  • ABSTRACT OF TITLE: A condensed history of the title of land consisting of material which in any manner affects that parcel, such as deeds, mortgages, easements, marriages, deaths, divorces, liens, etc.
  • ACCELERATION CLAUSE: A mortgage clause providing that, upon default, the entire balance of the debt may be declared due and payable.
  • ACKNOWLEDGMENT: A formal declaration before a notary public or other authorized officer by a person who has executed (signed) an instrument that such execution is his act and deed.
  • ACTUAL NOTICE: Notice provided by physical possession or by seeing a document, or by verbal communication.
  • AD VALOREM TAXES: Taxes calculated on the value of real property.
  • AFFIDAVIT: A written declaration or statement of facts made voluntarily and confirmed by oath before a notary public or other authorized official by the party making it.
  • AGREEMENT FOR DEED: See CONTRACT FOR DEED.
  • AIR RIGHTS: Those real property rights having to do with the space above the ground including the right to build a building.
  • ALIENATION: The transfer of property from one person to another.
  • AMORTIZATION: The paying off of a debt in installments as opposed to a lump sum payment at the end of the loan term.
  • APPELLANT: The party who takes an appeal from one court or body to a higher court or body.
  • APPELLEE: The party in a cause against whom an appeal is taken; that is, the party who opposes setting aside or reversing the judgment.
  • APPRAISAL: An estimate of value of real property as of a certain date.
  • APPRAISER: One who acts in an expert capacity for others in the valuation of real estate, or other property.
  • APPURTENANCE: That which belongs to something else such as a right of way or easement.
  • ARREARS: Overdue, past due. Arrears also refers to a payment which follows the period to which it applies such as the payment of taxes or interest.
  • ASSESSED VALUE: A valuation placed upon property by a public officer as a basis for taxation.
  • ASSESSMENT (SPECIAL ASSESSMENT): A charge against land made by a unit of government to cover the proportionate cost of improvements such as streets, sidewalks, etc.
  • ASSIGNEE: The person to whom a contract or other instrument is assigned.
  • ASSIGNMENT: A transfer of legal or contractual rights by one person to another.
  • ASSIGNOR: A person who transfers his legal or contractual rights to another.
  • ASSUMPTION OF MORTGAGE: The taking of title to property by a grantee, wherein he expressly assumes personal liability for payment of an existing note secured by an existing mortgage against the property.
  • ATTACHMENT: Seizure of property by court order, usually done to have it available in the event a judgment is obtained in a pending suit.
  • ATTORNEY AT LAW: A member of The Florida Bar who is authorized to practice law.
  • ATTORNEY-IN-FACT: A party authorized by another to act in his place either for some specific purpose or for the transaction of business in general.
  • BILL OF SALE (Chattel): An instrument conveying title to personal property.
  • BINDER: See DEPOSIT.
  • BLANKET MORTGAGE: A single mortgage which covers more than one parcel of real estate.
  • BONA FIDE: In or with good faith, honestly, openly, and sincerely, without deceit or fraud.
  • CAPTION: The heading or introductory clause in an abstract where the real property concerned is identified.
  • CERTIFICATE: A written assurance or official representative that some act has or has not been done, or some event occurred.
  • CHATTEL: Personal property; all property other than real property.
  • CHECK: In the government survey method of land descriptions, an area encompassing sixteen townships arranged in a square of four townships east to west and four townships north to south. The term is not used in actual description of land.
  • CLOUD ON TITLE: An apparent defect in title indicating an outstanding interest in land.
  • COLLATERAL: Stocks, bonds, or other marketable properties which a borrower pledges as security for a loan. In mortgage lending, the collateral is the specific real property which the borrower (mortgagor) pledges as security.
  • COMMISSION: In real estate practice, a percentage of the selling price of property, percentage of rentals, etc. paid to an agent as compensation for performing the duties of his agency.
  • COMMON LAW: Unwritten law such as law which grew from custom, usages of the people, and decided cases rather than statutes passed by the legislature.
  • CONCEALMENT: A withholding of something which one knows and is duty bound to reveal. A form of fraud.
  • CONDEMNATION: The legal process by which property of a private owner is taken for public use.
  • CONDOMINIUM: A system of direct ownership of a single unit in a multi-unit project combined with common ownership of common areas by all unit owners.
  • CONSIDERATION: The inducement to get a party to enter into a contract. There are two types:
  • VALUABLE–can be promises, money, property, etc.
  • GOOD–can be love, affection and the like.
  • CONSPIRACY: A confederacy or combination between two or more persons to commit some unlawful act or to do a lawful act in an unlawful manner.
  • CONSTRUCTION LIEN: A claim, created by statute, existing in favor of contractors or other persons who have performed work in, or furnished materials for, the erection or repair of a building or other improvement.
  • CONSTRUCTIVE NOTICE: Notice provided by recording a document.
  • CONTRACT: An agreement between parties to do or not to do certain things.
  • CONTRACT FOR DEED (LAND Contract, PURCHASE AGREEMENT): A contract by which one party agrees to buy and the other agrees to sell certain property according to the terms of the contract.
  • CONVEYANCE: The transfer of the title of land from one person to another. Also, the instrument which accomplishes the transfer.
  • CORPORATE VEIL: The theoretical protection provided by a corporation for its officers and owners. For example, debts of a corporation can only be enforced against the corporation, not the individual officers or owners.
  • CORPORATION (FOR PROFIT): A business entity which has separate legal existence authorized by state law wherein individual owners are not generally responsible for the liabilities of the business.
  • COVENANT: An agreement between two or more parties by contract or instrument whereby one party promises the performance or non-performance of a certain act or acts, or that a state of things does not exist.
  • CREDITOR (LENDER): A person to whom a debt is owing by another person. Example: a mortgagee.
  • CULPABLE NEGLIGENCE: Carelessness of a character that can be described as blameworthy or censurable. Applies to unintentional acts.
  • DEBT: A sum of money due by certain and express agreement.
  • DEBTOR (BORROWER): A person who owes a debt to another person: Example: a mortgagor.
  • DECLARATORY DECREE: An opinion of the court on a question of law in the case before the court.
  • DEDICATION: An appropriation of land to some public use such as a street, made by the owner, and accepted for use by the public.
  • DEED: A written instrument signed and witnessed by two separate persons by which one person conveys title of land to another. While more commonly used to convey title to real property, it may also be used to convey title to personal property.
  • DEFAULT: Failure to fulfill a duty or promise or to discharge an obligation.
  • DEFECT: Deficiency, imperfection, such as a defect in title to real estate.
  • DEFENDANT: The person or entity against whom a claim has been made at a hearing or trial.
  • DEFICIENCY JUDGMENT: A judgment given against a person when the security pledged for a loan does not satisfy the debt upon its default.
  • DEPOSIT: Money or other property lodged with a person as an earnest money or security for the performance of some contract; usually to be forfeited if the depositor fails in his performance of the contract.
  • DEPOSITION: The sworn testimony of a witness outside of court, reduced to writing for use in any legal proceeding.
  • DEVISE (NOUN): A testamentary disposition of land or real property–a gift of real property by will.
  • DIRECTOR: A representative elected by corporate stockholders to manage the affairs of the corporation.
  • DISCOUNT: A one-time payment to a lender as an inducement to make a loan. The payment makes the lender’s financial benefit greater than the stated interest rate of the loan.
  • DOWER: A right formerly provided by Florida law whereby a married woman, upon the death of her husband, was entitled to claim a one-third interest in all the lands which her husband owned in fee during the marriage.
  • EARNEST MONEY: See Deposit.
  • EASEMENT: The legal right to enter upon another’s property. It is considered an interest in real property.
  • ELECTIVE SHARE: The right of a surviving spouse to obtain 30% of a deceased spouse’s property by making the appropriate election.
  • ENCROACHMENT: An infringement on another’s right as a result of physical intrusion onto the property of that other person. Only a survey will reveal an encroachment.
  • ENCUMBRANCE: A charge, claim, or lien against title to real property.
  • EQUITY: The value or interest an owner has in real property over and above any mortgages or other liens against it.
  • EQUITY OF REDEMPTION: The right to redeem property during the foreclosure period.
  • ESCROW: Trust funds or property held for another.
  • ESTOPPEL: A principle of law. Estoppel arises when one is forbidden by law to speak against his own acts or lack of acts. An admission of so conclusive a nature that the party is not permitted to offer evidence against it.
  • ESTOPPEL CERTIFICATE (ESTOPPEL LETTER): A document executed by a party to a debt (mortgagor or mortgagee) acknowledging the current loan balance and terms. Having thus acknowledged the balance and terms, the party making the document is prevented from later claiming that this information was not accurate. Used to confirm the loan balance in connection with the sale of a mortgage by the mortgagee or in connection with the sale of the underlying real property by the mortgagor.
  • EXECUTE: To make and sign a document.
  • EXECUTED: Fully performed, completed, already done. Where nothing remains to be done by either party to a contract.
  • EXECUTION: Signing of an instrument. Also, the performance of a contract according to its terms.
  • FACSIMILE: An exact copy preserving the marks of the original.
  • FEE (FEE SIMPLE): The highest type of interest a person can have in land. Absolute ownership (subject to laws) with the right to dispose of it or pass it on to his heirs as he sees fit. The term ”fee” is of old English derivation.
  • FIDUCIARY: A person in a position of trust and confidence.
  • FIDUCIARY RELATIONSHIP: A relationship of trust and confidence.
  • FIXTURE: An item of personal property which has been permanently attached to real estate.
  • FORECLOSURE: A court proceeding against property used as a security for a debtor to satisfy that debt by sale of the property under court order.
  • FORFEITURE: Loss of money or anything of value due to failure to perform, for instance under an agreement to purchase.
  • FORMAL CONTRACT: A written contract which is under seal.
  • FRAUD: A perversion of truth for the purpose of inducing another in reliance upon it to part with some valuable thing belonging to him or surrender a legal right. Fraud can be intentional or unintentional. Any type of fraud may be grounds for possible civil action for damages.
  • FREEHOLD: An estate which has no established termination date.
  • GRANTEE: One receiving title to real property, such as the purchaser of property; a person to whom a grant is made.
  • GRANTOR: One who signs a deed thereby granting title such as the seller of property.
  • GREENBELT LAW: A statute which provides for assessment of agricultural property based on its actual agricultural use.
  • HABENDUM CLAUSE: The clause in a deed which identifies the type of estate being conveyed.
  • HIATUS: A vacancy; applies to breaks in the chain of title and to unclaimed land between property lines that do not abut to one another.
  • INJUNCTION: An order by a court forbidding a person from doing some act.
  • INSOLVENT: One who cannot pay his debts or who does not have means or property sufficient to pay his debts.
  • INSTRUMENT: A written document; a formal or legal document in writing such as a contract, deed, lease, or will.
  • INTEREST ACCRUED: Interest that has been earned as of a given date.
  • INTEREST RATE: The percentage of a sum of money charged for its use.
  • INTESTATE: Without making a will.
  • INVOLUNTARY LIEN: A lien imposed against property without consent of the owner.
  • JOINT TENANCY: Concurrent ownership of real estate by two or more persons with the right of survivorship. ”Upon the death of one co-tenant, total ownership of property owned passes to the survivor, not to decedent’s heirs. This type of ownership is identified by using the phrase’joint tenants with full rights of survivorship’ after the names of the grantees on a deed. Without an indication of joint tenancy, it is assumed that parties hold title as’tenants in common.’
  • JUDGMENT: The final determination by a court of a matter presented to it.
  • LAND CONTRACT: See Contract for Deed.
  • LARCENY: The fraudulent stealing of, taking or carrying away of, the property of another without his consent with the intent of converting it to a use of benefit other than that of the owner.
  • LATENT: Hidden; concealed; that which does not appear upon the face of a thing. A defect which reasonable careful inspection will not reveal is a latent defect.
  • LEASE: A contract between an owner and tenant setting forth conditions upon which the tenant may occupy and use the property and the term of the occupancy.
  • LEASEHOLD: The estate held by a lessee by virtue of a lease.
  • LEAVE: Permission or consent to take some action.
  • LESSEE: One who contracts to rent property under a lease contract; a tenant.
  • LESSOR: An owner who enters into a lease with a lessee (tenant).
  • LICENSE: An authority to enter on land generally granted by parol (orally) and not assignable, being a personal and temporary privilege in the use of property which can be revoked by the person who gave it at his pleasure.
  • LIEN: A form of encumbrance which usually makes property security for the payment of a debt or discharge of an obligation. Examples: judgments, taxes, mortgages.
  • LINEAL: Consisting of or being in a direct line of descent or ancestry. Also, relating to a line or having direction of a line such as a lineal mile.
  • LOCUS SIGILLI: The place of the seal; the place occupied by the seal of written instruments, usually abbreviated to ”L.S.”
  • MAJORITY: A person of full age, no longer a minor. Attained by reaching 18 years of age, by marrying, or by court order.
  • MANDAMUS (WRIT OF): When a superior court directs an inferior court, body, or person to do some specific act. Similar in effect to an injunction.
  • MASTER IN CHANCERY (GENERAL): An appointed assistant to a court.
  • MASTER IN CHANCERY (SPECIAL): An appointed assistant to a court for a specific purpose such as the sheriff when auctioning foreclosed property (a master’s sale).
  • MERCHANTABLE TITLE: Title which is well enough established to be readily transferable in the market.
  • METES AND BOUNDS: Used in legal descriptions by surveyors. Metes means measurements such as feet, yards, chains, miles. Bounds means boundaries, both natural and artificial, such as lakes, rivers, roads, railroads.
  • MILL: One thousandth (1/1000 or.001).
  • MINOR: An infant or person who is under the age of legal competence; one under 18.
  • MISREPRESENTATION (A FORM OF FRAUD): An untrue statement of fact.
  • MORAL TURPITUDE: An act involving an element of moral depravity such as embezzlement, larceny, robbery, rape, kidnapping, blackmail, perjury, and obtaining money by false pretenses.
  • MORTGAGE: An instrument by which property is pledged to secure the payment of a debt or obligation.
  • MORTGAGE INSURANCE PREMIUM (MIP): A premium computed at a percentage of the loan amount, paid monthly with mortgage payment, which pays for mortgage insurance for the benefit of the lender.
  • MORTGAGEE: One to whom a mortgagor (owner of real estate) gives a mortgage; a lender.
  • MORTGAGOR: One who gives a mortgage on his property to secure a loan or assure performance of an obligation; a borrower; an owner of real estate.
  • NEGOTIATE: To transact or attempt to transact business with another through agreement or by compromising opinions to reach an agreement.
  • NOMINEE: One who has been designated to receive an assignment of contract.
  • NOTE: A signed, written instrument acknowledging a debt and promising payment, stating the interest rate, and providing other terms.
  • OATH: A pledge made in verification of statement made by a person.
  • OPTION: A right, given for a consideration, to purchase a property upon specific terms within a specified time.
  • OPTIONEE: A person who has acquired the right to buy a specific parcel of real estate at a fixed price and terms during a specified period of time.
  • OPTIONOR: An owner of real estate who has given another person (optionee) the right to buy a specific parcel of real estate at a fixed price and terms during a specified period of time.
  • PACKAGE MORTGAGE: A mortgage which includes personal property as well as the real estate.
  • PAROL CONTRACT: An oral contract.
  • PARTNERSHIP (GENERAL PARTNERSHIP): A business relationship having two or more participants, each of whom is individually responsible for the liabilities of the business.
  • PER DIEM: By the date; an allowance of so much per day.
  • PERSONAL PROPERTY (CHATTEL): Any property which is not real property. Examples: stocks, bonds, mortgages, notes, cars, boats, furniture.
  • PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE: Under Florida law, a person acting as executor or administrator of an estate.
  • PLAINTIFF: One who brings suit or charges against another in court or before a legal body.
  • PLAT: A map or plan of a subdivision indicating individual lots.
  • PREMISES CLAUSE: The granting clause in a deed.
  • PREPAYMENT CLAUSE: A penalty for the payment of a debt before it actually becomes due.
  • PRESCRIPTION: A method of acquiring title by long and continued use, such as an easement by prescription.
  • PRIMA FACIE: On first appearance, at first view; a fact presumed to be true unless disproved by some evidence to the contrary.
  • PRINCIPAL: The amount of a debt. The amount of money borrowed. The balance due on a mortgage. The portion of a mortgage payment which goes to reduce the principal balance.
  • PROMISSORY NOTE: A note; a signed, written instrument acknowledging a debt and promising payment.
  • PRORATION: A division of charges and credits for taxes, insurance, interest, rents, etc., between buyer and seller proportionate to each one’s period of ownership.
  • PURCHASE AGREEMENT: See Contract for Purchase.
  • PURCHASE MONEY MORTGAGE: A mortgage given by a buyer to a seller as part or all of the purchase price.
  • QUIET TITLE: A legal action to resolve a title dispute by presenting all claims to a court.
  • QUIT-CLAIM DEED: A deed to relinquish any interest in property which the grantor may have.
  • RATIFICATION (RATIFIED): Confirmation of a previous act done either by the party himself or by another.
  • RECEIVER: A disinterested person between two parties who is appointed by a court to collect and receive rents and profits of land or other things and to make appropriate disbursements. This occurs when it does not seem reasonable to the court that either party should perform these functions.
  • RECORDING: The placing on the records of the county in which property is located any instrument that affects the title of that property.
  • REDEMPTION: The process of freeing a property from a claim of foreclosure by paying all or part of a debt.
  • RELEASE CLAUSE: A stipulation that, upon the payment of a specific sum of money to the holder of a mortgage, the lien on a specific portion of property shall be removed from the blanket lien on the whole property.
  • RENUNCIATION: The act by which a person abandons a right acquired without transferring it to another.
  • RESCIND: To make void, to repeal, avoid.
  • RESOLUTION: A formal expression of the opinion or will of an official body or a public assembly, adopted by vote.
  • REVOCATION (REVOKE): To annul or make void by recalling or taking back.
  • RIGHT OF WAY: The right of passage or way over another’s property.
  • RIPARIAN RIGHTS: The rights or title of owners in and to the water, and in certain cases, the land under the water abutting the owners’ property.
  • SALES CONTRACT: See Contract for Purchase.
  • SATISFACTION: The discharge of an obligation by paying a party what is due.
  • SCRIVENER: A professional copyist, a scribe, a notary, or in real estate, the natural person who actually prepares legal instruments.
  • SEIZEN (COVENANT OF): A promise in a deed that the grantor has the rights of ownership in the quantity and quality which grantor purports to convey.
  • SEPARATE PROPERTY: Property held in the name of one spouse only.
  • SEVERANCE: The detachment of crops, fruit, timber, or related products from the soil.
  • SOLVENT: The state of a person who is able to pay his debts out of present means or property.
  • SPECIE: Money; denoting value as currency.
  • SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE: A remedy in a court of equity requiring exact performance in keeping with the terms of a contract.
  • STATUTE: An act of the legislature. A written law enacted and established.
  • STATUTE OF FRAUDS: A state law which provides that certain contracts must be in writing in order to be enforceable at law. Examples: real property lease for more than one year; real estate sales contract.
  • STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS: A statute prescribing limitations to the rights of legal action in certain cases meaning that no suit shall be maintained unless brought within the specified time. Examples: A contract or instrument in writing–5 years. A contract or instrument not founded on a written instrument–4 years. Specific performance of a contract–1 year. Recovery of real property–7 years. See Chapter 95, Florida Statutes, for more detailed information.
  • SUBJECT TO MORTGAGE: When a grantee takes title to real property subject to a mortgage, he is not responsible to the holder of the promissory note for the payment of any portion of the amount due. The most that he can lose in the event of a foreclosure is his equity in the property.
  • SUBORDINATION: An agreement to take a lower position such as the holder of a first mortgage subordinating to a subsequent mortgage causing that first mortgage to become a second mortgage.
  • SUBPOENA: A written legal order requiring the person named therein to appear at a deposition, a court hearing or trial.
  • SUBROGATION: The substitution of one person in the place of another with reference to a lawful claim, demand, or right.
  • SURVEY: Procedure whereby land is measured and its boundaries ascertained.
  • SUSPEND: To discontinue temporarily but with an expectation of resumption in the future.
  • TANGIBLE: Capable of being touched or possessed.
  • TENANCY BY THE ENTIRETIES: Concurrent ownership of real estate by husband and wife.
  • TENANCY IN COMMON: Concurrent ownership of real estate by two or more persons. Pro-rata ownership of a co-tenant who dies passes to his/her heirs, not to the other surviving owners. Unless another specific means of ownership is given, it is assumed that title is held as tenants in common.
  • TENANT: In common language, a tenant usually refers to a party who has acquired the right of possession of real estate as a result of a lease or rental agreement with the owner of the property who is referred to as the landlord. His rights are of greater quality than a mere license or easement. However, in the language of the law, every party who has any title, ownership, interest, or right to own, possess, use, and occupy real estate whether he actually owns it absolutely or merely leases or rents it, is a tenant with reference to such property.
  • TENDER: Offer to perform or offer to pay.
  • TESTATE: Leaving a will at death.
  • TESTIMONIUM CLAUSE: That clause at the conclusion of a deed or conveyance which reads: ”In Witness Whereof, the parties have hereunto set their hands and seals…”
  • TIME–SHARE UNIT: A facility or property where ownership and/or use is divided into time periods.
  • TITLE INSURANCE: An insurance which indemnifies the holder to the amount of the policy for any loss (not exempted in the policy) sustained by reason of any defect in the title. An owner’s policy provides protection to the owner against loss by reason of any defect in the title. A mortgagee policy insures the lender against the loss of its security as a result of title defects.
  • TOPOGRAPHY: The surface features of land including hills, valleys, streams, lakes, roads, etc.
  • TORT: A civil wrong not arising out of a contract.
  • TRUST: An arrangement where property, real or personal, is held by one party for the benefit of another. There are different types of legal trusts.

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