Glossary

This is not a substitute for legal advice. An attorney must be consulted.

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ABATEMENT - A reduction, a decrease, or a diminution. The suspension or cessation, in whole or in part, of a continuing charge, such as rent.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT - An acknowledgment is a formal declaration by a person, or other legally recognized entity such as a corporation, that execution of a written instrument is the result of a free act and deed. It is made before an authorized person, such as a notary public, who signs the written acknowledgment that the attached written instrument was acknowledged in his or her presence.

ACQUETS - Profits or gains in property value, under Louisiana Law.

ADVERSE POSSESSION - Adverse possession is the taking of title to real estate by possessing it for a certain period of time. The person claiming title to real estate by adverse possession must have actual possession of the real estate that is open, notorious, exclusive and adverse to the claims of others to title of the real estate.

AFFIDAVIT - A written statement made by a person who claims actual knowledge of the information stated in the Affidavit. An affidavit is signed in front of a Notary Public. Affidavits are often used in place of live testimony at court hearings other than trials.

AGGREGATE STOCK - The aggregate stock is the total amount of stock that a corporation is authorized to issue through its articles or charter or certificate of incorporation.

AGREEMENT - A meeting of two or more minds; a coming together in opinion or determination; the coming together in accord of two minds on a given proposition.

In law, a concord of understanding and intention between two or more parties with respect to the effect upon their relative rights and duties, of certain past or future facts or performances. The consent of two or more persons concurring respecting the transmission of some property, right, or benefits, with a view of contracting an obligation, a mutual obligation. From Black's Law Dictionary, 1990 edition.

A manifestation of mutual assent on the part of two or more persons as to the substance of a contract. Restatement of Contracts, Second, of Section 3, etc.

The act of two or more persons, who unite in expressing a mutual and common purpose, with the view of altering their rights and obligations. The union of two or more minds in a thing done or to be done; the mutual assent to do a thing. A compact between parties who are thereby subjected to the obligation or to whom the contemplated right is thereby secured.

Although often used a synonymous with "contract," agreement is a broader term; e.g., an agreement might lack an essential element of a contract. The bargain of the parties in fact as found in their language or by implication from other circumstances including course of dealing or use of trade or course of performance.

ALIMONY - Money paid by one spouse for the support and maintenance of the other spouse, sometimes called spousal maintenance.

ANNULMENT - A legal procedure that invalidates a marriage as if it had never happened.

ANSWER - The formal response to allegations made in a complaint or petition. Failure to serve or file an answer and response to a complaint or...

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