Terms Used In Indiana Code > Title 32 > Article 30 - Causes of Action Concerning Real Property

• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• agricultural operation: includes any facility used for the production of crops, livestock, poultry, livestock products, poultry products, or horticultural products or for growing timber. See Indiana Code 32-30-6-1
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• auctioneer: means an auctioneer licensed under Indiana Code 32-30-10-1
• authority: refers to the Indiana housing and community development authority created by IC 5-20-1-3. See Indiana Code 32-30-10.5-1.2
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• bonds: means any bonds, notes, or other evidences of indebtedness, including guaranteed energy savings contracts and advances from the common school fund, whether payable from property taxes, other taxes, revenues, or any other source. See Indiana Code 5-1-18-1
• Clerk: means the clerk of the court or a person authorized to perform the clerk's duties. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• communications infrastructure: includes all wires, cable, and other similar facilities used to provide communications service. See Indiana Code 32-30-16-2
• communications service: has the meaning set forth in Indiana Code 32-30-16-3
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• contract: means an oral or a written contract. See Indiana Code 32-30-1-2
• creditor: means a person:

  Indiana Code 32-30-10.5-2

• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• date of substantial completion: means the earlier of:

  Indiana Code 32-30-1-4

• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• department: refers to the department of local government finance. See Indiana Code 5-1-18-2
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• electric easement: means any recorded or unrecorded easement held by an electricity supplier for the siting of electric facilities, regardless of whether the easement is for the exclusive benefit of the electricity supplier or for use in connection with other utility services, regardless of whether the electricity supplier provides the other utility services. See Indiana Code 32-30-16-4
• electric facilities: means any product, equipment, or technology necessary or useful in the transmission, transformation, or distribution of electricity, including wires, cables, poles, transformers, anchors, guys, grounding systems, insulators, and any other related or ancillary materials. See Indiana Code 32-30-16-5
• electricity supplier: means :

  Indiana Code 32-30-16-6

• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Federal Reserve System: The central bank of the United States. The Fed, as it is commonly called, regulates the U.S. monetary and financial system. The Federal Reserve System is composed of a central governmental agency in Washington, D.C. (the Board of Governors) and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks in major cities throughout the United States. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Finance charge: The total cost of credit a customer must pay on a consumer loan, including interest. The Truth in Lending Act requires disclosure of the finance charge. ^{Source: OCC}
• Forbearance: A means of handling a delinquent loan. A
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• foreclosure prevention agreement: means a written agreement that:

  Indiana Code 32-30-10.5-4

• forestry operation: includes facilities, activities, and equipment used to plant, raise, manage, harvest, and remove trees on private land. See Indiana Code 32-30-6-1.5
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• in writing: include printing, lithographing, or other mode of representing words and letters. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
• indecent nuisance: means a:

  Indiana Code 32-30-7-1

• industrial operation: includes any facility used for the:

  Indiana Code 32-30-6-2

• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Judgment: means all final orders, decrees, and determinations in an action and all orders upon which executions may issue. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• lease: means a lease of real property that is entered into by a political subdivision for a term of at least twelve (12) months, whether payable from property taxes, other taxes, revenues, or any other source. See Indiana Code 5-1-18-3
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• locality: means the following:

  Indiana Code 32-30-6-3

• loss mitigation package: means a set of documents, the components of which:

  Indiana Code 32-30-10.5-4.7

• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• mortgage: means :

  Indiana Code 32-30-10.5-5

• mortgage foreclosure counselor: means a foreclosure prevention counselor who is part of, or has been trained or certified by, the Indiana Foreclosure Prevention Network. See Indiana Code 32-30-10.5-6
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• Mortgagor: The person who pledges property to a creditor as collateral for a loan and who receives the money.
• National Credit Union Administration: The federal regulatory agency that charters and supervises federal credit unions. (NCUA also administers the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, which insures the deposits of federal credit unions.) ^{Source: OCC}
• nuisance: means the use of a property to commit an act constituting an offense under IC 35-48-4. See Indiana Code 32-30-8-1
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• person: means an individual, a partnership, an association, a limited liability company, a corporation, a business trust, a joint stock company, or an unincorporated organization. See Indiana Code 32-30-1-1
• person: has the meaning set forth in Indiana Code 32-30-7-2
• Personal property: includes goods, chattels, evidences of debt, and things in action. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• place: includes any part of a building or structure or the ground. See Indiana Code 32-30-7-3
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• political subdivision: has the meaning set forth in IC 36-1-2-13. See Indiana Code 5-1-18-5
• political subdivision: has the meaning set forth in IC 36-1-2-13. See Indiana Code 32-30-10.3-2
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probate: Proving a will
• property: means a house, a building, a mobile home, or an apartment that is leased for residential or commercial purposes. See Indiana Code 32-30-8-2
• property owner: means a person with a recorded fee simple interest in land upon which an electric easement is located. See Indiana Code 32-30-16-7
• prosecuting official: refers to public officials who have concurrent jurisdiction to enforce this chapter, including:

  Indiana Code 32-30-7-4

• public place: means any place to which the public is invited by special or an implied invitation. See Indiana Code 32-30-7-5
• public use airport operation: includes any facility used as a public use airport for the landing, take off, storage, or repair of aircraft. See Indiana Code 32-30-6-4
• real property: include lands, tenements, and hereditaments. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Sheriff: means the sheriff of the county or another person authorized to perform sheriff's duties. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
• tenant: means a person who leases or resides in a property. See Indiana Code 32-30-8-3
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the commonwealths, possessions, states in free association with the United States, and the territories. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Verified: when applied to pleadings, means supported by oath or affirmation in writing. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5