Terms Used In Indiana Code > Title 5 > Article 1 > Chapter 14 - Miscellaneous Provisions

• 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.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• agent: means a real estate agent or other person acting on behalf of the owner or transferee of real estate or acting as a limited agent. See Indiana Code 32-21-6-1
• 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.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Attorney: includes a counselor or other person authorized to appear and represent a party in an action or special proceeding. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
• 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.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• buyer: means a transferee in a transaction described in section 1 of this chapter. See Indiana Code 32-21-5-2
• Clerk: means the clerk of the court or a person authorized to perform the clerk's duties. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
• closing: means a transfer of an interest described in section 1 of this chapter by a deed, installment sales contract, or lease. See Indiana Code 32-21-5-3
• 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.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• conveyance: means :

  Indiana Code 32-21-3-1

• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• 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.
• disclosure form: refers to a disclosure form prepared under section 8 of this chapter or a disclosure form that meets the requirements of section 8 of this chapter. See Indiana Code 32-21-5-5
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• documents: means an electronic record (as defined in IC 26-2-8-102) or information that is:

  Indiana Code 32-21-2.5-1

• electronic: means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities. See Indiana Code 32-21-2.5-2
• electronic document: means a document that is received by a county recorder in an electronic form. See Indiana Code 32-21-2.5-3
• electronic signature: means an electronic sound, symbol, or process attached to or logically associated with a document and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the document. See Indiana Code 32-21-2.5-4
• 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
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• 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}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• grantor: has the meaning set forth in IC 32-17-1-1. See Indiana Code 32-21-3-2
• 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.
• homeowners association: means a corporation or another entity that:

  Indiana Code 32-21-2-1.2

• in writing: include printing, lithographing, or other mode of representing words and letters. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• instrument: means :

  Indiana Code 32-21-2-1.5

• 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}
• issuer: means any issuer of obligations that is referred to in IC 5-1-1-1(b). See Indiana Code 5-1-14-1.2
• 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: 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}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• limited agent: means an agent who, with the written and informed consent of all parties to a real estate transaction, is engaged by both the seller and buyer or both the landlord and tenant. See Indiana Code 32-21-6-2
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• 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.
• Oath: includes "affirmation" and "to swear" includes to "affirm". See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• obligations: has the meaning set forth in IC 5-1-3-1(2). See Indiana Code 5-1-14-1.5
• owner: means the owner of residential real estate that is for sale, exchange, lease with an option to buy, or sale under an installment contract. See Indiana Code 32-21-5-6
• 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 corporation, a business trust, an estate, a trust, a partnership, a limited liability company, an association, a joint venture, a public corporation, a government or a governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity. See Indiana Code 32-21-2.5-5
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Population: has the meaning set forth in Ind. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Probate: Proving a will
• proof: has the meaning set forth in Indiana Code 32-21-3-2.5
• Property: includes personal and real property. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• psychologically affected property: includes real estate or a dwelling that is for sale, rent, or lease and to which one (1) or more of the following facts or a reasonable suspicion of facts apply:

  Indiana Code 32-21-6-3

• 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.
• Rescission: The cancellation of budget authority previously provided by Congress. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that the President may propose to Congress that funds be rescinded. If both Houses have not approved a rescission proposal (by passing legislation) within 45 days of continuous session, any funds being withheld must be made available for obligation.
• 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
• state: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Indiana Code 32-21-2.5-6
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• tract: means an area of land that is:

  Indiana Code 32-21-2-2

• 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.
• transferee: means a purchaser, tenant, lessee, prospective purchaser, prospective tenant, or prospective lessee of the real estate or dwelling. See Indiana Code 32-21-6-4
• 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.
• Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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
• Verified: when applied to pleadings, means supported by oath or affirmation in writing. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
• Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5