Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 8.3A > Part 3 - Enforcement of Instruments

• 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.
• Annual percentage rate: The cost of credit at a yearly rate. It is calculated in a standard way, taking the average compound interest rate over the term of the loan so borrowers can compare loans. Lenders are required by law to disclose a card account's APR. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Attorney-at-law: A person who is legally qualified and licensed to practice law, and to represent and act for clients in legal proceedings.
• Bank: means any national bank, any bank organized under Chapter 8 (§ 6. See Virginia Code 6.2-300
• 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}
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• bill in equity: shall mean a complaint in a civil action, as provided in the Rules of Supreme Court of Virginia;

  11. See Virginia Code 8.01-2

• Board: means the Board of Historic Resources. See Virginia Code 10.1-2200
• Bond with surety: includes the payment in cash of the full amount of the required bond and, in such case, no surety shall be required. See Virginia Code 1-205
• Case law: The law as laid down in cases that have been decided in the decisions of the courts.
• 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.
• Compensation: means :

  1. See Virginia Code 2.2-419

• Credit union: means any credit union organized under Chapter 13 (§ 6. See Virginia Code 6.2-300
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department of Historic Resources. See Virginia Code 10.1-2200
• Department: means the State Department of Health. See Virginia Code 32.1-3
• Department: means the Department of Education. See Virginia Code 22.1-1
• Department: means the Department of Education. See Virginia Code 22.1-319
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Director: means the Director of the Department of Historic Resources. See Virginia Code 10.1-2200
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Eligible nonsignificant discharger: means any publicly owned treatment works that is not a significant discharger but due to expansion or new construction is subject to a technology-based standard under § 62. See Virginia Code 10.1-2117
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Entity: means any corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or other legal or commercial entity. See Virginia Code 6.2-100
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Fiduciary: includes a guardian, committee, trustee, executor, conservator, or personal representative. See Virginia Code 64.2-100
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fiduciary: shall include any one or more of the following:

  a. See Virginia Code 8.01-2

• 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}
• Finance charge: has the meaning assigned to it in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Regulation Z, 12 C. See Virginia Code 6.2-100
• 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}
• Forgery: The fraudulent signing or alteration of another's name to an instrument such as a deed, mortgage, or check. The intent of the forgery is to deceive or defraud. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fund: means the Virginia Water Quality Improvement Fund established by § 10. See Virginia Code 10.1-2127.1
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Institutions of higher education: means any educational institution meeting the requirements of § 60. See Virginia Code 10.1-2117
• 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.
• Life estate: A property interest limited in duration to the life of the individual holding the interest (life tenant).
• Loan: means a loan or forbearance of money. See Virginia Code 6.2-300
• Lobbyist: means :

  1. See Virginia Code 2.2-419

• Local government: means any county, city, town, municipal corporation, authority, district, commission or political subdivision of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 10.1-2117
• National Bank: A bank that is subject to the supervision of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department. A national bank can be recognized because it must have "national" or "national association" in its name. ^{Source: OCC}
• Nonpoint source pollution: means pollution of state waters washed from the land surface in a diffuse manner and not resulting from a discernible, defined or discrete conveyance. See Virginia Code 10.1-2117
• Nutrient removal technology: means state-of-the-art nutrient removal technology, biological nutrient removal technology, or other nutrient removal technology. See Virginia Code 10.1-2117
• Open-end credit: A credit agreement (typically a credit card) that allows a customer to borrow against a preapproved credit line when purchasing goods and services. The borrower is only billed for the amount that is actually borrowed plus any interest due. (Also called a charge account or revolving credit.) ^{Source: OCC}
• open-end credit plan: means consumer credit extended by a creditor under a plan in which: (i) the creditor reasonably contemplates repeated transactions; (ii) the creditor may impose a finance charge from time to time on an outstanding unpaid balance; and (iii) the amount of credit that may be extended to the consumer during the term of the plan, up to any limit set by the creditor, is generally made available to the extent that any outstanding balance is repaid. See Virginia Code 6.2-300
• Person: means an individual, corporation, partnership, or association or any other legal entity. See Virginia Code 32.1-3
• Person: means any individual, group of individuals, partnership, association, business trust, corporation, or other business entity. See Virginia Code 22.1-319
• Person under a disability: shall include :

  a. See Virginia Code 8.01-2

• Personal estate: includes chattels real and such other estate as, upon the death of the owner intestate, would devolve upon his personal representative. See Virginia Code 1-233
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Personal representative: includes the executor of a will or the administrator of the estate of a decedent, the administrator of such estate with the will annexed, the administrator of such estate unadministered by a former representative, whether there is a will or not, any person who is under the order of a circuit court to take into his possession the estate of a decedent for administration, and every other curator of a decedent's estate, for or against whom suits may be brought for causes of action that accrued to or against the decedent. See Virginia Code 1-234
• 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.
• Point source pollution: means pollution of state waters resulting from any discernible, defined or discrete conveyances. See Virginia Code 10.1-2117
• 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}
• Probate: Proving a will
• Publicly owned treatment works: means a publicly owned sewage collection system consisting of pipelines or conduits, pumping stations and force mains, and all other construction, devices, and appliances appurtenant thereto, or any equipment, plant, treatment works, structure, machinery, apparatus, interest in land, or any combination of these, not including an onsite sewage system, that is used, operated, acquired, or constructed for the storage, collection, treatment, neutralization, stabilization, reduction, recycling, reclamation, separation, or disposal of wastewater, or for the final disposal of residues resulting from the treatment of sewage, including but not limited to: treatment or disposal plants; outfall sewers, interceptor sewers, and collector sewers; pumping and ventilating stations, facilities, and works; and other real or personal property and appurtenances incident to their development, use, or operation. See Virginia Code 10.1-2117
• 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.
• Remainderman: One entitled to the remainder of an estate after a particular reserved right or interest, such as a life tenancy, has expired.
• Savings institution: means any savings institution, as defined in § 6. See Virginia Code 6.2-300
• schools: means a privately owned and operated preschool, school, or educational organization, no matter how titled, maintained or conducting classes for the purpose of offering instruction for a consideration, profit, or tuition to persons determined to have autism, deaf-blindness, a developmental delay, hearing loss including deafness, intellectual disability, multiple disabilities, an orthopedic impairment, other health impairment, an emotional disturbance, a severe disability, a specific learning disability, a speech or language impairment, a traumatic brain injury, or a visual impairment including blindness. See Virginia Code 22.1-319
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Significant discharger: means (i) a publicly owned treatment works discharging to the Chesapeake Bay watershed with a design capacity of 0. See Virginia Code 10.1-2117
• State waters: means all waters on the surface or under the ground, wholly or partially within or bordering the Commonwealth or within its jurisdictions. See Virginia Code 10.1-2117
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subordinate mortgage or deed of trust: means a mortgage or deed of trust that is subject to a prior mortgage or deed of trust in existence at the time of the making of the loan secured by such subordinate mortgage or deed of trust. See Virginia Code 6.2-300
• Superintendent: means the Superintendent of Public Instruction. See Virginia Code 22.1-1
• Supreme Court: means the Supreme Court of Virginia. See Virginia Code 1-249
• Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: means a trustee under a probated will or an inter vivos trust instrument. See Virginia Code 64.2-100
• Usury: Charging an illegally high interest rate on a loan. ^{Source: OCC}
• Water Quality Improvement Grants: means grants available from the Fund for projects of local governments, institutions of higher education, and individuals (i) to achieve nutrient reduction goals in regulations, permits, or the Chesapeake Bay TMDL Watershed Implementation Plan or (ii) to achieve other water quality restoration, protection or enhancement benefits. See Virginia Code 10.1-2117