Legal Dictionary

survivorship

n. the right to receive full title or ownership due to having survived another person. Survivorship is particularly applied to persons owning real property or other assets, such as bank accounts or stocks, in "joint tenancy." Joint tenancy includes the right of survivorship automatically, except that joint tenancy of a bank account creates only a presumption of survivorship, which might be disproved by evidence that the joint tenancy was only for convenience.

sustain

v. in trial practice, for a judge to agree that an attorney's objection, such as to a question, is valid. Thus, an attorney asks a witness a question, and the opposing lawyer objects, saying the question is "irrelevant, immaterial and incompetent," "leading," "argumentative," or some other objection. If the judge agrees he/she will rule "sustained," meaning the objection is approved and the question cannot be asked or answered. However, if the judge finds the question proper, he/she will "overrule" the objection.

swindle

v. to cheat through trick, device, false statements or other fraudulent methods with the intent to acquire money or property from another to which the swindler is not entitled. Swindling is a crime as one form of theft.

t.r.o.

n. legal slang for temporary restraining order.

take

v. to gain or obtain possession, including the receipt of a legacy from an estate, getting title to real property or stealing an object.

tax

n. a governmental assessment (charge) upon property value, transactions (transfers and sales), licenses granting a right and/or income. These include central and state income taxes, taxes on real property, state and/or local sales tax based on a percentage of each retail transaction, duties on imports from foreign countries, business licenses, taxes on large gifts and a state "use" tax in lieu of sales tax imposed on certain goods bought outside of the state.

tax evasion

n. intentional and fraudulent attempt to escape payment of taxes in whole or in part. If proved to be intentional and not just an error or difference of opinion, tax evasion can be a chargeable crime. Evasion is distinguished from attempts to use interpretation of tax laws and/or imaginative accounting to reduce the amount of payable tax.

tax sale

n. an auction sale of a taxpayer's property conducted by the government to collect unpaid taxes.

temporary insanity

n. in a criminal prosecution, a defense by the accused that he/she was briefly insane at the time the crime was committed and therefore was incapable of knowing the nature of his/her alleged criminal act. Temporary insanity is claimed as a defense whether or not the accused is mentally stable at the time of trial. One difficulty with a temporary insanity defense is the problem of proof, since any examination by psychiatrists had to be after the fact, so the only evidence must be the conduct of the accused immediately before or after the crime. It is similar to the defenses of "diminished capacity" to understand one's own actions, the so-called "Twinkie defense," the "abuse excuse," "heat of passion" and other claims of mental disturbance which raise the issue of criminal intent based on modern psychiatry and/or sociology. However, mental derangement at the time of an abrupt crime, such as a sudden attack or crime of passion, can be a valid defense or at least show lack of premeditation to reduce the degree of the crime.

tenancy at sufferance

n. a "hold-over" tenancy after a lease has expired but before the landlord has demanded that the tenant quit (vacate) the premises. During a tenancy at sufferance the tenant is bound by the terms of the lease (including payment of rent) which existed before it expired. The only difference between a "tenancy at sufferance" and a "tenancy at will" is that the latter was created by agreement.

tenancy by the entirety

n. joint ownership of title by husband and wife, in which both have the right to the entire property, and, upon the death of one, the other has title (right of survivorship).

tenant

n. a person who occupies real property owned by another based upon an agreement between the person and the landlord/owner, almost always for rental payments.

tenement

n. 1) a term found in older deeds or in boiler-plate deed language which means any structure on real property. 2) old run-down urban apartment buildings with several floors reached by stairways.

tenure

n. 1) in real property, the right to possess the property. 2) in employment contracts, particularly of public employees like school teachers or professors, a guaranteed right to a job (barring substantial inability to perform or some wrongful act) once a probationary period has passed.

testacy

n. dying with a will (a testament). It is compared to "intestacy," which is dying without a will.

testamentary capacity

n. having the mental competency to execute a will at the time the will was signed and witnessed. To have testamentary capacity, the author of the will must understand the nature of making a will, have a general idea of what he/she possesses, and know who are members of the immediate family or other "natural objects of his/her bounty." Inherent in that capacity is the ability to resist the pressures or domination of any person who may try to use undue influence on the distribution of the testator's (will writer's) estate.

testamentary trust

n. a trust created by the terms of a will. Example: "The residue of my estate shall form the corpus (body) of a trust, with the executor as trustee, for my children's health and education, which shall terminate when the last child attains the age of 25, when the remaining corpus and any accumulated profits shall be divided among my then living children." A testamentary trust differs from an "inter vivos" or "living" trust, which comes into being during the lifetime of the creator of the trust (called trustor, settlor or donor), usually from the time the declaration of trust is signed.

testatrix

n. female form of testator, although distinguishing between genders is falling out of fashion.

testimony

n. oral evidence given under oath by a witness in answer to questions posed by attorneys at trial or at a deposition (questioning under oath outside of court).

third party

n. a person who is not a party to a contract or a transaction, but has an involvement (such as one who is a buyer from one of the parties, was present when the agreement was signed or made an offer that was rejected). The third party normally has no legal rights in the matter, unless the contract was made for the third party's benefit.

thirty-day notice

n. a notice by a landlord to a tenant on a month-to-month tenancy or a holdover tenant to leave the premises within 30 days. Such notice does not have to state any reason and is not based on failure to pay rent. The landlord's service of the notice and the tenant's failure to vacate at the end of 30 days provide the basis for a lawsuit for unlawful detainer (eviction) and a court judgment ordering the tenant to leave. While this is a common notice period, it does not apply in all states or all circumstances, such as local rent control ordinances.

tide lands

n. land between the high and low tides, which is uncovered each day by tidal action. This land belongs to the owner of the land which fronts on the sea at that point.

time served

n. the period a criminal defendant has been in jail, often while awaiting bail or awaiting trial. Often a judge will give a defendant "credit for time served," particularly when sentencing for misdemeanors.

title

n. 1) ownership of real property or personal property, which stands against the right of anyone else to claim the property. In real property, title is evidenced by a deed, judgment of distribution from an estate or other appropriate document recorded in the public records of the county. Title to personal property is generally shown by possession, particularly when no proof or strong evidence exists showing that the property belongs to another or that it has been stolen or known to be lost by another. 2) the name for one's position in a business or organization, such as president, general manager, mayor, governor, managing director. 3) the name for a legal case, such as Orient taxi company v. Citi cab company, which is part of the "caption" of the case.

title insurance

n. a policy issued by an insurance company guaranteeing that the title to a parcel of real property is clear and properly in the name of the title owner and that the owner has the right to deed the property (convey or sell) to another. Should a problem later arise with the title (such as an inaccurate description), the insurance company will pay the damages to the new title holder or secured lender or take steps to correct the problem.