Terms Used In Nevada Revised Statutes > Chapter 111 - Estates in Property; Conveyancing and Recording

• Account: means any deposit or credit account with a bank including a demand, time, savings, passbook, share draft or like account, other than an account evidenced by a certificate of deposit. See Nevada Revised Statutes 104.4104
• Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
• Administrator: means the Administrator of the Division. See Nevada Revised Statutes 407.011
• Affiliate: means :

  (a) A person who directly or indirectly owns, controls or holds with power to vote, 20 percent or more of the outstanding voting securities of the debtor, other than a person who holds the securities:

  (1) As a fiduciary or agent without sole discretionary power to vote the securities; or

  (2) Solely to secure a debt, if the person has not exercised the power to vote;

  (b) A corporation 20 percent or more of whose outstanding voting securities are directly or indirectly owned, controlled or held with power to vote, by the debtor or a person who directly or indirectly owns, controls or holds with power to vote, 20 percent or more of the outstanding voting securities of the debtor, other than a person who holds the securities:

  (1) As a fiduciary or agent without sole power to vote the securities; or

  (2) Solely to secure a debt, if the person has not in fact exercised the power to vote;

  (c) A person whose business is operated by the debtor under a lease or other agreement, or a person substantially all of whose assets are controlled by the debtor; or

  (d) A person who operates the debtor"s business under a lease or other agreement or controls substantially all of the debtor"s assets. See Nevada Revised Statutes 112.150

• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• 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.
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• 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.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• 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
• Asset: means property of a debtor, but the term does not include:

  (a) Property to the extent it is encumbered by a valid lien;

  (b) Property to the extent it is generally exempt under nonbankruptcy law; or

  (c) An interest in property held in tenancy by the entireties or as community property to the extent it is not subject to process by a creditor holding a claim against only one tenant. See Nevada Revised Statutes 112.150

• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Bailee: means a person that by a warehouse receipt, bill of lading or other document of title acknowledges possession of goods and contracts to deliver them. See Nevada Revised Statutes 104.7102
• 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.
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Board of Regents: means the Board of Regents of the University of Nevada. See Nevada Revised Statutes 396.005
• Carrier: means a person that issues a bill of lading. See Nevada Revised Statutes 104.7102
• Charity: An agency, institution, or organization in existence and operating for the benefit of an indefinite number of persons and conducted for educational, religious, scientific, medical, or other beneficent purposes.
• Claim: means a right to payment, whether or not the right is reduced to judgment, liquidated, unliquidated, fixed, contingent, matured, unmatured, disputed, undisputed, legal, equitable, secured or unsecured. See Nevada Revised Statutes 112.150
• 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.
• Community college: means all of the community colleges within the Nevada System of Higher Education. See Nevada Revised Statutes 396.005
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Concurrent resolution: A legislative measure, designated "S. Con. Res." and numbered consecutively upon introduction, generally employed to address the sentiments of both chambers, to deal with issues or matters affecting both houses, such as a concurrent budget resolution, or to create a temporary joint committee. Concurrent resolutions are not submitted to the President/Governor and thus do not have the force of law.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• controlled substance: means a drug, immediate precursor or other substance which is listed in schedule I, II, III, IV or V for control by the State Board of Pharmacy pursuant to Nevada Revised Statutes 0.031
• Conveyance: shall be construed to embrace every instrument in writing, except a last will and testament, whatever may be its form, and by whatever name it may be known in law, by which any estate or interest in lands is created, aliened, assigned or surrendered. See Nevada Revised Statutes 111.010
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• 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.
• Council: means the Nevada Advisory Council on Federal Assistance created by Nevada Revised Statutes 358.010
• Creditor: means a person who has a claim. See Nevada Revised Statutes 112.150
• Customer: means any person having an account with a bank or for whom a bank has agreed to collect items, including a bank that maintains an account at another bank. See Nevada Revised Statutes 104.4104
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Debt: means liability on a claim. See Nevada Revised Statutes 112.150
• Debtor: means a person who is liable on a claim. See Nevada Revised Statutes 112.150
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Delivery order: means a record that contains an order to deliver goods directed to a warehouse, carrier or other person that in the ordinary course of business issues warehouse receipts or bills of lading. See Nevada Revised Statutes 104.7102
• Department: means the Department of Motor Vehicles. See Nevada Revised Statutes 371.020
• Department: means the Department of Education. See Nevada Revised Statutes 385.007
• Department: means the State Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. See Nevada Revised Statutes 407.011
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Director: means the Director of the Department. See Nevada Revised Statutes 407.011
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Division: means the Division of State Parks of the Department. See Nevada Revised Statutes 407.011
• Documentary draft: means a draft to be presented for acceptance or payment if specified documents, certificated securities or instructions for uncertificated securities, or other certificates, statements or the like are to be received by the drawee or other payor before acceptance or payment of the draft. See Nevada Revised Statutes 104.4104
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Draft: means a draft as defined in Nevada Revised Statutes 104.4104
• Drawee: means a person ordered in a draft to make payment. See Nevada Revised Statutes 104.4104
• 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.
• 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}
• Equity: means the amount that is determined by subtracting from the fair market value of the property the value of any liens excepted from the homestead exemption pursuant to subsection 3 of Nevada Revised Statutes 115.005
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• 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: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Fixed Rate: Having a "fixed" rate means that the APR doesn't change based on fluctuations of some external rate (such as the "Prime Rate"). In other words, a fixed rate is a rate that is not a variable rate. A fixed APR can change over time, in several circumstances:
  • You are late making a payment or commit some other default, triggering an increase to a penalty rate
  • The bank changes the terms of your account and you do not reject the change.
  • The rate expires (if the rate was fixed for only a certain period of time).
• 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.
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Goods: means all things that are treated as movable for the purposes of a contract for storage or transportation. See Nevada Revised Statutes 104.7102
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• 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.
• Homestead: means the property consisting of:

  (a) A quantity of land, together with the dwelling house thereon and its appurtenances;

  (b) A mobile home whether or not the underlying land is owned by the claimant; or

  (c) A unit, whether real or personal property, existing pursuant to chapter 116 or 117 of NRS, with any appurtenant limited common elements and its interest in the common elements of the common-interest community, to be selected by both spouses, or either of them, or a single person claiming the homestead. See Nevada Revised Statutes 115.005

• Impeachment: (1) The process of calling something into question, as in "impeaching the testimony of a witness." (2) The constitutional process whereby the House of Representatives may "impeach" (accuse of misconduct) high officers of the federal government for trial in the Senate.
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Insider: includes :

  (a) If the debtor is a natural person:

  (1) A relative of the debtor or of a general partner of the debtor;

  (2) A partnership in which the debtor is a general partner;

  (3) A general partner in a partnership described in subparagraph (2); and

  (4) A corporation of which the debtor is a director, officer or person in control;

  (b) If the debtor is a corporation:

  (1) A director of the debtor;

  (2) An officer of the debtor;

  (3) A person in control of the debtor;

  (4) A partnership in which the debtor is a general partner;

  (5) A general partner in a partnership described in subparagraph (4); and

  (6) A relative of a general partner, director, officer or person in control of the debtor;

  (c) If the debtor is a partnership:

  (1) A general partner in the debtor;

  (2) A relative of a general partner in, a general partner of, or a person in control of the debtor;

  (3) Another partnership in which the debtor is a general partner;

  (4) A general partner in a partnership described in subparagraph (3); and

  (5) A person in control of the debtor;

  (d) An affiliate, or an insider of an affiliate as if the affiliate were the debtor; and

  (e) A managing agent of the debtor. See Nevada Revised Statutes 112.150

• 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}
• Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
• Irrevocable trust: A trust arrangement that cannot be revoked, rescinded, or repealed by the grantor.
• Issuer: means a bailee that issues a document of title or, in the case of an unaccepted delivery order, the person that orders the possessor of goods to deliver. See Nevada Revised Statutes 104.7102
• Item: means an instrument or a promise or order to pay money handled by a bank for collection or payment. See Nevada Revised Statutes 104.4104
• Joint committee: Committees including membership from both houses of teh legislature. Joint committees are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation.
• Joint tenancy: A form of property ownership in which two or more parties hold an undivided interest in the same property that was conveyed under the same instrument at the same time. A joint tenant can sell his (her) interest but not dispose of it by will. Upon the death of a joint tenant, his (her) undivided interest is distributed among the surviving joint tenants.
• 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.
• Lands: shall be construed as coextensive in meaning with lands, tenements and hereditaments, and shall include in its meaning all possessory right to the soil for mining and other purposes. See Nevada Revised Statutes 111.010
• 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.
• Lien: means a charge against or an interest in property to secure payment of a debt or performance of an obligation, and includes a security interest created by agreement, a judicial lien obtained by legal or equitable process or proceedings, a common-law lien and a statutory lien. See Nevada Revised Statutes 112.150
• Life estate: A property interest limited in duration to the life of the individual holding the interest (life tenant).
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Majority leader: see Floor Leaders
• Mistrial: An invalid trial, caused by fundamental error. When a mistrial is declared, the trial must start again from the selection of the jury.
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• mortgage: includes a deed of trust. See Nevada Revised Statutes 0.037
• Mortgage loan: A loan made by a lender to a borrower for the financing of real property. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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 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}
• 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.
• Original bill: A bill which is drafted by a committee. It is introduced by the committee or subcommittee chairman after the committee votes to report it.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• 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.
• Per stirpes: The legal means by which the children of a decedent, upon the death of an ancestor at a level above that of the decedent, receive by right of representation the share of the ancestor
• Person: includes a government and a governmental subdivision or agency. See Nevada Revised Statutes 112.150
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• physician: means a person who engages in the practice of medicine, including osteopathy and homeopathy. See Nevada Revised Statutes 0.040
• 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.
• population: means the number of people in a specified area as determined by the last preceding national decennial census conducted by the Bureau of the Census of the United States Department of Commerce pursuant to Section 2 of Nevada Revised Statutes 0.050
• 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.
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probate: Proving a will
• Property: means anything that may be the subject of ownership. See Nevada Revised Statutes 112.150
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public debt: Cumulative amounts borrowed by the Treasury Department or the Federal Financing Bank from the public or from another fund or account. The public debt does not include agency debt (amounts borrowed by other agencies of the Federal Government). The total public debt is subject to a statutory limit.
• Public defender: Represent defendants who can't afford an attorney in criminal matters.
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• 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}
• Relative: means a natural person related by consanguinity within the third degree as determined by the common law, a spouse, or a natural person related to a spouse within the third degree as so determined, and includes a natural person in an adoptive relationship within the third degree. See Nevada Revised Statutes 112.150
• 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.
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Restrictive covenant modification document: means a certified copy of a written instrument which redacts from the written instrument any language identified in a court order issued pursuant to Nevada Revised Statutes 111.010
• Restrictive covenant modification form: means the form prescribed by the Real Estate Division of the Department of Business and Industry pursuant to Nevada Revised Statutes 111.010
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• 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.
• State Board: means the State Board of Education. See Nevada Revised Statutes 385.007
• State college: means all of the state colleges within the Nevada System of Higher Education, including, without limitation, the state college known as Nevada State University. See Nevada Revised Statutes 396.005
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• System: means the Nevada System of Higher Education. See Nevada Revised Statutes 396.005
• Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• 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.
• 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.
• Transfer: means every mode, direct or indirect, absolute or conditional, voluntary or involuntary, of disposing of or parting with an asset or an interest in an asset, and includes payment of money, release, lease and creation of a lien or other encumbrance. See Nevada Revised Statutes 112.150
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• University: means all of the universities within the Nevada System of Higher Education. See Nevada Revised Statutes 396.005
• Variable Rate: Having a "variable" rate means that the APR changes from time to time based on fluctuations in an external rate, normally the Prime Rate. This external rate is known as the "index." If the index changes, the variable rate normally changes. Also see Fixed Rate.
• Vehicle: means any vehicle required to be registered pursuant to the provisions of chapter 482 or 706 of NRS, except mobile homes as defined in Nevada Revised Statutes 371.020
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Veto: The procedure established under the Constitution by which the President/Governor refuses to approve a bill or joint resolution and thus prevents its enactment into law. A regular veto occurs when the President/Governor returns the legislation to the house in which it originated. The President/Governor usually returns a vetoed bill with a message indicating his reasons for rejecting the measure. In Congress, the veto can be overridden only by a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House.
• Warehouse: means a person engaged in the business of storing goods for hire. See Nevada Revised Statutes 104.7102
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.