Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 55.1 > Subtitle II > Chapter 9 - Real Estate Settlements

• Adult: means a person 18 years of age or more. See Virginia Code 1-203
• 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.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attorney: means the person designated and authorized by subscribers as the attorney-in-fact having authority to obligate them on reciprocal insurance contracts. See Virginia Code 38.2-1201
• Bureau of Insurance: means the division of the Commission established to administer the insurance laws of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Commission: means the State Corporation Commission. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• 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.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Disbursement of loan funds: means the delivery of the loan funds by the lender to the settlement agent in one or more of the following forms:

  1. See Virginia Code 55.1-900

• Disbursement of settlement proceeds: means the payment of all proceeds of the transaction by the settlement agent to the persons entitled to such proceeds. See Virginia Code 55.1-900
• 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.
• Governing body: means the board of supervisors of a county, council of a city, or council of a town, as the context may require. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• 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 any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Virginia Code 1-257
• Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
• inhabitants: means with reference to any county, city, town, political subdivision of the Commonwealth or any combination thereof, the natural persons in such county, city, town, political subdivision or combination as shown by the unadjusted United States decennial census last preceding the time at which any provision dependent upon population is being applied or the time as of which it is being construed. See Virginia Code 1-235
• Insurer: means an insurance company. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• 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.
• Lender: means any person regularly engaged in making loans secured by mortgages or deeds of trust on real estate. See Virginia Code 55.1-900
• Loan closing: means the time agreed upon by the borrower and lender, when the execution of the loan documents by the borrower occurs. See Virginia Code 55.1-900
• Loan documents: means the note evidencing the debt due the lender, the deed of trust, or the mortgage securing the debt due the lender and any other documents required by the lender to be executed by the borrower as a part of the transaction. See Virginia Code 55.1-900
• Loan funds: means the gross or net proceeds of the loan to be disbursed by the lender at loan closing. See Virginia Code 55.1-900
• Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• 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.
• 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: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
• Person: means any association, aggregate of individuals, business, company, corporation, individual, joint-stock company, Lloyds type of organization, organization, partnership, receiver, reciprocal or interinsurance exchange, trustee or society. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Pool: means an arrangement, either voluntary or mandated by law, established on an on-going basis, pursuant to which two or more insurers participate in the sharing of risks on a predetermined basis, which arrangement may operate through an association, syndicate, or other pool arrangement. See Virginia Code 38.2-2000.1
• Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
• Rate service organization: means any entity, including its affiliates or subsidiaries, which either has two or more member insurers or is controlled either directly or indirectly by two or more insurers, other than a joint underwriting association under § Virginia Code 38.2-1901
• Rate service organization: means any organization or person, other than a joint underwriting association under § Virginia Code 38.2-100
• rates: means any rate of premium, policy fee, membership fee or any other charge made by an insurer for or in connection with a contract or policy of insurance. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• real estate: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights and appurtenances thereto and interests therein, other than a chattel interest. See Virginia Code 1-219
• 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.
• Residual market mechanism: means an arrangement, either voluntary or mandated by law, involving participation by insurers in equitable apportionment among themselves of insurance which may be afforded applicants who are unable to obtain insurance through ordinary methods including any filed and approved plans. See Virginia Code 38.2-2000.1
• Right of rescission: Right to cancel, within three business days, a contract that uses the home of a person as collateral, except in the case of a first mortgage loan. There is no fee to the borrower, who receives a full refund of all fees paid. The right of rescission is guaranteed by the Truth in Lending Act (TILA). ^{Source: OCC}
• Settlement: means the time when the settlement agent has received the duly executed deed, loan funds, loan documents, and other documents and funds required to carry out the terms of the contract between the parties and the settlement agent reasonably determines that prerecordation conditions of such contracts have been satisfied. See Virginia Code 55.1-900
• 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.
• Settlement agent: means the person responsible for conducting the settlement and disbursement of the settlement proceeds and includes any individual, corporation, partnership, or other entity conducting the settlement and disbursement of loan proceeds. See Virginia Code 55.1-900
• Settlement service provider: means any person providing settlement services, as that term is defined under the federal Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (Virginia Code 55.1-900
• State: means any commonwealth, state, territory, district or insular possession of the United States. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
• Subscriber: means a person obligated under a reciprocal insurance agreement. See Virginia Code 38.2-1201
• Supervisor: means a member of the board of supervisors of a county. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Truth in Lending Act: The Truth in Lending Act is a federal law that requires lenders to provide standardized information so that borrowers can compare loan terms. In general, lenders must provide information on ^{Source: OCC}
• Virginia Property Insurance Association: means that organization established pursuant to Chapter 27 (§ Virginia Code 38.2-2000.1