The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a civil rights law, signed into law on July 26, 1990, by President George H.W. Bush, that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities. This law is part of labor law and more...
family & personal matters
ancestor
An ancestor is a predecessor in the family. In a legal sense, especially in the law of inheritance, any person whose estate is inherited by legal act or descent is an ancestor. The term ancestor applies only to natural persons. Predecessors...
annual exclusion amount
The Annual Exclusion amount is the amount of money that one person may transfer to another as a gift without incurring a gift tax or affecting the unified credit. This annual gift exclusion can be transferred in the form of cash or other...
annual exclusion gift
An annual exclusion gift usually involves cash, stocks, bonds, portions of real estate, or forgiving debt on a family loan in an amount that doesn't exceed the annual gift tax exclusion. The federal government sets the allowable limits for...
annulment
An annulment is a legal procedure that voids a marriage and declares it null from its inception. Unlike divorce, the effect of declaring a marriage void is retroactive, meaning that the marriage was void at the time it was entered into. It...
antenuptial agreement
An antenuptial agreement or a prenuptial agreement is an agreement made between parties before getting married, permitting them to individually retain certain assets during the marriage and after the marriage if divorce arises. If parties...
anti-contest clause
Anti-contest clauses (also known as in terrorem clauses, contest clauses, no-contest clauses, noncontest clauses, and forfeiture clauses) are clauses in a will that impose a condition upon a devisee or legatee that they will not dispute the...
antilapse statute
Anti-lapse statutes are laws enacted in every state that prevent bequests from lapsing when the intended beneficiary has relatives covered by the statute. Without the statutes, if someone were to bequeath something to an intended beneficiary...
antitransfer Laws
Antitransfer laws, sometimes referred to as transfer of assets rules, penalize individuals who obtain eligibility for public benefits, such as Medicaid or SSI, by disposing of assets for less than fair market value. For example, Title XIX of...
appraisal
An appraisal is the process by which the value of an item or property is determined. This is necessary in a variety of contexts. One common instance is in the purchase, sale or refinancing of homes or other real estate. Appraisals are also...