Plain-English Legal Glossary

90 legal terms explained in ordinary language. Every entry states the statute or court rule it rests on - or says plainly that the doctrine is state law with no national definition, which is true more often than legal writing usually admits.

Terms

• Advance Directive and Living WillDocuments recording medical treatment wishes, and naming who decides, if a person becomes unable to decide for themselves.
• ArraignmentThe first court appearance in a criminal case, where the charges are read and a plea is entered.
• Automatic StayThe immediate, court-ordered halt to most collection activity that takes effect the moment a bankruptcy case is filed.
• Bail and Pretrial ReleaseThe decision about whether someone stays in custody while their case is pending - which is about appearance and safety, not about guilt.
• Beneficiary Designation (Payable-on-Death)The single line on an account form that overrides the will - and the commonest reason an estate plan does not do what the family expected.
• Chapter 13 BankruptcyA reorganisation bankruptcy for individuals with regular income: debts are repaid in part through a court-approved plan.
• Chapter 7 BankruptcyA liquidation bankruptcy: non-exempt property may be sold to pay creditors, and qualifying debts are discharged.
• Legal and Physical CustodyTwo different things the word "custody" covers: who makes major decisions for a child, and where the child lives.
• Child SupportMoney one parent pays the other toward a child's living costs, set in most cases by a state formula rather than by negotiation.
• Class ActionOne lawsuit brought by named plaintiffs on behalf of a larger group with the same injury.
• Collecting a JudgmentWinning a case and being paid are two different things - the second is a separate process the winner has to start.
• Comparative and Contributory NegligenceRules that decide what happens to a claim when the injured person was also partly careless - and they differ sharply from state to state.
• Contempt of CourtThe court's power to punish disobedience of its own orders - the mechanism that makes a court order more than a piece of paper.
• Contesting a WillThe narrow legal grounds for setting a will aside - and why "it is not fair" is not one of them.
• Contingency FeeA fee arrangement in which the lawyer is paid a percentage of what is recovered, and is paid no fee if nothing is recovered.
• Credit Report DisputeThe federal process for forcing a credit bureau and the company that reported an item to investigate information you say is wrong.
• Default JudgmentA judgment entered because the person sued did not respond in time - the way most consumer debt lawsuits actually end.
• DepositionSworn, recorded, out-of-court questioning of a witness by the opposing lawyer, before any trial.
• DiscoveryThe pre-trial process in which each side must hand over relevant evidence to the other.
• Grounds for DivorceThe legal basis a divorce is granted on - and in every state today at least one basis requires proving no wrongdoing by anyone.
• DUI / DWI (Impaired Driving)Driving while impaired by alcohol or drugs - a charge that almost always runs as two separate cases at once, one criminal and one over the licence.
• EasementA legal right to use someone else's land for a defined purpose, without owning it.
• Eviction (Unlawful Detainer)The court process a landlord must use to make a tenant leave - and in most states, the only lawful way to do it.
• Executor (Personal Representative)The person a court authorises to wind up an estate - a job with real duties, real personal exposure, and a right to be paid.
• Expungement and Record SealingCourt processes that erase or restrict access to a criminal record, available only in defined circumstances that vary by state.
• Fair Debt Collection (Collector Conduct Rules)Federal limits on what a third-party debt collector may say and do - including a written demand that stops contact, and a 30-day right to make them verify the debt.
• Housing Discrimination (Fair Housing Act)The federal law making it unlawful to refuse housing, or set different terms, because of who someone is.
• Felony and MisdemeanorThe basic division of criminal offences by seriousness - which drives the procedure, the possible sentence, and the consequences that outlast it.
• Grand Jury and IndictmentA closed proceeding in which citizens decide whether there is enough evidence to charge someone - not whether they are guilty.
• Guardianship and ConservatorshipA court transferring legal decision-making for an adult who cannot make decisions themselves - the most restrictive option, and often not the necessary one.
• Health Plan Claim Denial and AppealThe structured process for challenging a refusal to cover treatment - internal appeal first, then in most cases an independent external review.
• HIPAA and Your Medical RecordsThe federal privacy rules for health information - including a right to get a copy of your own records, which is narrower and more practical than the privacy rule people usually mean.
• Homeowners Insurance ClaimHow a property loss claim actually works - what the policy covers, the duties it imposes on you, and where claims most often fail.
• Hours-of-Service Rules (Commercial Trucking)Federal limits on how long a commercial driver may drive and work, and the electronic records that show whether those limits were kept.
• Independent Medical ExaminationAn examination by a doctor chosen and paid for by the other side - routine in injury, disability and workers' compensation claims, and not treatment.
• Informed ConsentA patient's agreement to treatment after being told the risks and alternatives - and a signed form is evidence that the conversation happened, not proof that it was adequate.
• Insurance Bad FaithAn insurer's duty to deal fairly with its own policyholder - and the separate claim that arises when it does not.
• Intestate SuccessionThe statutory order in which a person's property passes when they die without a valid will - a default set by the state, not by the family.
• Last Will and TestamentThe document that says who inherits what - and, just as importantly, the many things it does not control.
• Legal SeparationA court status in which spouses live apart with binding orders on support, property and children, while remaining married.
• Lemon Law and Warranty RightsRules that entitle a buyer to a refund or replacement when a new vehicle has a defect the manufacturer cannot fix in a reasonable number of attempts.
• Limited Liability Company (LLC)A business form that shields its owners from most business debts while staying simpler to run than a corporation.
• Revocable Living TrustA container you put property into during life so it can pass at death without a court - useful, oversold, and useless if left unfunded.
• Marital Property DivisionHow a court splits what a couple owns - and "equitable" means fair in that state's judgment, which is not the same as half.
• Mediation and ArbitrationTwo ways of resolving a dispute outside a trial that are constantly confused - one produces an agreement you can walk away from, the other a decision you generally cannot appeal.
• Medical Malpractice and the Standard of CareA negligence claim against a healthcare provider, judged against what a reasonably competent practitioner in the same field would have done.
• Miranda RightsThe warning police must give before questioning someone in custody - and the reason a missing warning suppresses a statement rather than ending a case.
• Modifying a Custody or Support OrderChanging an existing family court order - which usually requires proving something has changed, and never happens by the parents' agreement alone.
• Motion to DismissA request to end a case at the outset on the basis that, even if everything alleged is true, it does not amount to a legal claim.
• NegligenceCarelessness that the law treats as a legal wrong because it fell below the level of care a reasonable person owed to someone else.
• No-Fault Car InsuranceA system in which your own insurer pays your medical bills after a crash regardless of who caused it - used in a minority of states, and it limits when you can sue.
• Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)A contract restricting what one or both sides may do with information the other shares - and, unlike trade secret law, it binds only the person who signed it.
• Parenting Plan and VisitationThe written schedule and decision-making rules for a child after separation - and the document courts increasingly require rather than invite.
• Establishing PaternityThe legal step that makes a man a child's father in law - and signing the hospital form is one of two routes, not a formality.
• Piercing the Corporate VeilThe exception under which a court holds an owner personally liable for a company's debts, despite the limited liability the company normally provides.
• Plea BargainAn agreement resolving a criminal case by guilty plea, usually in exchange for reduced charges or a sentencing concession.
• Policy LimitsThe maximum an insurance policy will pay - and usually the real ceiling on what a claim is worth, whatever the injury.
• Power of AttorneyA document authorising someone to act on another person's behalf in financial or legal matters.
• Preliminary HearingAn early court hearing at which a judge decides whether there is enough evidence for a case to proceed - the defence's first real look at it.
• Prenuptial AgreementA contract made before marriage about property and support - enforceable in every state, and set aside more often than most people expect.
• Probable CauseThe level of justification the Fourth Amendment requires before police may arrest someone or search a place - more than a hunch, and less than proof.
• ProbateThe court process that settles a deceased person's estate: validating any will, paying debts, and transferring what remains.
• Probation and Parole ViolationWhat happens when someone under supervision is said to have broken its conditions - a proceeding with fewer protections than the trial that preceded it.
• Protective Order (Restraining Order)A court order telling one person to stop contacting or coming near another - enforceable by police, and valid across state lines.
• Fair Hearing (Public Benefits)The hearing you are entitled to before benefits such as Medicaid or SNAP are cut off or denied - a constitutional right, not an agency courtesy.
• Reasonable AccommodationA change to a job, workplace or housing rule that lets a person with a disability participate equally - required unless it imposes undue hardship.
• Release and Settlement AgreementThe document that ends a claim by giving up the right to bring it - normally final, and normally broader than people expect.
• Relocating With a ChildMoving a child away from the other parent - the family law dispute most likely to require the court's permission before the move, not after.
• Representing Yourself (Pro Se)The right to conduct your own case without a lawyer - available in almost every civil court, and held to almost the same standards as a lawyer.
• Right to Counsel and the Public DefenderThe Sixth Amendment right to a lawyer in a criminal case, including one paid for by the state if the defendant cannot afford one.
• Search WarrantA judge's written authorisation to search a specified place for specified things - and the exceptions that let police search without one are broad.
• Section 1983 Civil Rights ClaimThe federal statute allowing someone to sue a state or local official personally for violating their constitutional rights.
• Security DepositMoney a tenant leaves with a landlord against damage or unpaid rent - held under state rules that usually require an itemised accounting within a fixed period after move-out.
• Service of ProcessThe formal delivery of court papers that gives a court power over the person sued - and the step whose failure undoes more judgments than any other.
• Small Claims CourtA simplified court for lower-value disputes, designed to be used without a lawyer - and in some states lawyers are not allowed in it at all.
• Small Estate AffidavitThe sworn form that lets a family collect a modest estate without opening a probate case at all.
• Social Security Disability Appeal (SSDI and SSI)The four-step process for challenging a denied disability claim - and most claims are denied at the first step.
• Spousal Elective ShareThe statutory right of a surviving spouse to claim a portion of the estate regardless of what the will says.
• Spousal Support (Alimony)Payments from one former spouse to the other - discretionary in most states, and taxed differently for instruments made after 2018.
• Statute of LimitationsA deadline, set by statute, after which a legal claim can no longer be brought at all.
• SubpoenaA court-backed order to give evidence or hand over documents - enforceable against people who are not parties to the case at all.
• SubrogationThe right of an insurer or health plan that paid your bills to be repaid out of your settlement - the reason a recovery is often smaller than it looks.
• Summary JudgmentA ruling that decides a case, or part of one, without a trial because the essential facts are not genuinely in dispute.
• Total Loss and Diminished ValueWhat happens when an insurer decides a damaged vehicle is not worth repairing - and the separate claim for a repaired car that is now worth less.
• Trademark vs CopyrightTwo different protections that are constantly confused: one protects what identifies your source, the other protects what you created.
• Transfer-on-Death DeedA recorded deed that leaves a house to someone at death while changing nothing during life - available in many states, and not all.
• Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist CoverageCoverage on your own policy that pays when the driver who hurt you had no insurance, or nowhere near enough - and it is the coverage people most often discover they declined.
• Wage GarnishmentA legal order requiring an employer to withhold part of someone's pay and send it to a creditor.
• Implied Warranty of HabitabilityA landlord's obligation to keep a rented home fit to live in - one the lease usually cannot sign away.
• Wrongful Death ClaimA claim brought by surviving family members or an estate when someone dies because of another party's wrongful act.