Legal Glossary

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #

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Market Value: The price for a property that a willing buyer and a willing seller would agree upon when neither is under abnormal pressure.

Master association:  An organization that oversees and administers an entire planned community which has one or more separately administered subparts with concurrent jurisdiction.

Master-planned community: A suburban plan that includes homes and commercial, work, educational, and community facilities.

Material defect: Any defect in a specific property that could either affect a buyer's decision to purchase it or affect the property's value, such as a cracked foundation.

Material fact: Any information about a specific property that could affect a buyer's decision to purchase it, such as an upcoming zoning change in the neighborhood.

Matrix: A list of the names and addresses of creditors typically filed with the petition and schedules upon commencement of the bankruptcy case.

Maximal medical improvement (MMI): Once it is unlikely that your condition will change or improve with or without further medical treatment, an MMI is determined. Once you reach MMI, a doctor can assess a permanent disability rating.

Mechanic's Lien: A statutory lien to secure payment for persons contributing labor and/or material toward improvement upon real property when the compensation was not paid in a timely manner.

Mechanical systems: A home's plumbing, wiring, heating, and cooling systems.

Mediation: A dispute-resolution process in which a neutral party works to resolve contract differences. 

Medical treatment: Treatment required to cure or relieve the effects of an injury or illness.

Mental anguish: Mental suffering. In some cases, damages may be awarded for mental anguish even though no physical injury is present.

Mercantile law: Broad area of the law (also called commercial law), statutes, cases and customs which deal with trade, sales, buying, selling, transportation, contracts and all forms of business transactions.

Merger: The joining together of two corporations in which one corporation transfers all of its assets to the other, which continues to exist.

Metes and Bounds: A time-honored land surveying method of describing land in terms of shape and boundary dimensions.

Minimum wage: The set minimum hourly rate that employers in certain industries are required by law to pay their employees.

Mitigation: Action by an employee that will reduce the amount of damages resulting from an unlawful employment practice, i.e., obtaining new employment after a wrongful termination.

Modified work: Your old job is changed to allow you to continue doing it with your current injury.

Monopoly: A business or inter-related group of businesses which controls so much of the production or sale of a product or kind of product as to control the market, including prices and distribution.

Monthly association dues: A payment due monthly to a homeowners' association, to be used for maintenance and common expenses. Condominiums, townhouse complexes, planned communities and planned unit developments (PUDs) may require monthly homeowners' association dues or assessments.

Mortgage: In casual use, a sum of money borrowed to purchase a home at a certain interest rate using the property as collateral. In formal use, a mortgage is the legal document that pledges property as collateral for a loan.

Mortgage banker: A company that provides home loans using its own money. The loans are usually sold to investors such as insurance companies and Fannie Mae.

Mortgage broker: A company that matches lenders with prospective borrowers who meet the lender's criteria. The mortgage broker does not make the loan, but receives payment from the lender for services.

Mortgage insurance: Required by lenders on some loans to protect lenders from a possible default. Most conventional loans with down payments or home equity percentages that are less than 20 percent of the home value require private mortgage insurance (PMI).

Mortgage Insurance Premium (MIP): Charged on a FHA loan; insurance that is paid for by the borrower, for the life of the loan, to insure lender against default by the borrower.

Mortgagee: A bank or other financial institution that lends money to the borrower. The borrower is considered the mortgagor.

Mortagee Title Policy: An insurance policy or contract indemnifying against loss resulting from a defect in the title to the interest, or lien, in the real property thus insured.

Mortgagor: The person who borrows money to purchase a house. The lender is called the mortgagee.

Motion: An application to the court requesting an order or rule in favor of the applicant.