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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Schedules: Documents consisting of lists of debts, property and other information that are filed together with the petition at the commencement of a bankruptcy case.

Second lien: A second loan placed upon a piece of property.

Secured debt: Debts for which the extension of credit was based upon the creditor's right to seize pledged property or collateral on default, in addition to the debtor's ability to pay.

Security: May include the following:

• note
• stock
• treasury stock
• bond
• debenture
• collateral trust certificate
• pre-organization certificate or subscription
• transferable share
• voting-trust certificate
• certificate of deposit
• certificate of deposit for security

Security interest: A lien created by an agreement or operation of law.

Setback line: A line established by a zoning regulation prohibiting any building beyond a prescribed distance from the edge of the property.

Settlement: An agreement between you and the insurance company regarding your workers' compensation payments and future medical care. Settlements must be reviewed by a workers' compensation judge to make sure they are adequate.

Serious and willful misconduct: A petition filed if your injury is caused by the serious and willful misconduct of your employer.

Setoff: A creditor's right to keep debtor's money that they have in their possession in order to apply it to a pre-petition debt owed by the debtor.

Slab foundation: A foundation built directly on soil with no basement or crawl space.

Social Security:While you work, you pay taxes into the Social Security system, and when you retire or become disabled you, your spouse and your dependent children receive monthly benefits that are based on your reported earnings. The system also allows your survivors to collect benefits if you die.

Special assessment: An amount of money levied upon condominium or planned community owners by an association for special purposes.

Special declarant rights: Rights reserved for the benefit of a declarant including, without limitation, any right (i) to complete improvements indicated on plats and plans filed with the declaration; (ii) to exercise any development right; (iii) to maintain sales offices, management offices, signs advertising the condominium or planned community, and models; (iv) to use easements through the common elements for the purpose of making improvements within the condominium or planned community or within real estate which may be added to the planned community or condominium; (v) to make the planned community or condominium part of a larger planned community or condominium or group of planned communities; (vi) to make the condominium or planned community subject to a master association; or (vii) to appoint or remove any officer or executive board member of the association or any master association during any period of declarant control.

Specific injury: An injury caused by one event at work.

Specific performance: A sale of real property that fulfills the terms agreed upon.

Spendthrift provision: A trust with restrictions on alienation designed to protect the fund from dissipation by the beneficiary or seizure by the beneficiary's creditors.

Stipulated rating: Formal agreement on your permanent disability rating. Must be approved by a workers' compensation judge.

Stipulation with award: A settlement of a case where the parties agree on the terms of an award. This is the document the judge signs to make the award final.

Subdivision: The division of a single parcel of land into two or more separate parcels.

Subjective factors: The amount of pain and other symptoms described by an injured worker that a doctor reports as contributing to a worker's permanent disability. Subjective factors are generally not given as much weight as objective factors.

Survey: The measurement of land and the establishing, or the ascertaining, of its area and boundaries.

Statement of intentions: A document that the debtor files at the commencement of a bankruptcy case describing what he or she intends to do with secured assets.

Statutory lien: Lien arising solely by force of a statute on specified circumstances or conditions.

Stay: A restraining order arising out of the filing of a bankruptcy case.

Straight bankruptcy: Chapter 7 bankruptcy in which debts are discharged, non-exempt property is liquidated and there is no extended payment plan involved.

Substantial abuse: The characterization of a bankruptcy case filed by an individual whose debts are primarily consumer debts and where the court finds that the granting of relief would be an abuse under the chapter 7 laws because the debtor can pay its debts.