Frequently Asked Questions

What Is Real Estate?

The term real estate, or “real property,” refers to the ownership of land and interests in land.

What Is the Real Property Law?

The law of real property refers to:

· the series of rights and duties accompanying interests in land, including the rights and obligations pertaining to the purchase and sale of real estate, such as a home, condominium, or office.


· co-ownership of land, easements, and other non-possessor entitlements to use another’s land for some narrow purpose (such as for parking or recreation), zoning, and eminent domain.


What Is Adverse Possession?

Adverse possession is a right in property, which arises as a result of continued use and occupancy over a period of time (generally 10 to 20 years, depending upon the state).

What Is a Lien?

A lien is a charge or encumbrance on property for the satisfaction of a debt or other obligation.

Personal Injury

Who Is Responsible When a Person Is Injured?

Personal injury law covers injury suffered by a person. Personal injury is part of the law of torts, the legal term that includes all kinds of injuries to people and their property. State law usually governs personal injury lawsuits, but federal law may apply in certain circumstances. For example, the Federal Tort Claims Act may cover an injury suffered on federal property or international treaties may govern liability for injuries suffered in an airplane crash.

What Is Alcoholic Beverage Liability?

The production, distribution, sale, and consumption of alcoholic beverages are a highly regulated industry in the United States. Prohibition ended in 1933; a constitutional amendment gave each state particularly broad power to regulate alcoholic beverages, including the power to prohibit them entirely and limit their availability to minors and young adults.

What Happens if I am Involved in an Automobile Accident?

A person who carelessly operates a vehicle may be required to pay any damages caused by that carelessness to other persons or their property. Generally, people who operate automobiles must exercise “reasonable care under the circumstances.” Failure to use reasonable care is the basis in most lawsuits for damages caused by an automobile accident.

What Happens if My Dog Bites Someone?

If your dog, cat, or other pet bites or scratches your neighbor, you may be required to pay your neighbor’s medical bills, as well as other damages.

What Is “Slip and Fall?”

“Slip and fall” is a term for personal injuries incurred when a person slips and falls on a floor, sidewalk, stair, or other surface. As a broad general rule, if you are the owner of a house, a building, a parking lot, or other premises, you are responsible for injuries resulting from a slip and fall on the premises. An occupier of the premises, such as a tenant in an apartment building or a storeowner who leases a store, may also be liable for injuries if the occupier has control over the premises in which the injury occurred.

Family Law

What Is Family Law?

Family law deals with the creation, maintenance, and dissolution of relationships created by genetic relationship, marriage, and other legally recognized ways of forming a family.

What Are the Rights in an Existing Family?

The attitude of courts and legislatures concerning family relationships has changed over the years. Modern conceptions of family relationships now replace many of the social attitudes embodied in the common law inherited from England. In some cases, these modern conceptions of the family arise from constitutional law principles involving privacy and equal protection of the laws.

What Is Separate Maintenance?

An action for separate maintenance, or a separation, does not terminate the marriage completely, but does allow the parties to live apart and resolve issues of support, custody, and the like, at least temporarily. A judgment of separate maintenance does not allow the parties to remarry, but legally recognizes that they are living separately and provides some protection of their interests.

Wills, Trusts, and Estates

What Is a Trust?

A trust is an agreement allowing a third party, called the trustee, to administer another’s property or bequest. The individual who creates a trust is the “grantor” or “settler” of the trust.

What Are the Requirements for Will Execution?

Each state has formal requirements for preparing and executing a will. Generally, the testator must declare that the document that is being signed is the testator’s will. The signature must be witnessed by a minimum of two or three witnesses, who must also sign the will in the presence of the other witnesses. Each state has slightly different wording for the testator’s and the witnesses’ signatures.

What Is a Contested Will?

A will contest is a formal challenge in court to the validity of a will. The challenge to the will may be based on a claim that the will was not validly executed. A will that is not properly signed by the testator (a forgery) or not properly witnessed may be invalid. The will contest may also be based upon the testator’s lack of legal capacity to execute a will.