A deed of trust is a type of secured real-estate transaction that some states use instead of mortgages. See State Property Statutes.
A deed of trust involves three parties: a lender, a borrower, and a trustee. The lender...
property & real estate law
default
A default is a failure to fulfill an obligation. Defaulting is most common in regards to debtor-creditor law and contract law. Typically, a default leads to judicial proceedings or triggers the application of a separate contract provision....
defeasance
Defeasance can be best described as an annulment or abrogation. This term is used more in property law where it can mean terminating an estate or status with a conditional limitation. In other words, defeasance means a condition in which...
defeasible remainder
A remainder interest which is subject to divestment in the event a specific condition is attained. For example, “A to B, unless B consumes alcohol.”
[Last updated in July of 2021 by the Wex Definitions Team]
defective title
A defective title is ownership of property or assets that cannot be legally transferred due to claims by someone else.
While the seller has an obligation to present marketable title to real property, the buyer is also...
delayed exchange
Delayed exchange is a type 1031 exchange where the property exchange takes place through an intermediary. Unlike a basic 1031 where one property is swapped for another, a property owner will give the property to an intermediary to sell, and...
delivery
Delivery is the surrender of possession to another; the handing over of an object, document, or money. Delivery may be actual, symbolic, or constructive. Actual delivery means that the item is physically transferred from one party to another...
derelict
Derelict as an adjective is used to describe someone or something that has been forsaken or abandoned. In terms of personal property, property is derelict if it has been abandoned by the owner with no intent to ever reclaim the property (e.g...
dereliction
Dereliction is the abandonment of a thing, person, or obligation. Dereliction of personal property is the abandonment of such property, making the property derelict and open to potential salvors.
Dereliction of duty is a person’s...
desert
Desert means to intentionally abandon a person or thing. Some common uses of the term desert in a legal sense include:
Cases such as this one from New Jersey explain that the term “desert” in the context of marriage and child support,...