Acknowledged/acknowledgment
To authenticate an instrument or writing by declaration or statement under oath by the person who executes the instrument or writing, in the presence of a notary, officer, or other impartial party.

Agent
An agent is a person authorized to act on behalf of another person. The party an agent is authorized to act for is known as the principal. A principal-agent relationship can either be intentionally created or created by implication through one’s actions. For further information, see Agency Law.

Amendment
An amendment is a change or addition to the terms of a contract or document. An amendment is often an addition or correction that leaves the original document substantially intact. Other times an amendment can strike the original text entirely and substitute it with new language.

Assent
The legal answer to the question “what is assent?” is an expression of approval or agreement. Mutual assent is also known as “meeting of the minds” because of the concept of multiple parties finding common ground to work towards a goal. Mutual assent is important for any legal contract to become binding.

Attorney-in-fact
An attorney is an agent authorized to act on behalf of another person, but not necessarily authorized to practice law, e.g. a person authorized to act by a power of attorney.

Authentic/Authenticate/Authentication
Authentication commonly refers to providing sufficient evidence for a reasonable juror to conclude that the evidence a party seeks to admit is what that party claims it to be. The process of authentication is often referred to as “laying a foundation” for the evidence desired to be admitted at trial.

Beneficiary
A beneficiary is an individual named in a will, revocable trust, or irrevocable trust to receive property from a testator or grantor. A beneficiary is usually definitive, which is reasonably ascertained now or in the future. Natural persons, corporations, or other organizations like charities can all be beneficiaries.

Certify/Certification
To certify is to provide proof for something or to license someone, like a lawyer. You can certify a lawyer or certify that someone is insane. Either way, when you certify something, you make it official. To certify is to have evidence that something is true, to make certain.

Declaration of Trust
A declaration of trust under U.S. law is a document or an oral statement appointing a trustee to oversee assets being held for the benefit of one or more other individuals. These assets are held in a trust.

Document
A legal document is a written instrument that records and formalizes an agreement, obligation, or other legally enforceable act. It is a communication tool in the legal sphere designed to express and enforce rights, responsibilities, or procedures under the law.

File
A file is an official record of a case; a portion of a lawyer’s case record. A file is also a collection of data or information stored on a computer. To file means to deposit a legal document with the clerk or record custodian to have the document preserved and placed into the official record.

Manifestation of Assent/Mutual Manifestation of Assent/Unilateral Manifestation of Assent
This means that a party or its electronic agent has signed or otherwise clearly indicated that a record or term in a record has been adopted or accepted by the party or its electronic agent.

Power of Appointment
A power of appointment is a term most frequently used in the law of wills to describe the ability of the testator (the person writing the will) to select a person who will be given the authority to dispose of certain property under the will.

Power of Attorney
This legal document gives your agent the authority to handle your financial and business matters. For example, your agent could pay your bills, sell or rent out your real estate, file your taxes, handle your trust, and more.

Principal
In agency law, the term refers to someone who authorizes another to act in their place. A principal’s authorization of an agent to take action on their behalf gives rise to fiduciary duties in the principal-agent relationship.

Record(n)/Record(v)
A written account of all the acts and proceedings in a lawsuit. A written memorial made by a public officer authorized by law to perform that function, and intended to serve as evidence of something written, said, or done.

Registry
A place where official records and documents are kept.

Republication
The re-execution or re-establishment by a testator of a will which he had once revoked. A second publication of a will, either expressly or by construction.

Restatement
Restatements are secondary sources that seek to “restate” the legal rules that constitute the common law in a particular area. 

Settlor/Trustor
A settlor is the entity that establishes a trust. The settlor goes by several other names: donor, grantor, trustor, and trust maker. Regardless of what this entity is called, its role is to legally transfer control of an asset to a trustee, who manages it for one or more beneficiaries.

Signature
Put simply, a legal signature is a notation that signifies an individual’s acceptance of the terms and conditions a contract outlines. It’s a mark that’s placed on a document, making it legally binding — held accountable in the court of law.

Successor Trustee
A Successor Trustee is the person or institution who takes over the management of a living trust property when the original trustee has died or become incapacitated. The exact responsibilities of a successor trustee will vary depending on the instructions left by the creator of the trust (called the Grantor).

Torrens
Torrens is a system for registration of land under which, upon the landowner’s application, the Court may, after appropriate proceedings, direct the issuance of a certificate of title. The Certificate of Title is kept in the office of the Registrar of Titles.

Trust
A trust is a form of division of property rights and a fiduciary relationship, in which ownership of assets goes to a third party, known as a trustee, and the beneficial enjoyment goes to the beneficiary. The person who transfers the property into the trust is known as the grantor or settlor.

Trust Agreement
A trust agreement is a legal document containing, terms, conditions and provisions that allows the trustor to transfer the ownership of assets to the trustee to be held for the trustor’s beneficiaries. The trustees will manage the property and assets on behalf of the beneficiary.

Trustee
A trustee is a third party who is authorized by a settlor to execute and manage trust assets. A trustee holds the title of the trust asset.