Glossary of Legal Terms

Sanction – A penalty, usually monetary, for violating or failing to comply with a court order or process, most often in connection with discovery procedures

Satisfaction – The resolution and discharge of a claim or judgment through payment or settlement

Schedules – Formally, the lists of assets and liabilities filed by a debtor in a bankruptcy case, but commonly used to include the statement of financial affairs as well

Secured Claim – A claim protected by a lien upon specified goods or property

Secured Creditor – A creditor with a secured claim or security interest

Security Interest – An interest in specified goods or personal property, acquired by contract as additional protection for the payment of a debt

Service Of Process – The delivery of summonses, writs, subpoenae, and other court papers, officially notifying a person or entity of a lawsuit or other court proceeding

Set-Off – A claim by a debtor against a creditor to reduce the indebtedness otherwise due the creditor

Settlement – An agreement by a debtor to pay, and by a creditor to accept, a reduced sum of money or other value in satisfaction of a claim or judgment

Sheriff – The chief law enforcement official of a county, with responsibility for service of process and execution of judgments

Show Cause Order – An order requiring a person or entity to appear in court and present reasons why the court should not take a proposed action, often preliminary to a contempt finding

Skip – A debtor, usually an individual, who is no longer at the last-known address and cannot be located

Skip-Tracing – A service or process to search for a debtor’s current whereabouts

Small Claims Court – Generic term for various state court divisions established to hear lawsuits for comparatively small dollar amounts, often less than $5,000, usually through simplified procedures and for reduced cost

Sole Proprietorship – [See “Proprietorship” above]

Status Report – A letter from us or an attorney regarding current efforts to collect a claim

Statute – A legislative enactment (a “law”)

Statute Of Frauds – Generic term for various laws requiring certain kinds of contracts to be in writing, referring specifically to Section 2-201 of the Uniform Commercial Code which requires contracts for the sale of goods priced at $500 or more to be in writing

Statute Of Limitations – Generic term for various laws, differing from state to state, which limit the length of time within which a lawsuit must be started before the right to do so is waived

Statutory Lien – A lien created by a state law

Stipulation – A formal agreement between parties to a lawsuit

Subpoena – An order to appear at a certain time and place to give testimony, usually directed to witnesses or third parties

Subpoena Duces Tecum – A subpoena requiring the production of documents or things

Subrogation – The substitution of one person (the “subrogee”) for another (the “subrogor”) whose rights are acquired by contract, statute or common law

Subrogee – One who acquires the rights of another (the (“subrogor”) by contract, statute or common law

Subrogor – One whose rights are acquired by another (the “subrogee”) by contract, statute or common law

Substitute Service – Service of process upon a defendant by serving the court papers upon someone other than the defendant personally, usually limited to serving family members at the defendant’s household

Suit Fee – A sum of money payable to an attorney, in addition to the commission, for legal services rendered by the attorney in connection with a lawsuit or other legal process to collect a claim, usually calculated as a percentage of the claim or the amounts recovered, and may be contingent or non-contingent

Suit Requirements – An itemization from an attorney, usually by letter, of the court costs, non-contingent suit fees, documents and information required before the attorney will agree to start a lawsuit

Summary Judgment – A judgment by motion rather than by trial, when the pleadings and discovery indicate there are no genuine issues of material fact, such that one party or the other is entitled to prevail as a matter of law

Summons – A writ or notice requiring a person or entity to appear before a court to respond to a lawsuit

Supplemental Proceedings – Any of various legal processes to enforce a judgment, usually involving an examination of a debtor or third party to obtain asset information

Supplementary Proceedings – [See “Supplemental Proceedings” above]

Surety – One who agrees to be responsible for the debts or obligations of another under specified conditions

Surety Bond – [See “Bond” above]

Third Party – Generic tem for a person or entity not directly participating in an agreement or lawsuit

Title – Ownership, as distinguished from possession

Trial – A formal court hearing during which a judge or jury receives evidence (usually original records and live witness testimony) before rendering a decision determining the parties’ rights and interests

Trustee – One who holds property, rights or other assets for benefit of another (the “beneficiary”), usually in reference to the one appointed in a bankruptcy case to administer, liquidate and distribute a debtor’s assets

Turnover Motion – A motion asking a court to enter a turnover order

Turnover Order – A finding by a court that a creditor is entitled to receive specific funds or property held by another, usually a third party, and an order upon the other to release such funds or property to the creditor