©THEBRIGHT EXAM SOLUTIONS
11/06/2024 10:41 AM
NALA Certified Paralegal Exam Terms and
Concepts
Estate administration - answer✔The process in which a decedent's personal representative
settles the affairs of the decedent's estate (collects assets, pays debts and taxes, and distributes
the remaining assets to heirs); the process is usually overseen by a probate court.
inter vivos trust - answer✔A trust created by the grantor (settlor) and effective during the
grantor's lifetime—that is, a trust not established by a will.
Assault - answer✔Any word or action intended to make another person apprehensive or fearful
of immediate physical harm, a reasonably believable threat.
Battery - answer✔The intentional and offensive touching of another without lawful
justification.
Contributory Negligence - answer✔A theory in tort law under which a complaining party's own
negligence contributed to his or her injuries. This type of negligence is an absolute bar to
recover in some jurisdictions.
Comparative Negligence - answer✔A theory in tort law under which the liability for injuries
resulting from negligent acts is shared by all persons who were guilty of negligence (including
the injured party) on the basis of each person's proportionate carelessness.
Negligence per se - answer✔An action or failure to act in violation of a statutory requirement.
Strict Liability - answer✔Liability regardless of fault. In tort law, strict liability may be imposed
on a merchant who introduces into commerce a good that is so defective as to be unreasonably
dangerous.
Contract Validity Requirements - answer✔Agreement, Consideration, Contractual Capacity,
Legality
Agreement - answer✔A meeting of the minds, and a requirement for a valid contract. It
involves two distinct events: an offer to form a contract and the acceptance of that offer by the
offeree.
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Offer - answer✔A promise or commitment to do or refrain from doing some specified thing in
the future.
Offeror - answer✔The party making the offer.
Offeree - answer✔The party to whom the offer is made.
Acceptance - answer✔In contract law, the offeree's indication to the offeror that the offeree
agrees to be bound by the terms of the offeror's offer, or proposal to form a contract.
Mirror Image Rule - answer✔A common law rule that requires that the terms of the offeree's
acceptance adhere exactly to the terms of the offeror's offer for a valid contract to be formed.
Mailbox Rule - answer✔A rule providing that an acceptance of an offer takes effect at the time
it is communicated via the mode expressly or impliedly authorized by the offeror, rather than at
the time it is actually received by the offeror. If acceptance is to be by mail, for example, it
becomes effective the moment it is placed in the mailbox.
Consideration - answer✔Something of value, such as money or the performance of an action
not otherwise required, that motivates the formation of a contract. Each party must give this
for the contract to be binding.
Promissory Estoppel - answer✔A doctrine under which a promise is binding if the promise is
clear and definite, the promisee justifiably relies on the promise, the reliance is reasonable and
substantial, and justice will be better served by enforcement of the promise.
Contractual Capacity - answer✔The threshold mental capacity required by law for a party who
enters into a contract to be bound by that contract.
Statute of Frauds - answer✔A state statute that requires certain types of contracts to be in
writing to be enforceable.
Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) - answer✔Statutes adopted by all states, in part or in whole,
that contain uniform laws governing business transactions as defined in the code.
Rescission - answer✔An action to undo, or terminate, a contract-to return the contracting
parties to the positions they occupied prior to the transaction.
Restitution - answer✔An equitable remedy under which a person is restored to her or her
original position prior to loss or injury, or placed in the position that he or she would have been
in had the breach not occurred.
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Reformation - answer✔An equitable remedy granted by a court to correct , or "reform," a
written contract so that it reflects the true intentions of the parties.
Forms of Intellectual Property - answer✔Patent, Copyright, Trademark, Trade Secret
Patent - answer✔A government grant that gives an inventor the exclusive right or privilege to
make, use, or sell an invention for a limited time period.
Copyright - answer✔The exclusive right of an author (or other creator) to publish, print, or sell
an intellectual production for a statutory period of time.
Trademark - answer✔A distinctive mark, motto, device, or emblem that a manufacturer
stamps, prints, or otherwise affixes to the goods it produces so that they can be identified or
the market and their origins made known. Once a trademark is established (under the common
l,aw or through registration), the owner is entitled to its exclusive use.
Trade Name - answer✔A term that is used to indicate part or all of a business's name and that
is directly related to the business's reputation and goodwill. These are protected under the
common law (and under trademark law, if the business's name is the same as its trademark).
Trade Secret - answer✔Information or processes that give a business an advantage over
competitors who do not know the information or processes.
Real Property - answer✔Immovable property consisting of land and the builds and plant life
thereon. Also known as real estate.
Personal Property - answer✔Any property that is not real property. Generally, any property
that is movable or intangible is classified as this.
Fee Simple Absolute - answer✔Ownership rights entitling the holder to use, possess, or dispose
of the property however he or she chooses during his or her lifetime.
Eminent Domain - answer✔The power of a government to take land for public use from private
citizens for just compensation.
Easement - answer✔The right of a person to make limited use of another person's real property
without taking anything from the property.
Tenancy In Common - answer✔A form of co-ownership of property in which each party owns
an undivided interest that passes to his or her heirs after death.
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Joint Tenancy - answer✔The joint ownership of property by two or more co-owners in which
each co-owner owns an undivided portion of the property. On the death of one of the joint
tenants, his or her interest automatically passes to the surviving joint tenant or tenants.
Steps Involved in the Sale of Real Estate - answer✔Buyer's purchase offer, seller's response,
purchase and sale agreement, title examination and insurance, and closing.
Mortgage - answer✔A written instrument giving a creditor an interest in the debtor's property
as security for a debt.
Deed - answer✔A document by which title to property is transferred from one party to
another.
Lease - answer✔A contractual agreement under which a property owner (the lessor) agrees to
rent their property to another (the lessee) for a specific time period.
Risk - answer✔A prediction concerning potential loss based on known and unknown factors.
Risk Management - answer✔Planning that is undertaken to reduce the risk of loss from known
and unknown events. In the context of insurance, this involves transferring certain risks from
the insured to the insurance company.
Guardian ad litem - answer✔A person appointed by the court to represent the interests of a
child or a mentally incompetent person before the court.
Property Settlement - answer✔A division of property between spouses on the termination of a
marriage.
Marital Property - answer✔All property acquired during the course of a marriage, apart from
inheritances and gifts made to one or the other of the spouses.
Separate Property - answer✔Property that a spouse owned before the marriage, plus
inheritances and gifts acquired by the spouse during the marriage.
Community Property - answer✔In certain states, all property acquired during a marriage,
except for inheritances or gifts received during the marriage by either marital partner. Each
partner has a one-half ownership interest in this type of property.
Prenuptial Agreement - answer✔A contract formed between two persons who are
contemplating marriage to provide for the disposition of property in the event of a divorce or
death of one of the spouses after they have married.
Estate-planning process - answer✔Wills and Trusts
