ABSTRACT:  to summarize; a summary of a text or document.

ABSTRACT OF TITLE:  a summary of the history of the title of a piece of real
property, including previous owners and any liabilities or liens which are placed against it.

ADMINISTRATOR:  a person appointed by a court to take charge of the estate of a decedent, but not appointed in the decedent's will.

ADMINISTRIX: a woman who is a administrator.

AFFINITY:  a relationship by marriage or by ties other than those of blood.

ANNO DOMINI:  year A.D. - a Latin term meaning "in the year of our Lord", since Christ was born.

APPURTENANCE:  a legal right, privilege, or improvement belonging to and passing with the principal property.

APPRENTICE:  a person who works for another in order to learn a trade; can also mean:  one legally  bound through indenture to a master craftsman in order to learn a trade.

ARCHIVES:  a place where documents and other materials of public or historical importance are preserved.

ATTEST:  to bear witness to; declare to be correct, accurate, or genuine, in words or in writing, esp. officially.

BANNS:  notice of an intended marriage, esp. one given three times in a parish church.

BENEFICIARY:  a person or group that receives benefits, profits, or advantages; a person designated as the recipient of funds or property under a will, trust, or the like.

BEQUEATH:  to dispose of property or money, by last will; to hand down; pass on.

BEQUEST:  the act of bequeathing; legacy (generally by a will).

CENSUS:  an official enumeration of the population, with details as to age, sex, occupation, etc.

CERTIFIED COPY:  a copy of a document (often a photo copy of the original, though it can be a transcribed copy) signed and certified as a true copy by the officer who holds official  custody the original.

CHRISTEN:  to receive into the Christian church by baptism; generally an infant though not always.

CODICIL:  a supplement to a will, containing an addition, modification etc., of something in the will.

COLLATERAL:  descended from the same stock, but in a different line.  (i.e. aunts, cousins, etc.)

CONSANGUINITY:  relationship by descent from a common ancestor; kinship.

CONSORT:  wife or husband of a living spouse.

CONVEYANCE:  the act of conveying; transmission; the transfer of property from one person to another; also includes the document which accomplishes this act of transfer.

DECEDENT:  a deceased person.

DEED:  a document executed under seal and delivered to effect a conveyance, esp. of real estate; convey or transfer by deed.

DESCENDANT:  an offspring, person (or animal) that is descended form a specific ancestor.

DEPONENT:  person who gives evidence, especially in writing.

DEVISE:  a gift of real property by will.

DEVISEE:  a person to whom real property is given by will.

DOWER:  the property to which a widow has claim upon the death of her husband.
(There is no dower in community property states.)

ESTATE:  the total of a person's property, both real and personal.

ET AL:  a Latin term meaning "and others".

ET UXOR:  a Latin term meaning "and his wife".

EXECUTOR:  a person appointed by a testator (person writing will) to carry out
the directions and bequests in the will.

EXECUTRIX: female executor

GAZETTEER:  a geographical dictionary.

GENEALOGY:  the study or record of the ancestry and descent of a person, family, group etc.

GRANT:  a general term applicable to all transfers of real property.

GRANTEE:  the person to whom a grant is made.

GRANTOR:  the person by whom the grant is made.

HEIR:  the person(s) who succeeds, by rules of law, to an estate upon the
death of his ancestor by right of relationship.

INDENTURE:  a deed to which two or more persons are parties, and in which
these enter into reciprocal and corresponding grants or obligations towards
each other.

INFANT:  a minor, a person not of full legal age.  (This legal term does not
apply only to babes in arms.)

INTESTATE:  a person dies without a will.

ISSUE:  all lineal descendants of a common ancestor are his issue -- not just
his children.

LEGACY:  a bequest or gift of personal property by last will and testament.

LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION:  often known as ADMON.  The instrument whereby the probate court appoints someone to administer an estate of a person who died without leaving a will.

LINEAL:  being in direct line of ancestry.

MARRIAGE LICENSE:  a license whereby permission is granted by a public
authority for persons to be married.

MORTGAGE:  conditional transfer of title to property, as security for payment
of debt.

NUNCUPATIVE WILL:  a will which depends merely upon oral evidence, having been dictated or declared by the testator in his last sickness before a sufficient number of witnesses, and afterward written down.

PEDIGREE:  recorded ancestry or line of descent ... often in chart form.

POSTERITY:  descendants.

POWER OF ATTORNEY:  When a person isn't able to act for himself and appoints another to act for him, the document by which he does so is call a "power of
attorney" or "letter of attorney".  The person appointed becomes "attorney in fact".

PRESENTS:  means literally "this document or instrument".  The phrase "by
these presents" is used to refer to the document or instrument in which the
phrase occurs.

PROBATE:  the official proving of a will as authentic or valid in a probate court.
Can also be used as a term referring to all matters under the jurisdiction of the probate court.

QUITCLAIM DEED:  an instrument by which a person releases all title, interest,
or claim he may possess in real property without making a warrants thereto.

RELICT:  a widow or widower.

PROGENITOR:  a biologically related ancestor in the direct line.

PROGENY: an offspring collectively; children - descendants.

TENANT:  an occupant or inhabitant of any place; to hold or occupy as a tenant, to dwell in; in habit.

TESTATE:  having  made and left a valid will.

TESTATOR:  a person who makes a will, esp. one who has died leaving a valid will.

TO WIT:  namely.

TRACT:  an expanse or area of land, water, etc.

TRANSCRIBE:  to make an exact copy of a document, usually in writing.

TRUST DEED:  This is a type of mortgage.

VITAL RECORDS:  record, documentation of statistics relating to birth, death, marriage, etc.

WARRANTY DEED:  a deed containing a warranty that the property is free of any encumbrance.

WILL:  a legal document in which a person specifies the disposition of his or her
property after death.