Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO): An order or judgment issued by a court and approved by a pension plan, that divides a pension plan in order to make a fair division of property or to pay for child, spousal or partner support.
Quash: To make void; to vacate; to annul; to set aside. For example, to quash a subpoena.
Glossary R
Real Property: Land and anything growing on, attached to, or erected on it - but excluding anything that could be cut off from it without hurting the land. (Compare personal property)
Rebuttal: Evidence presented at trial by 1 party in order to overcome evidence introduced by another party.
Recess: A short break in a trial ordered by the judge. (See also adjournment; compare continuance.)
Record: A written account of the proceedings in a case, including all pleadings, evidence, exhibits, and judgment submitted during the case.
Registered Domestic Partners: Two adults of the same sex who agree to share each other’s life in an intimate and committed relationship of mutual caring who file a Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the Secretary of State.
Relative in the Second Degree: In a guardianship case, the grandparent of the child. For Domestic Violence Prevention Act qualification, this includes the mother, father, sisters or brothers, children, grandparents, and grandchildren.
Relief: A term used in the legal context for all types of benefits which an order or judgment of court can give a party to a lawsuit. Relief can take many different forms, including money award, injunction, return of property, property title, spousal support, and dozens of other possibilities.
Relief from forfeiture: An order by a court in an unlawful detainer (eviction) lawsuit that allows the losing tenant to remain in the rental unit, based on the tenant's convincing the court that the eviction would cause the tenant severe hardship and that the tenant can pay all of the rent that is due, or to otherwise fully comply with the lease.
Rent control ordinances: Laws in some communities that limit or prohibit rent increases, or that limit the circumstances in which a tenant can be evicted.
Rental unit: An apartment, house, duplex, condominium, or room that a landlord rents to a tenant to live in. Because the tenant uses the rental unit to live in, it is called a "residential rental unit."
Rent withholding: The tenant's remedy of not paying some or all of the rent if the landlord does not fix defects that make the rental unit uninhabitable within a reasonable time after the landlord receives notice of the defects from the tenant.
Rental agreement: An oral or written agreement between a tenant and a landlord, made before the tenant moves in, which establishes the terms of the tenancy, such as the amount of the rent and when it is due. See lease and periodic rental agreement.
Rental application form: A form that a landlord may ask a tenant to fill out prior to renting that requests information about the tenant, such as the tenant's address, telephone number, employment history, credit references, and the like.
Renter's insurance: Insurance protecting the tenant against property losses, such as losses from theft or fire. This insurance usually also protects the tenant against liability (legal responsibility) for claims or lawsuits filed by the landlord or by others alleging that the tenant negligently injured another person or property.
Repair and deduct remedy: The tenant's remedy of deducting from future rent the amount necessary to repair defects covered by the implied warranty of habitability. The amount deducted cannot be more than one month's rent.
Reporter: A court official that records the proceedings in trials, including the questions asked of, and answers made by, witnesses.
Request for admission: A method of discovery in which 1 party formally and in writing asks the opposing party to admit the truth of certain facts relevant to a case. (See also discovery.)
Residency: The usual, official place of residence. The place where one makes his or her home.
Residential hotel: Any building which contains six or more guest rooms or efficiency units which are designed, used, rented or occupied for sleeping purposes by guests, and which is the primary residence of these guests.
Respondent: The person against whom an appeal is made; the responding party in a dissolution, nullity, adoption, or probate case.
Restitution:An act of restoring, or a condition of being restored -- as restoration of something to its rightful owner, or making good of or giving an equivalent for some injury.
Restraining order: A court order that tells a person to stop doing something for a certain amount of time, usually until a court hearing is held. (See also injunction.)
Retaliatory eviction or action: An act by a landlord, such as raising a tenant's rent, seeking to evict a tenant, or otherwise punishing a tenant because the tenant has used the repair and deduct remedy or the rent withholding remedy, or has asserted other tenant rights.
