Settlement

In conveyancing. A disposition of property by deed, usually through the medium of a trustee, by which its enjoyment is limited to several persons in succession, as a wife, children, or other relatives. In contracts. Adjustment or liquidation Of mutual accounts; the act by which parties who have been dealing together arrange their accounts and strike a balance. Also full and final payment or discharge of an account. In poor laws. The term signifies a right acquired by a person, by continued residence for a given length of time in a town or district, to claim uid or relief under the poor-laws in case of his becoming a pauper. See Wldstfield v. Coventry, 71 Vt. 175, 44 Atl. 66; Jefferson v. Washington, 19 Me. 300; Jackson County v. Hillsdale County, 124 Mich. 17, 83 N. W. 408.

In probate practice. The settlement of an estate consists in its administration by the executor or administrator carried so far that all debts and legacies have been paid and the individual shares of distributees in the corpus of the estate, or the residuary portion, as the case may be, definitely ascertained and determined, and accounts filed and passed, so that nothing remains but to make final distribution. See Calkins v. Smith, 41 Mich. 409, 1 N. W. 1048; Forbes v. Harrington, 171 Mass. 386, 50 N. E. 641; Appeal of Mathews, 72 Conn. 555, 45 Atl. 170.

— Act of settlement. The statute 12 & 13 Wm. III. c. 2, by which the crown of England was limited to the house of Hanover, and some new provisions were added at the same time for the better securing the religion, laws, and liberties.

— Deed of settlement. A deed made for the purpose of settling property, i. e., arranging the mode and extent of the enjoyment thereof. The party who settles property is called the "settlor ;" and usually his wife and children or his creditors or his near relations are the beneficiaries taking interests under the settlement. Brown.

— Equity of settlement. The equitable right of a wife, when her husband sues in equity for the reduction of her equitable estate to his own possession, to have the whole or a portion of such estate settled upon herself and her children. Also a similar right now recognized by the equity couris as directly to be asserted against the husband. Also called the "wife's equity."

— Final settlement. This term, as applied to the administration of an estate, la usually understood to have reference to the order of court approving the account which closes the business of the estate, and which finally discharges the executor or administrator from the duties of his trust. Roberts v. Spencer, 112 Ind. 85, 13 N. E. 129; Sims v. Waters, 65 Ala. 445.

— Strict settlement. This phrase was formerly used to denote a settlement whereby land was limited to a parent for life, and after his death to his first and other sons or children in tail, with trustees interposed to preserve contingent remainders. 1 Steph. Comm. 332, 333.

— Voluntary settlement. A settlement of property upon a wife or other beneficiary, made gratuitously or without valuable consideration.