IN PERSONAM ESCHEAT IN REM

Legal Definitions:
1. In Personam: [Latin, Against the person.] An in personam lawsuit seeks a judgment which is specifically enforceable against a person. An in personam action can affect the Respondent's personal rights and interests and substantially all of the Respondent's property. It is based on the authority of the court or

jurisdiction over the person, rather than merely jurisdiction over specific property owned by the person. This contrasts with in rem jurisdiction, or actions that are limited to property of the Respondent that is within the control of the court. A court with in personam jurisdiction in a particular case has enough power over the Respondent, and, the Respondent's property, to grant a judgment affecting the Respondent in most any way. 2. Escheat: [old French, To revert or cause to revert] The reverting of property to the state or some agency of the state, or, as in England, to the lord of the fee or to the crown, when there is a failure of persons legally qualified to inherit or to claim. It is the state's right to take property that may be subject to escheat.

It is used as a means to revert property, by way of escheat, to the crown or the state; as in to make an escheat of, or, confiscate. In other words, escheat is

the reversion of property to the state in the absence of legal heirs or claimants; i.e., property that has reverted to the state when no legal heirs or claimants exist. Page 1 of 2.

3. In Rem: [Latin, In the thing itself.]

A lawsuit against an item of property

in rem is not against a person (in personam). An action in rem is a proceeding that takes no notice of the owner of the property, but, rather, determines rights in the property that are conclusive against all the world; e.g., an action to determine whether certain property ought to be forfeited, such as cigars that were ''illegally'' imported from Cuba into the United States, could be captioned: 'United States v. Thirty-nine Thousand, One Hundred Fifty Cigars'. The object of this type of in rem lawsuit is to determine the disposition of the property, regardless of who the owner is or who else might have an interest in it. Interested parties might appear and make out a case, one way or another, In rem lawsuits can be brought

but the action is in rem against the thing(s).

against the property of debtors in order to collect what is owed, and they are begun for the partition of real property, foreclosure of mortgages, and the enforcement of liens. They may be directed against real or personal property. In rem actions are permitted only when the court has control of the property or where its authority extends to cover it; e.g., the courts in Kansas may determine rights to a farm in Kansas, but not the ownership of a cannery in Texas. The in rem jurisdiction of a court may be exercised only after parties, who are known to have an interest in the property, are properly notified of the proceedings and have been given a chance to present their claim to the court. Page 2 of 2.