F
 
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Fair market value - The value for which a reasonable seller would sell an item of property and for which a reasonable buyer would buy it.

Family law - Those areas of the law pertaining to families, i.e., marriage, divorce, child custody, juvenile, paternity, etc.

Federal Register - A daily publication which contains federal administrative rules and regulations.

Federal Supplement - Books which gives the government certain control and power to regulate discharge of pollutants into the nation's waters in an effort to achieve clean waters.

Federal Unemployment Tax - A tax levied on employers based on employee wages paid. (FUTA tax)

Felony - A serious criminal offense. Under federal law any offense punishable by death or imprisonment for a term exceeding one year.

Fiduciary - A person or institution who manages money or property for another and who must exercise a standard care imposed by law, i.e., personal representative or executor of an estate, a trustee, etc.

File - To place a paper in the official custody of the clerk of court/court administrator to enter into the files or records of a case.

Filing Fee - The fee required for filing various documents.

Finding - Formal conclusion by a judge or regulatory agency on issues of fact. Also, a conclusion by a jury regarding a fact.

Foreclosure - A court proceeding upon default in a mortgage to vest title in the mortgagee.

Forfeiture - A cancellation. A legal action whereby a contract purchaser following default loses all his interest in the property.

Fraud - A false representation of a matter of fact which is intended to deceive another.