homestead

n.

1. A house, especially a farmhouse, with adjoining buildings and land.
2. Law. Property designated by a householder as the householder's home and protected by law from forced sale to meet debts.
3. Land claimed by a settler or squatter, especially under the Homestead Act.
4. The place where one's home is.

v., -stead·ed, -stead·ing, -steads.

v.intr.
To settle and farm land, especially under the Homestead Act.

v.tr.
To claim and settle (land) as a homestead.

homesteader home'stead'er n.

House and surrounding land owned and used as a dwelling. Under modern Homestead Exemption laws, enacted in most states, any property designated as a homestead is exempt from Execution and Sale by creditors in case of bankruptcy.

1. In the United States, under the Homestead Act of 1862, a tract of unoccupied public land, 160 acres in area, that could be permanently acquired after five years of continuous occupancy and the payment of a fee. The Act was passed by the Congress to promote westward expansion and for the purposes of revenue; this quantity of acreage was deemed adequate for the support of one family. Any citizen who settled on such survey public land could purchase it from the government if he was the head of a family and over 21 years of age.
2. The house built on such a tract. 3. (Brit.) A group of buildings and the land forming the home of a family.

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This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

The dwelling house and its adjoining land where a family resides. Technically, and pursuant to the modern homestead exemption laws, an artificial estate in land, created to protect the possession and enjoyment of the owner against the claims of creditors by preventing the sale of the property for payment of the owner's debts so long as the land is occupied as a home.

Laws exempting the homestead from liability for debts of the owner are strictly of U.S. origin. Under the English common law, a homestead right, a personal right to the peaceful, beneficial, and uninterrupted use of the home property free from the claims of creditors, did not exist. Homestead rights exist only through the constitutional and statutory provisions that create them. Nearly every state has enacted such provisions. The earliest ones were enacted in 1839 in the Republic of Texas.

Homestead exemption statutes have been passed to achieve the public policy objective of providing lodgings where the family can peacefully reside irrespective of financial adversities. These laws are predicated on the theory that preservation of the homestead is of greater significance than the payment of debts.

Property tax exemptions, for all or part of the tax, are also available in some states for homesteaded property. Statutory requirements prescribe what must be done to establish a homestead.

A probate homestead is one that the court sets apart out of the estate property for the use of a surviving spouse and the minor children or out of the real estate belonging to the deceased.

A homestead corporation is an enterprise organized for the purpose of acquiring lands in large tracts; paying off encumbrances, charges attached to and binding real property; improving and subdividing tracts into homestead lots or parcels; and distributing them among the shareholders and for the accumulation of a fund for such purposes.

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - hjem, bondegård
v. intr. - opbygge et hjem
v. tr. - erhverve/bygge et hjem/en bondegård

Nederlands (Dutch)
hofstede, huis met erf en bijgebouwen, stuk land

Français (French)
n. - ferme (avec des dépendances), (US, Jur) concession statutaire de 160 acres, (US) domicile familial, (Jur) propriétés acquises ne pouvant, être hypothéquées
v. intr. - exploiter sa concession statutaire de 160 acres
v. tr. - exploiter sa concession statutaire

Deutsch (German)
n. - Heimstätte, Gehöft
v. - als Parzellen erwerben

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - αγροικία, υποστατικό

Italiano (Italian)
fattoria

Português (Portuguese)
n. - domicílio (m), lote (m) cedido a uma família (EUA)

Русский (Russian)
усадьба, участок поселенца, место жительства

Español (Spanish)
n. - granja, estancia, hacienda, heredad
v. intr. - adquirir o establecerse en una tierra como granjeros
v. tr. - adquirir o establecerse en una granja

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - (bond)gård, (nybyggar)hemman

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
家园, 田产, 定居下来, 获得...作为宅第, 在...定居下来

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 家園, 田產
v. intr. - 定居下來
v. tr. - 獲得...作為宅第, 在...定居下來

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 가옥, 자작 농장
v. intr. - 이주하다, 정착하다
v. tr. - ~에 이주하다, 정착하다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 家屋敷, 農場, 自作農場

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) المسكن وما حوله من أرض, منزل الأسرة, بيت الآباء والأجداد, منزل‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮בית והאדמה שסביבו‬
v. intr. - ‮רכש בית, התיישב בבית‬
v. tr. - ‮רכש בית, התיישב בבית‬

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homestead fl	Homestead Squirrel Baffles