Also known as: acquittances · receipt · release
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A document by which one party is discharged from a debt or other obligation. It serves as evidence of payment in full or a release from liability.
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Austin Abbott pays the final installment on his home loan to Alliance Holdings. The lender issues a signed document confirming the debt is fully satisfied and title is clear. Austin records the document to remove the lien from public records.
Aisha Ahmed is confined in a store after an employee refuses to unlock the exit despite knowing she poses no threat. The store manager later signs a document discharging the employee from any further claim arising from the incident.
An alien detainee challenges indefinite military custody. The government provides a formal document acknowledging the limits on continued detention and permitting review of the basis for holding the individual.
Anthony Arnold receives the complaint in a state court suit. Within thirty days he files papers in federal court that include a document discharging the state proceeding from further state jurisdiction.
Amelia Amari is a trust beneficiary subject to a spendthrift clause. A creditor presents a document purporting to reach future distributions, but the trustee refuses to honor it because the clause prevents any transfer before receipt.
Adam Anderson faces cross-examination about a conviction more than ten years old. The court issues an order that functions as a release from further use of that conviction unless specific probative value is shown.
An acquittance discharges the recipient from the underlying debt or obligation and serves as conclusive evidence that payment or performance has occurred.
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A mortgage lender must issue an acquittance once the full debt is paid, including any permitted prepayment, so the mortgagor can clear the lien from public records.
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Yes. Once delivered, the acquittance bars the creditor from pursuing further collection on the satisfied obligation.
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A receipt acknowledges payment but an acquittance additionally releases the payer from any remaining liability on the debt.
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…of justices of the peace; that as many as twelve commissions for that county were delivered to him for which he gave a receipt which he left in the office; finding he could not conveniently carry the whole he returned several and struck a pen through some names in the receipt which he returned. Among the…