What does capitalized mean in law?

Asked by: Dr. Rodolfo Anderson DVM  |  Last update: January 25, 2026
Score: 4.9/5 (22 votes)

Capitalization has different meanings, referring to the allocation of costs in tax and accounting contexts and to capital structures in the corporate context. In tax and accounting, capitalization allows costs to be apportioned across multiple tax and accounting periods.

What does it mean when something is capitalized?

1. : to write or print with a beginning capital letter or in capital letters. 2. a. : to supply capital for (as a business or a project)

What are capitalized terms in legal documents?

A capitalized term in a document, especially a contract or legal agreement, refers to specific words or phrases that are intentionally written with initial capital letters. These terms are often used to denote defined terms or special concepts within the text.

What does it mean when a charge is capitalized?

Capitalization is used when an item is expected to be consumed over a long period of time, typically more than one year. If a cost is capitalized, it is charged to expense over time through the use of amortization (for intangible assets) or depreciation (for tangible assets).

What is capitalized in title case?

Title case or headline case is a style of capitalization used for rendering the titles of published works or works of art in English. When using title case, all words are capitalized, except for minor words (typically articles, short prepositions, and some conjunctions) that are not the first or last word of the title.

Capitalize vs Expense: Basic Accounting

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What is an example of a capitalized case?

Consider the following examples of sentence case capitalization: 1. “There is rain in the forecast this week in New York City.” In this sentence, the first word and New York City, a proper noun, are capitalized.

What does it mean to capitalize my title?

A capitalization style defines which words or letters should be written in uppercase and which ones should be written in lowercase. In title case, the first letter of each word in the title should be capitalized except for certain small words like “a,” “the,” and “of.”

What does capitalize mean in law?

In legal terms, capitalizing refers to estimating the value of a stock and authorizing the issuance of stocks and bonds in a corporation's charter.

Why do we capitalize legal fees?

Legal fees related to the active conduct of a trade or business may be deducted as ordinary and necessary business expenses. Investment legal expenses are deductible as investment expenses. Legal fees related to acquiring or preserving capital assets must be capitalized.

What is meant by capital charge?

the cost to a company of borrowing money to buy or improve the buildings, equipment, etc.

What are the rules for capitalization in law?

Instead, capitalize every word unless it's (1) a preposition that has fewer than five letters (of, with); (2) a conjunction (and, or); or (3) an article (a, an, or the).

What words are not capitalised in title case?

Lowercase only minor words that are three letters or fewer in a title or heading (except the first word in a title or subtitle or the first word after a colon, em dash, or end punctuation in a heading): short conjunctions (e.g., “and,” “as,” “but,” “for,” “if,” “nor,” “or,” “so,” “yet”) articles (“a,” “an,” “the”)

When should plaintiff and defendant be capitalized?

Capitalize party designations (plaintiff, defendant, etc.) only when referring to the parties in the matter that is the subject of the document.

What does it mean to capitalize the situation?

: to get an advantage from (something, such as an event or situation)

What does it mean to capitalize costs?

A capitalized cost is an expense added to the cost basis of a fixed asset on a company's balance sheet. Capitalized costs are incurred when building or purchasing fixed assets. They aren't expensed in the period they were incurred but are recognized over time via depreciation or amortization. 1.

What is capitalization in simple words?

Capitalization means using capital, or upper-case, letters. Capitalization of place names, family names, and days of the week are all standard in English. Using capital letters at the start of a sentence and capitalizing all the letters in a word for emphasis are both examples of capitalization.

What does it mean to capitalize transaction costs?

To capitalize is to record a cost or expense on the balance sheet for the purposes of delaying full recognition of the expense. In general, capitalizing expenses is beneficial as companies acquiring new assets with long-term lifespans can amortize or depreciate the costs. This process is known as capitalization.

What are the criteria for capitalization?

Let's look at what words need to be capitalized and when.
  • 1 Capitalize the first word in a sentence. ...
  • 2 Capitalize the pronoun I. ...
  • 3 Capitalize proper nouns and names. ...
  • 4 Capitalize the majority of titles. ...
  • 5 Capitalize job titles, positions, and honorifics. ...
  • 6 Capitalize places.

Can you capitalize legal fees for a lease?

Initial Direct Costs

This amount will be capitalized and amortized over the life of the lease. Initial direct costs do not include legal fees to evaluate the lease which are covered in a different part of GAAP. These will typically also be capitalized and amortized over the life of the lease.

What does capital mean in law?

any criminal charge which is punishable by the death penalty, called "capital" since the defendant could lose his/her head (Latin for caput). Crimes punishable by death vary from state to state and country to country.

What does it mean to capitalize a payment?

To capitalize is an accounting determination whereby the recognition of expenses is delayed by recording the expense as a long-term asset and then released over its useful life. Whether a transaction is expense or capitalized is guided by the matching-principle of accounting.

What does capitalized terms mean in a Contract?

A word or a phrase can be defined to have a specific meaning in a Contract, to prevent any misinterpretation. By convention, such definitions are indicated by capitalising the first letter of each word used in the term, such as 'Building' or 'High Value Property'.

What is an example of a capitalized title?

Title case capitalizes the first letter of every major word in a title, while sentence case capitalizes only the first word and any proper nouns. For example, in title case, you would write The Catcher in the Rye, whereas in sentence case, it would be The catcher in the rye.

What are the capitalization rules?

CAPITALIZATION RULES
  • the first word of a sentence. ...
  • proper nouns. ...
  • major words in titles of books, articles, and songs. ...
  • names of God, specific deities, religious figures, and holy books. ...
  • directions that are names, such as North, South, East, and West when used as sections of the country.

What titles should not be capitalized?

If all else fails and you don't have a reference guide to help, a good rule to follow is to capitalize all words in a title. Exceptions include the following: a, an, and, as, at, but, by, for, in, nor, of, on, or, the, and up. Again, this trick holds true unless they're the beginning or ending words in the title.