What is "de bene esse"

De bene esse \De be"ne es"se\ [L.] (Law) Of well being; of formal sufficiency for the time; conditionally; provisionally.
--Abbott.

adv. (context legal English) conditionally; provisionally; in anticipation of future need.

De bene esse is a Latin phrase meaning of well being. In the context of American law, it means something done conditionally, provisionally, or in anticipation of future need. For example, a proceeding de bene esse is one "which [is] taken ex parte or provisionally and [is] allowed to stand as well done for the present." A deposition that is used or intended to be used in place of a witness' live testimony in court is referred to as a de bene esse deposition.

In past times, an appearance de bene esse was a special appearance made solely to contest jurisdiction. The procedure has long been abolished in most if not all jurisdictions in favor of allowing jurisdictional objections to be made either by motion or set out as an affirmative defense in a responsive pleading (an answer to the complaint): in the Federal courts, the procedure was superannuated by the adoption of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and, in Pennsylvania, by a 1965 amendment to the state rules of civil procedure. The procedure plays a part in the alternate legal theories of some "sovereign citizens."