Terms Used In Michigan Laws > Chapter 330 > Act 258 of 1974 > Chapter 1 - Department of Mental Health

• Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Application: means a written request to the probate register for an order of informal probate or informal appointment under part 3 of article III. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Arraignment: A proceeding in which an individual who is accused of committing a crime is brought into court, told of the charges, and asked to plead guilty or not guilty.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Attorney: means , if appointed to represent a child under the provisions referenced in section 5213, an attorney serving as the child's legal advocate in the manner defined and described in section 13a of chapter XIIA of the probate code of 1939, 1939 PA 288, MCL 712A. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
• Authorized individual: means an individual who by section 2959 or by the laws of the United States, including members of the diplomatic and consular service of the United States designated by foreign service regulations, is empowered to supervise the execution of international wills. See Michigan Laws 700.2951
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Bonds or other evidences of indebtedness: means any instrument providing for the payment of money, executed by or on behalf of a public corporation or which a public corporation has assumed and agreed to pay, including, without limitation on the foregoing bonds, notes, contracts, leases and certificates, but shall not include bonds or other evidences of indebtedness issued pursuant to Act No. See Michigan Laws 141.151
• Borrower: means a public corporation exercising the power to issue bonds as provided in this act or a county treasurer exercising the power to issue notes as provided in this act. See Michigan Laws 141.103
• Claim: includes , but is not limited to, in respect to a decedent's or protected individual's estate, a liability of the decedent or protected individual, whether arising in contract, tort, or otherwise, and a liability of the estate that arises at or after the decedent's death or after a conservator's appointment, including funeral and burial expenses and costs and expenses of administration. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
• Conservator: means a person appointed by a court to manage a protected individual's estate. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• costs: means the costs of purchasing, acquiring, constructing, improving, enlarging, extending, or repairing a public improvement, including any engineering, architectural, legal, accounting, financial, and other expenses incident to the public improvement. See Michigan Laws 141.103
• County treasurer: means an elected county treasurer or a county treasurer appointed under section 5 of 1923 PA 199, MCL 201. See Michigan Laws 141.103
• Court: means the probate court or, when applicable, the family division of circuit court. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Delinquent tax revenues: means the delinquent taxes, interest, penalties and fees, and chargebacks of uncollected delinquent taxes due or to become due to local units of government to be collected by a county treasurer as agent for the local unit of government in connection with a delinquent tax system and pledged to any borrowing by a county treasurer under section 7b. See Michigan Laws 141.103
• Delinquent tax system: means the delinquent tax revolving fund in any county created and designated under section 87b of the general property tax act, 1893 PA 206, MCL 211. See Michigan Laws 141.103
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Descendant: means , in relation to an individual, all of his or her descendants of all generations, with the relationship of parent and child at each generation being determined by the definitions of child and parent contained in this act. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Embezzlement: In most states, embezzlement is defined as theft/larceny of assets (money or property) by a person in a position of trust or responsibility over those assets. Embezzlement typically occurs in the employment and corporate settings. ^{Source: OCC}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Estate: includes the property of the decedent, trust, or other person whose affairs are subject to this act as the property is originally constituted and as it exists throughout administration. See Michigan Laws 700.1104
• Exempt property: means property of a decedent's estate that is described in section 2404. See Michigan Laws 700.1104
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Family allowance: means the allowance prescribed in section 2403. See Michigan Laws 700.1104
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fiduciary: includes , but is not limited to, a personal representative, funeral representative, guardian, conservator, trustee, plenary guardian, partial guardian, and successor fiduciary. See Michigan Laws 700.1104
• Financial institution: means an organization authorized to do business under state or federal laws relating to a financial institution and includes, but is not limited to, a bank, trust company, savings bank, building and loan association, savings and loan company or association, credit union, insurance company, and entity that offers mutual fund, securities brokerage, money market, or retail investment accounts. See Michigan Laws 700.1104
• firearm: except as otherwise specifically defined in statute, includes any weapon which will, is designed to, or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by action of an explosive. See Michigan Laws 8.3t
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Forgery: The fraudulent signing or alteration of another's name to an instrument such as a deed, mortgage, or check. The intent of the forgery is to deceive or defraud. ^{Source: OCC}
• Formal proceedings: means proceedings conducted before a judge with notice to interested persons. See Michigan Laws 700.1104
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• Funeral establishment: means that term as defined in section 1801 of the occupational code, 1980 PA 299, MCL 339. See Michigan Laws 700.1104
• Funeral representative: means an individual designated to have the right and power to make decisions about funeral arrangements and the handling, disposition, or disinterment of a decedent's body, including, but not limited to, decisions about cremation, and the right to possess cremated remains of the decedent as provided in section 3206. See Michigan Laws 700.1104
• Funeral representative designation: means a written document executed and with the effect as described in section 3206 to 3206b. See Michigan Laws 700.1104
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• General personal representative: means a personal representative other than a special personal representative. See Michigan Laws 700.1104
• Governing body: means for a county, the board of commissioners; for a city, the body having legislative powers; for a village, the body having legislative powers; for a township, the township board; for a school district, the board of education; for a port district, the port commission; for a metropolitan district, the legislative body of the district; for a municipal health facilities corporation, the board of trustees; for a nonprofit subsidiary municipal health facilities corporation, the nonprofit subsidiary board; and for an authority, the body in which is lodged general governing powers. See Michigan Laws 141.103
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Hazardous substance: means a substance defined as hazardous or toxic or otherwise regulated by an environmental law. See Michigan Laws 700.1104
• Heir: means , except as controlled by section 2720, a person, including the surviving spouse or the state, that is entitled under the statutes of intestate succession to a decedent's property. See Michigan Laws 700.1104
• Homestead allowance: means the allowance prescribed in section 2402. See Michigan Laws 700.1104
• Incapacitated individual: means an individual who is impaired by reason of mental illness, mental deficiency, physical illness or disability, chronic use of drugs, chronic intoxication, or other cause, not including minority, to the extent of lacking sufficient understanding or capacity to make or communicate informed decisions. See Michigan Laws 700.1105
• Informal proceedings: means proceedings for probate of a will or appointment of a personal representative conducted by the probate register without notice to interested persons. See Michigan Laws 700.1105
• International will: means a will executed in conformity with this part. See Michigan Laws 700.2951
• Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
• Issue: means an individual's descendant. See Michigan Laws 700.1105
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Legislative body: means the board, council, commission, or other body having legislative or general governing power of a public corporation. See Michigan Laws 141.162
• Letters: includes , but is not limited to, letters testamentary, letters of guardianship, letters of administration, and letters of conservatorship. See Michigan Laws 700.1105
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Minor: means an individual who is less than 18 years of age. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Net revenues: means the revenues of a public improvement remaining after deducting the reasonable expenses of administration, operation, and maintenance of the public improvement. See Michigan Laws 141.103
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• Order: means the legislative enactment of a county treasurer's powers under this act. See Michigan Laws 141.103
• Ordinance: means an ordinance, resolution, or other appropriate legislative enactment of the governing body of a public corporation. See Michigan Laws 141.103
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Patient advocate: means an individual designated to exercise powers concerning another individual's care, custody, and medical or mental health treatment or authorized to make an anatomical gift on behalf of another individual, or both, as provided in section 5506. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
• Person: means an individual or an organization. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
• person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, as well as to individuals. See Michigan Laws 8.3l
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Personal representative: includes , but is not limited to, an executor, administrator, successor personal representative, and special personal representative, and any other person, other than a trustee of a trust subject to article VII, who performs substantially the same function under the law governing that person's status. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
• Petition: means a written request to the court for an order after notice. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Probate: Proving a will
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Proceeding: includes an application and a petition, and may be an action at law or a suit in equity. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
• Property: means anything that may be the subject of ownership, and includes both real and personal property or an interest in real or personal property. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
• Protected individual: means a minor or other individual for whom a conservator has been appointed or other protective order has been made as provided in part 4 of article V. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
• Public corporation: means a county, city, village, township, school district, port district, or metropolitan district of the state or a combination of these if authorized by law to act jointly; an authority created by or under an act of the legislature; or a municipal health facilities corporation or subsidiary municipal health facilities corporation incorporated as provided in the municipal health facilities corporations act, 1987 PA 230, MCL 331. See Michigan Laws 141.103
• Public corporation: means any body corporate organized by or pursuant to the laws of this state to carry out a public governmental or propriety function, including, without limitation on the foregoing, the state or any school district, city, village, township, county, district, commission, authority, university, college, or any combination thereof, which is a corporate entity. See Michigan Laws 141.151
• Public corporation: means a county, city, village, township, charter township, port authority, metropolitan district, or authority of this state, or a combination of these entities when authorized by law to act jointly. See Michigan Laws 141.162
• public improvement: means the whole or a part of any of these improvements or of any combination of these improvements or any interest or participation in these improvements, as determined by the governing body. See Michigan Laws 141.103
• Public improvements: means only the following improvements: housing facilities; garbage disposal plants; rubbish disposal plants; incinerators; transportation systems, including plants, works, instrumentalities, and properties used or useful in connection with those systems; sewage disposal systems, including sanitary sewers, combined sanitary and storm sewers, plants, works, instrumentalities, and properties used or useful in connection with the collection, treatment, or disposal of sewage or industrial wastes; storm water systems, including storm sewers, plants, works, instrumentalities, and properties used or useful in connection with the collection, treatment, or disposal of storm water; water supply systems, including plants, works, instrumentalities, and properties used or useful in connection with obtaining a water supply, the treatment of water, or the distribution of water; utility systems for supplying light, heat, or power, including plants, works, instrumentalities, and properties used or useful in connection with those systems; approved cable television systems, approved cable communication systems, or telephone systems, including plants, works, instrumentalities, and properties used or useful in connection with those systems; automobile parking facilities, including within or as part of the facilities areas or buildings that may be rented or leased to private enterprises serving the public; yacht basins; harbors; docks; wharves; terminal facilities; elevated highways; bridges over, tunnels under, and ferries across bodies of water; community buildings; public wholesale markets for farm and food products; stadiums; convention halls; auditoriums; dormitories; hospitals and other health care facilities; buildings devoted to public use; museums; parks; recreational facilities; reforestation projects; aeronautical facilities; and marine railways; or any right or interest in or equipment for these improvements. See Michigan Laws 141.103
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Rates: means the charges, fees, rentals, and rates that may be fixed and imposed for the services, facilities, and commodities furnished by a public improvement. See Michigan Laws 141.103
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Revenues: means the income derived from the rates charged for the services, facilities, and commodities furnished by a public improvement. See Michigan Laws 141.103
• Security: includes , but is not limited to, a note, stock, treasury stock, bond, debenture, evidence of indebtedness, certificate of interest or participation in an oil, gas, or mining title or lease or in payments out of production under such a title or lease, collateral trust certificate, transferable share, voting trust certificate, or interest in a regulated investment company or other entity generally referred to as a mutual fund or, in general, an interest or instrument commonly known as a security, or a certificate of interest or participation for, a temporary or interim certificate, receipt, or certificate of deposit for, or any warrant or right to subscribe to or purchase any of the items listed in this subdivision. See Michigan Laws 700.1107
• shall not apply: means that the pertinent provision is not operative as to certain persons or things or in conjunction with a particular date or dates. See Michigan Laws 8.4c
• Special personal representative: means a personal representative as described by section 3614 to 3618. See Michigan Laws 700.1107
• state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, shall be construed to extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories belonging to the United States; and the words "United States" shall be construed to include the district and territories. See Michigan Laws 8.3o
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or a territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Michigan Laws 700.1107
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Successor: means a person, other than a creditor, who is entitled to property of a decedent under the decedent's will or this act. See Michigan Laws 700.1107
• Supervised administration: means the proceedings described in part 5 of article III. See Michigan Laws 700.1107
• Tax obligation: means a bond, note, contract obligation, assessment, or other evidence of indebtedness payable primarily or secondarily from ad valorem taxes as a general or full faith and credit obligation of a public corporation. See Michigan Laws 141.162
• Testacy proceeding: means a proceeding to establish a will or determine intestacy. See Michigan Laws 700.1107
• Testate: To die leaving a will.
• Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
• Testator: includes an individual of either gender. See Michigan Laws 700.1107
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trust: includes , but is not limited to, an express trust, private or charitable, with additions to the trust, wherever and however created. See Michigan Laws 700.1107
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Veto: The procedure established under the Constitution by which the President/Governor refuses to approve a bill or joint resolution and thus prevents its enactment into law. A regular veto occurs when the President/Governor returns the legislation to the house in which it originated. The President/Governor usually returns a vetoed bill with a message indicating his reasons for rejecting the measure. In Congress, the veto can be overridden only by a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House.
• Ward: means an individual for whom a guardian is appointed. See Michigan Laws 700.1108