Terms Used In California Codes > Government Code > Title 2 > Division 3 > Part 5.5 > Chapter 3 - General Services Advisory Council

• Action: includes a civil action and a criminal action. See California Evidence Code 105
• Beneficiary: means a person to whom a donative transfer of property is made or that person's successor in interest, and:

  California Probate Code 24

• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Burden of producing evidence: means the obligation of a party to introduce evidence sufficient to avoid a ruling against him on the issue. See California Evidence Code 110
• Burden of proof: means the obligation of a party to establish by evidence a requisite degree of belief concerning a fact in the mind of the trier of fact or the court. See California Evidence Code 115
• Conduct: includes all active and passive behavior, both verbal and nonverbal. See California Evidence Code 125
• Conservator: includes a limited conservator. See California Probate Code 30
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• County: includes city and county. See California Government Code 19
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• director: refer to the Department of General Services and the Director of General Services, respectively, unless the context otherwise requires. See California Government Code 14602
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Evidence: means testimony, writings, material objects, or other things presented to the senses that are offered to prove the existence or nonexistence of a fact. See California Evidence Code 140
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Financial institution: means a state or national bank, state or federal savings and loan association or credit union, or like organization. See California Probate Code 40
• 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.
• hearing: means the hearing at which a question under this code arises, and not some earlier or later hearing. See California Evidence Code 145
• Instrument: means a will, a document establishing or modifying a trust, a deed, or any other writing that designates a beneficiary or makes a donative transfer of property. See California Probate Code 45
• 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.
• Law: includes constitutional, statutory, and decisional law. See California Evidence Code 160
• Parent: means any individual entitled to take as a parent under this code by intestate succession from the child whose relationship is involved. See California Probate Code 54
• Person: includes any person, firm, association, organization, partnership, limited liability company, business trust, corporation, or company. See California Government Code 17
• Person: means an individual, corporation, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, or other entity. See California Probate Code 56
• Person: includes a natural person, firm, association, organization, partnership, business trust, corporation, limited liability company, or public entity. See California Evidence Code 175
• Personal representative: means executor, administrator, administrator with the will annexed, special administrator, successor personal representative, public administrator acting pursuant to Section 7660, or a person who performs substantially the same function under the law of another jurisdiction governing the person's status. See California Probate Code 58
• preliminary fact: means a fact upon the existence or nonexistence of which depends the admissibility or inadmissibility of evidence. See California Evidence Code 400
• proffered evidence: means evidence, the admissibility or inadmissibility of which is dependent upon the existence or nonexistence of a preliminary fact. See California Evidence Code 401
• Property: means anything that may be the subject of ownership and includes both real and personal property and any interest therein. See California Probate Code 62
• Spouse: includes domestic partner, as defined in Section 37 of this code, as required by §. See California Probate Code 72
• State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Government Code 18
• State: includes any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any territory or possession subject to the legislative authority of the United States. See California Probate Code 74
• state agency: includes every state office, officer, department, division, bureau, board, and commission. See California Government Code 11000
• Statement: means (a) oral or written verbal expression or (b) nonverbal conduct of a person intended by him as a substitute for oral or written verbal expression. See California Evidence Code 225
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Transferor: means the testator, settlor, grantor, owner, or other person who executes an instrument. See California Probate Code 81
• 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 the following:

  California Probate Code 82

• Will: includes codicil and any testamentary instrument which merely appoints an executor or revokes or revises another will. See California Probate Code 88
• Writing: means handwriting, typewriting, printing, photostating, photographing, photocopying, transmitting by electronic mail or facsimile, and every other means of recording upon any tangible thing, any form of communication or representation, including letters, words, pictures, sounds, or symbols, or combinations thereof, and any record thereby created, regardless of the manner in which the record has been stored. See California Evidence Code 250