Terms Used In California Codes > Probate Code > Division 1 > Part 2 - DEFINITIONS

• Account in an insured credit union: means a share account in a credit union, either federally chartered or state licensed, that is insured under Title II of the Federal Credit Union Act (12 U. See California Probate Code 22
• Account in an insured savings and loan association: means a savings account or mutual capital certificate of either of the following:

  California Probate Code 23

• Action: includes a civil action and a criminal action. See California Evidence Code 105
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• Bailiff: a court officer who enforces the rules of behavior in courtrooms.
• 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}
• Budget authority: Authority provided by law to enter into obligations that will result in outlays of Federal funds. Budget authority may be classified by the period of availability (one-year, multiyear, no-year), by the timing of congressional action (current or permanent), or by the manner of determining the amount available (definite or indefinite).
• Child: means any individual entitled to take as a child under this code by intestate succession from the parent whose relationship is involved. See California Probate Code 26
• City: includes "city and county" and "incorporated town" but does not include "unincorporated town" or "village. See California Government Code 20
• Civil action: includes civil proceedings. See California Evidence Code 120
• Codicil: An addition, change, or supplement to a will executed with the same formalities required for the will itself.
• Commission: means the California Transportation Commission. See California Government Code 14501
• Community property: means :

  California Probate Code 28

• compensation: means the remuneration paid out of funds controlled by the employer in payment for the member's services performed during normal working hours or for time during which the member is excused from work because of any of the following:

  California Government Code 20630

• Conduct: includes all active and passive behavior, both verbal and nonverbal. See California Evidence Code 125
• Conservatee: includes a limited conservatee. See California Probate Code 29
• Conservator: includes a limited conservator. See California Probate Code 30
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• County: includes city and county. See California Government Code 19
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Declarant: is a person who makes a statement. See California Evidence Code 135
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department of Transportation. See California Government Code 14501
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• Devise: when used as a noun, means a disposition of real or personal property by will, and, when used as a verb, means to dispose of real or personal property by will. See California Probate Code 32
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Devisee: means any person designated in a will to receive a devise. See California Probate Code 34
• Dissolution of marriage: includes divorce. See California Probate Code 36
• Domestic partner: means one of two persons who have filed a Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the Secretary of State pursuant to Division 2. See California Probate Code 37
• Donee: The recipient of a gift.
• Election: means any election including a primary that is provided for under this code. See California Elections Code 318
• Elections official: means any of the following:

  California Elections Code 320

• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• 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
• 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.
• Federal association: has the meaning given that term in subdivision (b) of §. See California Probate Code 23
• Fiduciary: means personal representative, trustee, guardian, conservator, attorney-in-fact under a power of attorney, custodian under the California Uniform Transfer To Minors Act (Part 9 (commencing with Section 3900) of Division 4), or other legal representative subject to this code. See California Probate Code 39
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• 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
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• 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
• Hearsay: Statements by a witness who did not see or hear the incident in question but heard about it from someone else. Hearsay is usually not admissible as evidence in court.
• Heir: means any person, including the surviving spouse, who is entitled to take property of the decedent by intestate succession under this code. See California Probate Code 44
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• 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
• interested person: includes any of the following:

  California Probate Code 48

• Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
• Law: includes constitutional, statutory, and decisional law. See California Evidence Code 160
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Mutual capital certificate: has the meaning given that term in §. See California Probate Code 23
• National Bank: A bank that is subject to the supervision of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department. A national bank can be recognized because it must have "national" or "national association" in its name. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• 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
• Party: means a political party or organization that has qualified for participation in any primary or presidential general election. See California Elections Code 338
• 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 property: All property that is not real property.
• 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
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• 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.
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Preliminary hearing: A hearing where the judge decides whether there is enough evidence to make the defendant have a trial.
• Professional fiduciary: means a person who is a professional fiduciary as defined under subdivision (f) of §. See California Probate Code 60.1
• 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
• Property: includes both real and personal property. See California Evidence Code 185
• Real property: includes a leasehold interest in real property. See California Probate Code 68
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Rescission: The cancellation of budget authority previously provided by Congress. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that the President may propose to Congress that funds be rescinded. If both Houses have not approved a rescission proposal (by passing legislation) within 45 days of continuous session, any funds being withheld must be made available for obligation.
• Savings account: has the meaning given that term in §. See California Probate Code 23
• Savings association: has the meaning given that term in subdivision (a) of §. See California Probate Code 23
• Security: includes any 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, in general, any interest or instrument commonly known as a security, or any certificate of interest or participation, any temporary or interim certificate, receipt, or certificate of deposit for, or any warrant or right to subscribe to or purchase, any of the foregoing. See California Probate Code 70
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Spouse: includes domestic partner, as defined in Section 37 of this code, as required by §. See California Probate Code 72
• Spouse: includes "registered domestic partner" as required by §. See California Government Code 12.2
• 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: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Evidence Code 220
• 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
• subscription: includes mark when the signer or subscriber can not write, such signer's or subscriber's name being written near the mark by a witness who writes his own name near the signer's or subscriber's name. See California Government Code 16
• Testate: To die leaving a will.
• Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Totten trust account: means an account in the name of one or more parties as trustee for one or more beneficiaries where the relationship is established by the form of the account and the deposit agreement with the financial institution and there is no subject of the trust other than the sums on deposit in the account. See California Probate Code 80
• 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 the following:

  California Probate Code 82

• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Trustee: includes an original, additional, or successor trustee, whether or not appointed or confirmed by a court. See California Probate Code 84
• unavailable as a witness: means that the declarant is any of the following:

  California Evidence Code 240

• Voter: means any elector who is registered under this code. See California Elections Code 359
• 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