Terms Used In Delaware Code > Title 10 > Chapter 73 - Insolvency

• Adult: means an individual who has attained 18 years of age. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• 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.
• 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.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Assignment: includes any written stock power, bond power, bill of sale, deed, declaration of trust or other instrument of transfer. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 4301
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• 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.
• 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.
• banks: when used in this chapter, do not include such national banks, except as otherwise provided in subchapters VI and VII of this chapter. See Delaware Code Title 5 Sec. 701
• 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}
• Benefited property: means a nonexempt specially-assessed property located within a neighborhood improvement district that benefits from enhanced services and related programs based on a rational nexus test. See Delaware Code Title 9 Sec. 3503
• Building: means any structure, building, edifice or part thereof;

  (2) "Chief of Building Inspections" means the Chief of Building Inspections for Kent County as appointed by the Kent County Levy Court or the Chief's designee or the Acting Chief of Building Inspections for Kent County as appointed by the Kent County Levy Court or the Acting Chief's designee;

  (3) "Construction" means alteration, removal, demolition, addition, repair or construction of any new or old building. See Delaware Code Title 9 Sec. 4401

• Charity: An agency, institution, or organization in existence and operating for the benefit of an indefinite number of persons and conducted for educational, religious, scientific, medical, or other beneficent purposes.
• Child: means a person who has not reached the age of 18 years. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Claim of beneficial interest: includes a claim of any interest by a decedent's legatee, distributee, heirs or creditor, a beneficiary under a trust, a ward, a beneficial owner of a security registered in the name of a nominee or a minor owner of a security registered in the name of a custodian or a claim of any similar interest, whether the claim is asserted by the claimant or by a fiduciary or by any other authorized person on the claimant's behalf and includes a claim that the transfer would be in breach of fiduciary duties. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 4301
• Codicil: An addition, change, or supplement to a will executed with the same formalities required for the will itself.
• Conservator: is a "guardian of the property" as that term is used in this title. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
• Corporation: means a private or public corporation, association or trust issuing a security. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 4301
• Cost of services: includes consulting fees, professional fees, preliminary planning expenditures, feasibility study expenditures, financing costs, administrative costs, and any other expenditures necessary or incidental to the development or provision of enhanced services and related programs. See Delaware Code Title 9 Sec. 3503
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• Court: means the Court of Chancery. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to 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.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• District advisory council: means an optional advisory committee comprised of property owners and residents from the neighborhood improvement district that may be established under § 3507 of this title for the purpose of providing recommendations to the neighborhood improvement district management association regarding needed enhanced services within the district. See Delaware Code Title 9 Sec. 3503
• Donee: The recipient of a gift.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Electronic funds transfer: The transfer of money between accounts by consumer electronic systems-such as automated teller machines (ATMs) and electronic payment of bills-rather than by check or cash. (Wire transfers, checks, drafts, and paper instruments do not fall into this category.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Emergency: means the respondent is in danger of incurring imminent serious physical harm or substantial economic loss or expense. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
• Enhanced services: means additional or increased services aimed at improving the ability of property owners and residents to enjoy a safer and healthier neighborhood due to the provision of expanded services, which include services such as district-wide street cleaning, district-wide snow removal, district-wide trash removal, and maintenance of open space. See Delaware Code Title 9 Sec. 3503
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• 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.
• Fiduciary: means an executor, administrator, trustee, guardian, committee, conservator, curator, tutor, custodian or nominee. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 4301
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• 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.
• 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
• 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.
• Home state: means the state in which the respondent was physically present, including any period of temporary absence, for at least 6 consecutive months immediately before the filing of a petition for a protective order or the appointment of a guardian; or if none, the state in which the respondent was physically present, including any period of temporary absence, for at least 6 consecutive months ending within the 6 months prior to the filing of the petition. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
• Infant: means a person who has not reached the age of 18 years. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Inter vivos: Transfer of property from one living person to another living person.
• Interrogatories: Written questions asked by one party of an opposing party, who must answer them in writing under oath; a discovery device in a lawsuit.
• Lawful age: means the age of 18 years or older. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Legatee: A beneficiary of a decedent
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Marital deduction: The deduction(s) that can be taken in the determination of gift and estate tax liabilities because of the existence of a marriage or marital relationship.
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Neighborhood: means a limited geographic area situated within an unincorporated area of New Castle County and located in a residential district, the limits of which form the neighborhood improvement district boundaries, as identified on a filed record plan. See Delaware Code Title 9 Sec. 3503
• Party: means the respondent, petitioner, guardian, conservator, or any other person allowed by the Court to participate in a guardianship or protective proceeding. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
• Person: includes an individual, a corporation, government or governmental subdivision or agency, statutory trust, business trust, estate, trust, partnership or association, 2 or more persons having a joint or common interest or any other legal or commercial entity. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 4301
• Person: means any architect, builder, contractor, repairman, agent, partner or corporation as well as an individual;
  9 Del. See Delaware Code Title 9 Sec. 4401
• Person who is incapacitated: shall mean a "person with a disability" as that term is defined in § 3901(a)(2) of this title. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
• 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.
• 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}
• Probate: Proving a will
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• protected person: means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
• Protective order: means an order appointing a "guardian of the property" as that term is used in this title. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
• Protective proceeding: means a judicial proceeding in which a protective order is sought or has been issued. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• Respondent: means an adult for whom a protective order or the appointment of a guardian is sought. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
• Security: includes any share of stock, bond, debenture, note or other security issued by a corporation which is registered as to ownership on the books of the corporation. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 4301
• Service area: means the area within the boundaries of the NID in which the NIDMA provides or administers enhanced services. See Delaware Code Title 9 Sec. 3503
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Significant-connection state: means a state, other than the home state, with which a respondent has a significant connection other than mere physical presence and in which substantial evidence concerning the respondent is available. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
• special assessment fee: means the fee assessed on nonexempt properties within a NID levied by the county for purposes of providing enhanced services in a district under § 3508 of this title. See Delaware Code Title 9 Sec. 3503
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, a federally recognized Indian tribe, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Sunset provision: means a provision in the NIDP which, under § 3505 of this title, provides for the dissolution of the NID, unless re-enacted by County Council, on a date up to 5 years from commencement as identified in the approved Final NIDP and in the county ordinance establishing a NID. See Delaware Code Title 9 Sec. 3503
• 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.
• Transfer: means a change on the books of a corporation in the registered ownership of a security. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 4301
• Transfer agent: means a person employed or authorized by a corporation to transfer securities issued by the corporation. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 4301
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustor: The person who makes or creates a trust. Also known as the grantor or settlor.
• United States: includes its territories and possessions and the District of Columbia. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• 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.
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.