Terms Used In Indiana Code > Title 23 > Article 17 - Nonprofit Corporations

• 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.
• 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.
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Board: means the Indiana library and historical board established by IC 4-23-7-2. See Indiana Code 4-23-7.1-1
• charitable organization: means any organization described in Section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code. See Indiana Code 23-17-25.5-1
• Clerk: means the clerk of the court or a person authorized to perform the clerk's duties. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• corporation: includes a corporation organized under or governed by this chapter and a domestic or foreign predecessor entity of a corporation in a merger or other transaction in which the predecessor's existence ceased upon consummation of the transaction. See Indiana Code 23-17-16-1
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Indiana library and historical department established by IC 4-23-7-1. See Indiana Code 4-23-7.1-1
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• director: means an individual who is or was a director of a corporation or an individual who, while a director of a corporation, is or was serving at the corporation's request as a director, an officer, a member, a manager, a partner, a trustee, an employee, or an agent of another foreign or domestic corporation, limited liability company, partnership, joint venture, trust, employee benefit plan, or other enterprise, whether for profit or not. See Indiana Code 23-17-16-2
• Director: means director of the Indiana state library. See Indiana Code 4-23-7.1-1
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• 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.
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Escheat: Reversion of real or personal property to the state when 1) a person dies without leaving a will and has no heirs, or 2) when the property (such as a bank account) has been inactive for a certain period of time. ^{Source: OCC}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• 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.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• expenses: includes attorney's fees. See Indiana Code 23-17-16-3
• 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: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• 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.
• Historical bureau: means the Indiana historical bureau established by Indiana Code 4-23-7.1-1
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Judgment: means all final orders, decrees, and determinations in an action and all orders upon which executions may issue. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
• 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}
• Legatee: A beneficiary of a decedent
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• liability: means the obligation to pay a judgment, settlement, penalty, fine, including an excise tax assessed with respect to an employee benefit plan, or reasonable expenses actually incurred with respect to a proceeding. See Indiana Code 23-17-16-4
• 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.
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• 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.
• nonprofit hospital: means a hospital licensed under IC 16-21:

  Indiana Code 23-17-32-2

• nonprofit organization: means one (1) of the following:

  Indiana Code 23-17-32-3

• 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.
• official capacity: means the following:

  Indiana Code 23-17-16-5

• party: includes an individual who was, is, or is threatened to be made a named defendant or respondent in a proceeding. See Indiana Code 23-17-16-6
• person: has the meaning set forth in IC 23-17-2-20. See Indiana Code 23-17-32-4
• personal information: means any compilation of data (including any list, record, registry, roll, or roster) that directly or indirectly identifies a person as a:

  Indiana Code 23-17-32-5

• Personal property: includes goods, chattels, evidences of debt, and things in action. See Indiana Code 1-1-4-5
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• 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.
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• 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.
• proceeding: means a threatened, pending, or completed action, suit, or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative, or investigative and whether formal or informal. See Indiana Code 23-17-16-7
• Proxy voting: The practice of allowing a legislator to cast a vote in committee for an absent legislator.
• public agency: means a:

  Indiana Code 23-17-32-6

• Public library: has the meaning set forth in IC 36-12-1-5. See Indiana Code 4-23-7.1-1
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• 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.
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• 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.
• state agency: has the meaning set forth in IC 4-1-13-1. See Indiana Code 23-17-25.5-2
• State library: means the Indiana state library established by IC 4-23-7-3. See Indiana Code 4-23-7.1-1
• Statewide library card program: refers to the program established by section 5. See Indiana Code 4-23-7.1-1
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.