Terms Used In Iowa Code > Chapter 598B - Uniform Child-Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement

• Abandoned: means left without provision for reasonable and necessary care or supervision. See Iowa Code 598B.102
• 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.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• 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.
• Child: means an individual who has not attained eighteen years of age. See Iowa Code 598B.102
• Child-custody determination: means a judgment, decree, or other order of a court providing for the legal custody, physical custody, or visitation with respect to a child. See Iowa Code 598B.102
• Child-custody proceeding: means a proceeding in which legal custody, physical custody, or visitation with respect to a child is an issue. See Iowa Code 598B.102
• Commencement: means the filing of the first pleading in a proceeding. See Iowa Code 598B.102
• 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.
• Court: means an entity authorized under the law of a state to establish, enforce, or modify a child-custody determination. See Iowa Code 598B.102
• 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.
• 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.
• following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute mean the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Home state: means the state in which a child lived with a parent or a person acting as a parent for at least six consecutive months immediately before the commencement of a child-custody proceeding. See Iowa Code 598B.102
• Initial determination: means the first child-custody determination concerning a particular child. See Iowa Code 598B.102
• Issuing court: means the court that makes a child-custody determination for which enforcement is sought under this chapter. See Iowa Code 598B.102
• 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.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Modification: means a child-custody determination that changes, replaces, supersedes, or is otherwise made after a previous determination concerning the same child, whether or not it is made by the court that made the previous determination. See Iowa Code 598B.102
• oath: includes affirmation in all cases where an affirmation may be substituted for an oath, and in like cases the word "swear" includes "affirm". See Iowa Code 4.1
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• 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.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, or government; governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality; public corporation; or any other legal or commercial entity. See Iowa Code 598B.102
• Person acting as a parent: means a person, other than a parent, to whom both of the following apply:
   a. See Iowa Code 598B.102
• Physical custody: means the physical care and supervision of a child. See Iowa Code 598B.102
• 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.
• property: includes personal and real property. See Iowa Code 4.1
• 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 Iowa Code 651.1
• Records: includes probate and other official public records, as well as records in the office of the county recorder. See Iowa Code 614.29
• Register: means to issue a certificate showing the ownership of a certificated security or, in the case of an uncertificated security, to initiate or transfer an account showing ownership of the security. See Iowa Code 633D.2
• Relative: means an ascendant, descendant, or collateral or an individual otherwise related to another individual by blood, marriage, adoption, or other law of this state. See Iowa Code 651.1
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Iowa Code 598B.102
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• 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.
• Tribe: means an Indian tribe or band, or Alaskan native village, which is recognized by federal law or formally acknowledged by a state. See Iowa Code 598B.102
• United States: includes all the states. See Iowa Code 4.1
• Warrant: means an order issued by a court authorizing law enforcement officers to take physical custody of a child. See Iowa Code 598B.102
• year: means twelve consecutive months. See Iowa Code 4.1