Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes > Title 9 > CODE TITLE V > Chapter 1 > Part I-A > Subpart A - Guidelines for Determination of Child Support

• Abortion-inducing drug: means any drug or chemical, or any combination of drugs or chemicals, or any other substance when used with the intent to cause an abortion, including but not limited to RU-486, the Mifeprex regimen, misoprostol (Cytotec), or methotrexate. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:87.1
• Adjusted gross income: means gross income, minus:

              (a) Amounts for preexisting child support or spousal support obligations owed under an order of support to another who is not a party to the proceedings and

              (b) At the court's discretion, amounts paid on behalf of a party's minor child who is not the subject of the action of the court. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:315

• 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.
• 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.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• 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}
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Clinically diagnosable pregnancy: means a pregnancy that is capable of being verified by one of the following conventional medical testing methods, whether or not any testing was in fact performed by any person:

              (a) A blood or urine test, whether used at home or in a medical setting, that tests for the human pregnancy hormone known as human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) that medically indicates that implantation has occurred. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:87.1

• Combined adjusted gross income: means the combined adjusted gross income of both parties. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:315
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contraceptive: means any device, measure, drug, chemical, or product, including single-ingredient levonorgestrel, that has been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for the purpose of preventing pregnancy and is intended to be administered prior to the time when a clinically diagnosable pregnancy can be determined, provided that the contraceptive is sold, prescribed, or administered in accordance with manufacturer's instructions. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:87.1
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• 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.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• 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}
• 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.
• fertilization: means the fusion of a human spermatozoon with a human ovum. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:87.1
• Fetal body part: means a cell, tissue, organ, or other part of an unborn child who is aborted by an induced abortion. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:87.1
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Gestational age: means the age of the unborn child as measured by the time elapsed since the first day of the last menstrual period as determined by a physician and confirmed through the use of an ultrasound test of a quality generally used in existing medical practice. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:87.1
• Gross income: means :

              (a) The income from any source, including but not limited to salaries, wages, commissions, bonuses, dividends, severance pay, pensions, interest, trust income, recurring monetary gifts, annuities, capital gains, social security benefits, workers' compensation benefits, basic and variable allowances for housing and subsistence from military pay and benefits, unemployment insurance benefits, disaster unemployment assistance received from the United States Department of Labor, disability insurance benefits, and spousal support received from a preexisting spousal support obligation;

              (b) Expense reimbursement or in-kind payments received by a parent in the course of employment, self-employment, or operation of a business, if the reimbursements or payments are significant and reduce the parent's personal living expenses. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:315

• 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.
• Health insurance premiums: means the actual amount paid by a party for providing health insurance on behalf of the child. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:315
• Income: means :

              (a) Actual gross income of a party, if the party is employed to full capacity; or

              (b) Potential income of a party, if the party is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:315

• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• induced abortion: means the performance of any act with the intent to terminate a clinically diagnosable pregnancy with knowledge that the termination by those means will, with reasonable likelihood, cause the death of the unborn child by one or more of the following means:

              (i) Administering, prescribing, or providing any abortion-inducing drug, potion, medicine, or any other substance, device, or means to a pregnant female. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:87.1

• Infant: means the offspring of human parents from the moment of live birth, regardless of the duration of gestation in the womb prior to live birth. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:87.1
• Inter vivos: Transfer of property from one living person to another living person.
• Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
• Irrevocable trust: A trust arrangement that cannot be revoked, rescinded, or repealed by the grantor.
• 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.
• Legatee: A beneficiary of a decedent
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• live born human being: means a member of the species homo sapiens that is expelled or extracted from its mother, at any stage of development, who after that expulsion or extraction breathes or shows signs of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, whether or not the umbilical cord has been cut or the placenta is attached, and regardless of whether the expulsion or extraction occurs as a result of natural or induced labor, cesarean section, or induced abortion. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:87.1
• Medical support: means health insurance and the payment of the medical expenses of the child. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:315
• Medically futile: means that, in reasonable medical judgment as certified by two physicians, the unborn child has a profound and irremediable congenital or chromosomal anomaly that is incompatible with sustaining life after birth. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:87.1
• mother: means a female human being, whether or not she has reached the age of majority. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:87.1
• Net child care costs: means the reasonable costs of child care incurred by a party due to employment or job search, minus the value of the federal income tax credit for child care. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:315
• 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.
• Physician: means a person licensed to practice medicine in the state of Louisiana. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:87.1
• 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}
• Pregnant: means that female reproductive condition of having a developing embryo or fetus in the uterus which commences at fertilization and implantation. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:87.1
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• reasonable medical judgment: means a physician's use of reasonable care and diligence, along with his best judgment, in the application of his skill. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:87.1
• 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).
• Revocable trust: A trust agreement that can be canceled, rescinded, revoked, or repealed by the grantor (person who establishes the trust).
• 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.
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• stillbirth: means the spontaneous or accidental death of an unborn child, whether the death occurred in the womb or in the process of birth. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 14:87.1
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.