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Terms Used In Michigan Laws 700.1103

  • 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.
  • Attorney: means , if appointed to represent a child under the provisions referenced in section 5213, an attorney serving as the child's legal advocate in the manner defined and described in section 13a of chapter XIIA of the probate code of 1939, 1939 PA 288, MCL 712A. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
  • 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.
  • 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
  • Beneficiary: includes , but is not limited to, the following:
  (i) In relation to a trust, a person that is a trust beneficiary as defined in section 7103. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
  • Beneficiary designation: means the naming in a governing instrument of a beneficiary of an insurance or annuity policy, of an account with POD designation, of a security registered in beneficiary form (TOD), of a pension, profit-sharing, retirement, or similar benefit plan, or of another nonprobate transfer at death. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
  • Child: includes , but is not limited to, an individual entitled to take as a child under this act by intestate succession from the parent whose relationship is involved. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
  • Claim: includes , but is not limited to, in respect to a decedent's or protected individual's estate, a liability of the decedent or protected individual, whether arising in contract, tort, or otherwise, and a liability of the estate that arises at or after the decedent's death or after a conservator's appointment, including funeral and burial expenses and costs and expenses of administration. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
  • Conservator: means a person appointed by a court to manage a protected individual's estate. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Court: means the probate court or, when applicable, the family division of circuit court. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
  • Decedent: A deceased person.
  • Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
  • Descendant: means , in relation to an individual, all of his or her descendants of all generations, with the relationship of parent and child at each generation being determined by the definitions of child and parent contained in this act. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
  • Devise: To gift property by will.
  • Devise: means , when used as a noun, a testamentary disposition of real or personal property and, when used as a verb, to dispose of real or personal property by will. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
  • Devisee: means a person designated in a will to receive a devise. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
  • Distributee: means a person that receives a decedent's property from the decedent's personal representative or trust property from the trustee other than as a creditor or purchaser. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
  • Donee: The recipient of a gift.
  • Estate: includes the property of the decedent, trust, or other person whose affairs are subject to this act as the property is originally constituted and as it exists throughout administration. See Michigan Laws 700.1104
  • Governing instrument: means a deed; will; trust; funeral representative designation; insurance or annuity policy; account with POD designation; security registered in beneficiary form (TOD); pension, profit-sharing, retirement, or similar benefit plan; instrument creating or exercising a power of appointment or a power of attorney; or dispositive, appointive, or nominative instrument of any similar type. See Michigan Laws 700.1104
  • grantee: may be construed as including every person to whom any such interest or estate passes in like manner. See Michigan Laws 8.3e
  • Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
  • Parent: includes , but is not limited to, an individual entitled to take, or who would be entitled to take, as a parent under this act by intestate succession from a child who dies without a will and whose relationship is in question. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
  • Patient advocate: means an individual designated to exercise powers concerning another individual's care, custody, and medical or mental health treatment or authorized to make an anatomical gift on behalf of another individual, or both, as provided in section 5506. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
  • Person: means an individual or an organization. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • Personal representative: includes , but is not limited to, an executor, administrator, successor personal representative, and special personal representative, and any other person, other than a trustee of a trust subject to article VII, who performs substantially the same function under the law governing that person's status. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
  • 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
  • Property: means anything that may be the subject of ownership, and includes both real and personal property or an interest in real or personal property. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
  • Protected individual: means a minor or other individual for whom a conservator has been appointed or other protective order has been made as provided in part 4 of article V. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
  • Security: includes , but is not limited to, a 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 interest in a regulated investment company or other entity generally referred to as a mutual fund or, in general, an interest or instrument commonly known as a security, or a certificate of interest or participation for, a temporary or interim certificate, receipt, or certificate of deposit for, or any warrant or right to subscribe to or purchase any of the items listed in this subdivision. See Michigan Laws 700.1107
  • State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or a territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Michigan Laws 700.1107
  • Successor: means a person, other than a creditor, who is entitled to property of a decedent under the decedent's will or this act. See Michigan Laws 700.1107
  • Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
  • Trust: includes , but is not limited to, an express trust, private or charitable, with additions to the trust, wherever and however created. See Michigan Laws 700.1107
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
  • Trustee: includes an original, additional, or successor trustee, whether or not appointed or confirmed by the court. See Michigan Laws 700.1107
  • trustee of a trust created by will: includes a trustee to whom property is transferred by will to the extent of the devised property. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
  • United States: shall be construed to include the district and territories. See Michigan Laws 8.3o
  • United States consumer price index: means the annual average of the United States consumer price index for all urban consumers as defined and reported by the United States department of labor, bureau of labor statistics, or its successor agency, and as certified by the state treasurer. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
  •   As used in this act:
      (a) “Agent” includes, but is not limited to, an attorney-in-fact under a durable or nondurable power of attorney and an individual authorized to make decisions as a patient advocate concerning another’s health care.
      (b) “Application” means a written request to the probate register for an order of informal probate or informal appointment under part 3 of article III.
      (c) “Attorney” means, if appointed to represent a child under the provisions referenced in section 5213, an attorney serving as the child’s legal advocate in the manner defined and described in section 13a of chapter XIIA of the probate code of 1939, 1939 PA 288, MCL 712A.13a.
      (d) “Beneficiary” includes, but is not limited to, the following:
      (i) In relation to a trust, a person that is a trust beneficiary as defined in section 7103.
      (ii) In relation to a charitable trust, a person that is entitled to enforce the trust.
      (iii) In relation to a beneficiary of a beneficiary designation, a person that is a beneficiary of an insurance or annuity policy, of an account with POD designation, of a security registered in beneficiary form (TOD), of a pension, profit-sharing, retirement, or similar benefit plan, or of another nonprobate transfer at death.
      (iv) In relation to a beneficiary designated in a governing instrument, a person that is a grantee of a deed, devisee, trust beneficiary, beneficiary of a beneficiary designation, donee, appointee, taker in default of a power of appointment, or person in whose favor a power of attorney or power held in an individual, fiduciary, or representative capacity is exercised.
      (e) “Beneficiary designation” means the naming in a governing instrument of a beneficiary of an insurance or annuity policy, of an account with POD designation, of a security registered in beneficiary form (TOD), of a pension, profit-sharing, retirement, or similar benefit plan, or of another nonprobate transfer at death.
      (f) “Child” includes, but is not limited to, an individual entitled to take as a child under this act by intestate succession from the parent whose relationship is involved. Child does not include an individual who is only a stepchild, a foster child, or a grandchild or more remote descendant.
      (g) “Claim” includes, but is not limited to, in respect to a decedent‘s or protected individual‘s estate, a liability of the decedent or protected individual, whether arising in contract, tort, or otherwise, and a liability of the estate that arises at or after the decedent’s death or after a conservator‘s appointment, including funeral and burial expenses and costs and expenses of administration. Claim does not include an estate or inheritance tax, or a demand or dispute regarding a decedent’s or protected individual’s title to specific property alleged to be included in the estate.
      (h) “Conservator” means a person appointed by a court to manage a protected individual’s estate.
      (i) “Cost-of-living adjustment factor” means a fraction, the numerator of which is the United States consumer price index for the prior calendar year and the denominator of which is the United States consumer price index for 1997. As used in this subdivision, “United States consumer price index” means the annual average of the United States consumer price index for all urban consumers as defined and reported by the United States department of labor, bureau of labor statistics, or its successor agency, and as certified by the state treasurer.
      (j) “Court” means the probate court or, when applicable, the family division of circuit court.
      (k) “Descendant” means, in relation to an individual, all of his or her descendants of all generations, with the relationship of parent and child at each generation being determined by the definitions of child and parent contained in this act.
      (l) “Devise” means, when used as a noun, a testamentary disposition of real or personal property and, when used as a verb, to dispose of real or personal property by will.
      (m) “Devisee” means a person designated in a will to receive a devise. For the purposes of article II, for a devise to a trustee of an existing trust or to a trustee under a will, the trustee is a devisee and a beneficiary is not.
      (n) “Disability” means cause for a protective order as described in section 5401.
      (o) “Distributee” means a person that receives a decedent’s property from the decedent’s personal representative or trust property from the trustee other than as a creditor or purchaser. A trustee of a trust created by will is a distributee only to the extent that distributed property or an increment of the distributed property remains in the trustee’s hands. A beneficiary of a trust created by will to whom the trustee distributes property received from a personal representative is a distributee of the personal representative. For the purposes of this subdivision, “trustee of a trust created by will” includes a trustee to whom property is transferred by will to the extent of the devised property.
      (p) “Do-not-resuscitate order” means that term as defined in section 2 of the Michigan do-not-resuscitate procedure act, 1996 PA 193, MCL 333.1052.