Terms Used In Michigan Laws > Chapter 555 > Act 159 of 2004 > Article 1

• Accounting period: means a calendar year unless another 12-month period is selected by a fiduciary. See Michigan Laws 555.502
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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: means , in the case of a decedent's estate, an heir, legatee, or devisee and, in the case of a trust, an income beneficiary or remainder beneficiary. See Michigan Laws 555.502
• Benefit: means the receipt of money, goods, or anything of pecuniary value. See Michigan Laws 400.602
• Claim: means any attempt to cause the department of community health to pay out sums of money under the social welfare act. See Michigan Laws 400.602
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• 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.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• 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.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• 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
• False: means wholly or partially untrue or deceptive. See Michigan Laws 400.602
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fiduciary: means a personal representative or trustee. See Michigan Laws 555.502
• 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.
• in writing: shall be construed to include printing, engraving, and lithographing; except that if the written signature of a person is required by law, the signature shall be the proper handwriting of the person or, if the person is unable to write, the person's proper mark, which may be, unless otherwise expressly prohibited by law, a clear and classifiable fingerprint of the person made with ink or another substance. See Michigan Laws 8.3q
• Income: means money or property that a fiduciary receives as current return from a principal asset. See Michigan Laws 555.502
• Income beneficiary: means a person to whom net income of a trust is or may be payable. See Michigan Laws 555.502
• Income interest: means the right of an income beneficiary to receive all or part of net income, whether the terms of the trust require it to be distributed or authorize it to be distributed in the trustee's discretion. See Michigan Laws 555.502
• 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.
• 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.
• knowingly: means that a person is in possession of facts under which he or she is aware or should be aware of the nature of his or her conduct and that his or her conduct is substantially certain to cause the payment of a medicaid benefit. See Michigan Laws 400.602
• Legatee: A beneficiary of a decedent
• 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.
• Medicaid benefit: means a benefit paid or payable under a program for medical assistance for the medically indigent in accordance with the social welfare act. See Michigan Laws 400.602
• Net income: means the total receipts allocated to income during an accounting period minus the disbursements made from income during the period, plus or minus transfers under this act to or from income during the period. See Michigan Laws 555.502
• 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, association, partnership, or other legal entity. See Michigan Laws 400.602
• Person: means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, or joint venture; governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality; public corporation; or another legal or commercial entity. See Michigan Laws 555.502
• 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.
• Principal: means property held in trust for distribution to a remainder beneficiary when the trust terminates. See Michigan Laws 555.502
• 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.
• Remainder beneficiary: means a person entitled to receive principal when an income interest ends. See Michigan Laws 555.502
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• seal: shall be construed to include any of the following: