Terms Used In Michigan Laws > Chapter 555 > Act 159 of 2004 > Article 4

• Accounting period: means a calendar year unless another 12-month period is selected by a fiduciary. See Michigan Laws 555.502
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• 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.
• 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
• Caseworker: means an individual employed by the department or a child placing agency for the purpose of placing children in homes for foster care or investigating and certifying individuals or homes for foster care. See Michigan Laws 400.683
• Child placing agency: means that term as defined in section 1 of 1973 PA 116, MCL 722. See Michigan Laws 400.683
• Consumer reporting agency: means any person who, for monetary fees or dues or on a cooperative nonprofit basis, regularly engages in whole or in part in the practice of assembling or evaluating consumer credit-related information or other information on consumers for the purpose of furnishing credit reports to third parties. See Michigan Laws 400.683
• 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.
• Court: means the family division of the circuit court. See Michigan Laws 400.643
• Credit report: A detailed report of an individual's credit history prepared by a credit bureau and used by a lender in determining a loan applicant's creditworthiness. ^{Source: OCC}
• Credit report: means any written, oral, or other communication of information by a consumer reporting agency bearing on a consumer's creditworthiness, credit standing, or credit capacity. See Michigan Laws 400.683
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Department: means the department of human services. See Michigan Laws 400.643
• Department: means the department of health and human services. See Michigan Laws 400.683
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• 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.
• 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 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
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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}
• Mandatory income interest: means the right of an income beneficiary to receive net income that the terms of the trust require the fiduciary to distribute. See Michigan Laws 555.502
• 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.
• month: means a calendar month; the word "year" a calendar year; and the word "year" alone shall be equivalent to the words "year of our Lord". See Michigan Laws 8.3j
• 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
• 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, 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
• person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, as well as to individuals. See Michigan Laws 8.3l
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Principal: means property held in trust for distribution to a remainder beneficiary when the trust terminates. See Michigan Laws 555.502
• Probate: Proving a will
• state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, shall be construed to extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories belonging to the United States; and the words "United States" shall be construed to include the district and territories. See Michigan Laws 8.3o
• 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 a court. See Michigan Laws 555.502
• Youth: means an individual who is at least 18 years of age but less than 21 years of age. See Michigan Laws 400.643