New Jersey Statutes 3B:12-69. Definitions
Terms Used In New Jersey Statutes 3B:12-69
- 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.
- Guardian: means a person who has qualified as a guardian of the person or estate of a minor or incapacitated individual pursuant to testamentary or court appointment, but excludes one who is merely a guardian ad litem. See New Jersey Statutes 3B:1-1
- 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.
- person: includes corporations, companies, associations, societies, firms, partnerships and joint stock companies as well as individuals, unless restricted by the context to an individual as distinguished from a corporate entity or specifically restricted to one or some of the above enumerated synonyms and, when used to designate the owner of property which may be the subject of an offense, includes this State, the United States, any other State of the United States as defined infra and any foreign country or government lawfully owning or possessing property within this State. See New Jersey Statutes 1:1-2
- 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
- State: extends to and includes any State, territory or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia and the Canal Zone. See New Jersey Statutes 1:1-2
“Activating event” means an event stated in the petition or decree that empowers the standby guardian to assume the duties of the office. Activating events include, but are not limited to: the appointment of a standby guardian by a court of competent jurisdiction; the parent’s, custodian’s, or guardian’s attending physician concludes that the parent, custodian, or guardian is incapacitated; the parent’s, custodian’s, or guardian’s attending physician concludes that the parent, custodian, or guardian is debilitated; the parent, custodian, or guardian is subject to immigration administrative action; the parent, custodian, or guardian is subject to criminal proceedings; the parent, custodian, or guardian is in military service; or the death of the parent, custodian, or guardian in circumstances in which no testamentary guardianship or other more permanent care arrangement has been made for the minor child or minor ward; provided, however, that in no case shall a power of attorney triggered by the death of a parent, guardian, or custodian extend beyond the year that the power of attorney is in effect.
“Appointed standby guardian” means a person appointed pursuant to section 6 of P.L.1995, c.76 (C. 3B:12-72) to assume the duties of guardian over the person and, when applicable, the property of a minor child or minor ward upon an activating event.
“Attending physician” means the physician who has primary responsibility for the treatment and care for the petitioning parent, custodian, or guardian. When more than one physician shares this responsibility, or when a physician is acting on the primary physician’s behalf, any such physician may act as the attending physician pursuant to this act. When no physician has this responsibility, a physician who is familiar with the petitioner’s medical condition may act as the attending physician pursuant to P.L.1995, c.76 (C. 3B:12-67 et seq.).
“Criminal proceeding” means any incarceration on criminal charges, including pending charges, or a criminal sentence that separates a parent, custodian, or guardian from a minor child or minor ward.
“Custodian” means a person, other than a parent, who has been granted legal and physical custody of a minor child by a court of competent jurisdiction.
“Debilitated” means the parent, custodian, or guardian has a chronic and substantial inability, as a result of a physically debilitating illness, disease, or injury, to care for the parent’s, custodian’s, or guardian’s minor child or minor ward.
“Guardian” means a person who has qualified as a guardian of the person of a minor pursuant to court appointment, including, but not limited to, a kinship legal guardian, but does not mean a person who is serving only as a guardian ad litem.
“Immigration administrative action” means any immigration proceeding, enforcement action, detention, removal, or deportation that separates a parent, custodian, or guardian from a minor child or ward.
“Incapacitated” means the parent, custodian, or guardian is impaired by reason of mental illness, intellectual disability, physical illness or disability, chronic use of drugs, chronic alcoholism, or other cause, except minority, to the extent that the person lacks sufficient capacity to manage the affairs of and provide care for the parent’s, custodian’s, or guardian’s minor child or minor ward.
“Military service” means duty by any person in the active military service of the United States or the active military service of the State, including in the National Guard or State Guard, that separates a parent, custodian, or guardian from a minor child or minor ward.
“Minor child” means a child under the age of 18 years but excludes a child residing in a placement funded or approved by the Division of Child Protection and Permanency in the Department of Children and Families pursuant to either a voluntary placement agreement or court order.
“Minor ward” means a minor for whom a guardian is appointed.
L.1995, c.76, s.3; amended 2006, c.47, s.30; 2012, c.16, s.12; 2021, c.192, s.3.