Terms Used In New York Laws > County > Article 24 - Provisions Applicable to New York City

• activities of daily living: means activities such as, but not limited to, mobility, eating, toileting, dressing, grooming, housekeeping, cooking, shopping, money management, banking, driving or using public transportation, and other activities related to personal needs and to property management. See N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law 81.03
• administration: means the United States veterans' administration or its successor. See N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law 79.01
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attorney-at-law: A person who is legally qualified and licensed to practice law, and to represent and act for clients in legal proceedings.
• available resources: means resources such as, but not limited to, visiting nurses, homemakers, home health aides, adult day care and multipurpose senior citizen centers, powers of attorney, health care proxies, trusts, representative and protective payees, and residential care facilities. See N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law 81.03
• 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}
• benefits: shall mean all moneys payable by the United States through the administration. See N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law 79.01
• Best interests: means promoting personal well-being by the assessment of the risks, benefits and alternatives to the patient of a proposed major medical treatment, taking into account factors including the relief of suffering, the preservation or restoration of functioning, improvement in the quality of the patient's life with and without the proposed major medical treatment and consistency with the personal beliefs and values known to be held by the patient. See N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law 80.03
• Commission: means the commission on quality of care and advocacy for persons with disabilities. See N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law 80.03
• Correspondent: means a person who has demonstrated a genuine interest in promoting the best interests of the patient by having a personal relationship with the patient, by participating in the patient's care and treatment, by regularly visiting the patient, or by regularly communicating with the patient. See N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law 80.03
• Cross examine: Questioning of a witness by the attorney for the other side.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Declarant: means a person who submits a declaration pursuant to the provisions of this article and may include any provider of health services, the director of the patient's residential facility or a relative or correspondent of the patient. See N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law 80.03
• Declaration: means a written statement submitted in accordance with section 80. See N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law 80.03
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• director: means the director of the United States veterans' administration or his successor. See N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law 79.01
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• facility: means a facility, hospital, or school, or an alcoholism facility in this state as such terms are defined in section 1. See N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law 81.03
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• functional level: means the ability to provide for personal needs and/or the ability with respect to property management. See N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law 81.03
• functional limitations: means behavior or conditions of a person which impair the ability to provide for personal needs and/or property management. See N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law 81.03
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• guardian: means a person who is eighteen years of age or older, a corporation, or a public agency, including a local department of social services, appointed in accordance with terms of this article by the supreme court, the surrogate's court, or the county court to act on behalf of an incapacitated person in providing for personal needs and/or for property management. See N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law 81.03
• income: shall include only moneys received by the guardian from the administration and all earnings, interest, and profits derived therefrom. See N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law 79.01
• 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.
• Intangible property: Property that has no intrinsic value, but is merely the evidence of value such as stock certificates, bonds, and promissory notes.
• Juror: A person who is on the jury.
• least restrictive form of intervention: means that the powers granted by the court to the guardian with respect to the incapacitated person represent only those powers which are necessary to provide for that person's personal needs and/or property management and which are consistent with affording that person the greatest amount of independence and self-determination in light of that person's understanding and appreciation of the nature and consequences of his or her functional limitations. See N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law 81.03
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Major medical treatment: means a medical, surgical or diagnostic intervention or procedures where a general anesthetic is used or which involves any significant risk or any significant invasion of bodily integrity requiring an incision or producing substantial pain, discomfort, debilitation or having a significant recovery period. See N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law 80.03
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Panel: means a subcommittee of four members of the surrogate decision-making committee. See N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law 80.03
• person: includes a partnership, corporation, or an association. See N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law 79.01
• personal needs: means needs such as, but not limited to, food, clothing, shelter, health care, and safety. See N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law 81.03
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• property management: means taking actions to obtain, administer, protect, and dispose of real and personal property, intangible property, business property, benefits, and income and to deal with financial affairs. See N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law 81.03
• 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.
• Surrogate decision-making committee: means a committee of at least twelve persons established pursuant to section 80. See N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law 80.03
• Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• 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.
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• ward: means a beneficiary of the administration. See N.Y. Mental Hygiene Law 79.01