Terms Used In New York Laws > Tax > Article 26 > Part 1 - Computation of Tax

• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the 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.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Dower: A widow
• 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: means the executor or administrator of the estate of the decedent, or, if there is no executor or administrator appointed, qualified and acting, then any person or entity in actual or constructive possession of any property of the decedent. See N.Y. Tax Law 951-A
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• Gross estate: The total fair market value of all property and property interests, real and personal, tangible and intangible, of which a decedent had beneficial ownership at the time of death before subtractions for deductions, debts, administrative expenses, and casualty losses suffered during estate administration.
• 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.
• Life estate: A property interest limited in duration to the life of the individual holding the interest (life tenant).
• 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.
• 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: includes an individual, a trustee, a corporation, an association, a joint-stock company, a partnership, a limited liability company and a bank. See N.Y. Tax Law 951-A
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• 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.
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• tangible personal property: means corporeal personal property, including money held for numismatic purposes, and does not include deposits in banks, mortgages, debts, receivables, shares of stock, bonds, notes, credits, evidences of an interest in property, evidences of debt, or choses in action generally. See N.Y. Tax Law 951-A
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.