North Carolina General Statutes 36F-2. Definitions
The following definitions apply in this Chapter:
(1) Account. – An arrangement under a terms-of-service agreement in which a custodian carries, maintains, processes, receives, or stores a digital asset of the user or provides goods or services to the user.
Terms Used In North Carolina General Statutes 36F-2
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
- Codicil: An addition, change, or supplement to a will executed with the same formalities required for the will itself.
- 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.
- Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
- Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
- following: when used by way of reference to any section of a statute, shall be construed to mean the section next preceding or next following that in which such reference is made; unless when some other section is expressly designated in such reference. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- property: shall include all property, both real and personal. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
- 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, so called; and the words "United States" shall be construed to include the said district and territories and all dependencies. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
(2) Agent. – An attorney-in-fact granted authority under a durable or nondurable power of attorney.
(3) Carries. – Engages in the transmission of an electronic communication.
(4) Catalogue of electronic communications. – Information that identifies each person with which a user has had an electronic communication, the time and date of the communication, and the electronic address of the person.
(5) Reserved.
(6) Content of an electronic communication. – Information concerning the substance or meaning of the communication which meets all of the following:
a. Has been sent or received by a user.
b. Is in electronic storage by a custodian providing an electronic-communication service to the public or is carried or maintained by a custodian providing a remote-computing service to the public.
c. Is not readily accessible to the public.
(7) Court. – The clerk of superior court or superior court judge, as provided in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-7, or other court having competent jurisdiction over the estate, trust, fiduciary, or user, as applicable, or other matters relating to the content of this Chapter.
(8) Custodian. – A person that carries, maintains, processes, receives, or stores a digital asset of a user.
(9) Designated recipient. – A person chosen by a user using an online tool to administer digital assets of the user.
(10) Digital asset. – An electronic record in which an individual has a right or interest. The term does not include an underlying asset or liability unless the asset or liability is itself an electronic record.
(11) Electronic. – Relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities.
(12) Electronic communication. – Has the meaning set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 2510(12).
(13) Electronic-communication service. – A custodian that provides to a user the ability to send or receive an electronic communication.
(14) Fiduciary. – An original, additional, or successor personal representative, guardian, agent, or trustee.
(14a) Guardian. – A person appointed by a court to manage the estate of a living individual. The term includes a general guardian, a guardian of the estate, an interim guardian, and a standby guardian appointed under Chapter 35A of the N.C. Gen. Stat..
(15) Information. – Data, text, images, videos, sounds, codes, computer programs, software, databases, or the like.
(16) Online tool. – An electronic service provided by a custodian that allows the user, in an agreement distinct from the terms-of-service agreement between the custodian and user, to provide directions for disclosure or nondisclosure of digital assets to a third person.
(17) Person. – An individual, estate, business or nonprofit entity, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, instrumentality, business trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, or any other legal or commercial entity.
(18) Personal representative. – An executor, administrator, special administrator, or person that performs substantially the same function under a law of this State other than this Chapter.
(19) Power of attorney. – A record that grants an agent authority to act in the place of a principal.
(20) Principal. – An individual who grants authority to an agent in a power of attorney.
(21) Reserved.
(22) Record. – Information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.
(23) Remote-computing service. – A custodian that provides to a user computer-processing services or the storage of digital assets by means of an electronic-communications system, as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 2510(14).
(24) Terms-of-service agreement. – An agreement that controls the relationship between a user and a custodian.
(25) Trustee. – A fiduciary with legal title to property under an agreement or declaration that creates a beneficial interest in another. The term includes an original, additional, and successor trustee, whether or not confirmed by a court.
(26) User. – A person that has an account with a custodian.
(26a) Ward. – An individual for whom a guardian has been appointed. The term includes an individual for whom an application for the appointment of a guardian is pending.
(27) Will. – Includes a codicil, a testamentary instrument that only appoints an executor, and an instrument that revokes or revises a testamentary instrument. (2016-53, s. 1; 2017-102, s. 12.1(a).)