North Dakota Code 47-36-01 – Definitions
For purposes of this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
Terms Used In North Dakota Code 47-36-01
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- 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
- Executor: includes administrator and "administrator" includes executor. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
- 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.
- Individual: means a human being. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- 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: means an individual, organization, government, political subdivision, or government agency or instrumentality. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- 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: includes property, real and personal. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
1. “Account” means an arrangement under a terms-of-service agreement in which a custodian carries, maintains, processes, receives, or stores a digital asset of a user or provides goods or services to the user.
2. “Agent” means an attorney in fact granted authority under a durable or nondurable power of attorney.
3. “Carries” means engages in the transmission of an electronic communication.
4. “Catalog of electronic communications” means 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. “Conservator or guardian” means a person appointed by a court to manage the estate of a living individual. The term includes a limited conservator or guardian.
6. “Content of an electronic communication” means information concerning the substance or meaning of the communication which:
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; and
c. Is not readily accessible to the public.
7. “Court” means a district court with jurisdiction over matter that relates to this chapter.
8. “Custodian” means a person that carries, maintains, processes, receives, or stores a digital asset of a user.
9. “Designated recipient” means a person chosen by a user using an online tool to administer digital assets of the user.
10. “Digital asset” means 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” means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities.
12. “Electronic communication” means any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data, or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectronic, or photo-optical system that affects interstate or foreign commerce, but does not include:
a. Any wire or oral communication; b. Any communication made through a tone-only paging device; c. Any communication from an electronic or mechanical device which permits the tracking of the movement of a person or object; and
d. Electronic funds transfer information stored by a financial institution in a communications system used for the electronic storage and transfer of funds.
13. “Electronic communication service” means a custodian that provides to a user the ability to send or receive an electronic communication.
14. “Fiduciary” means an original, an additional, or a successor personal representative, conservator or guardian, agent, or trustee.
15. “Information” includes data, text, images, videos, sounds, codes, computer programs, software, and databases.
16. “Online tool” means 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” means an individual, estate, business or nonprofit entity, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, instrumentality, or other legal entity.
18. “Personal representative” means an executor, administrator, special administrator, or person that performs substantially the same function under the laws of this state other than this chapter.
19. “Power of attorney” means a record that grants an agent authority to act in the place of a principal.
20. “Principal” means an individual who grants authority to an agent in a power of attorney.
21. “Protected person” means an individual for whom a conservator or guardian has been appointed. The term includes an individual for whom an application for the appointment of a conservator or guardian is pending.
22. “Record” means 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” means a custodian that provides to a user computer processing services or the storage of digital assets by means of any wire, radio, electromagnetic, photo-optical, or photoelectronic facilities for the transmission of wire or electronic communications, and any computer facilities or related electronic equipment for the electronic storage of such communications.
24. “Terms-of-service agreement” means an agreement that controls the relationship between a user and a custodian.
25. “Trustee” means a fiduciary with legal title to property under an agreement or declaration that creates a beneficial interest in another. The term includes a successor trustee.
26. “User” means a person that has an account with a custodian.
27. “Will” includes a codicil, a testamentary instrument that only appoints an executor, and an instrument that revokes or revises a testamentary instrument.