Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 36 > Chapter 5 > Part 21 - Uniform Interstate Family Support Act - General Provisions

• Age of majority: means eighteen (18) years of age or older. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Association: means any corporation organized under this chapter. See Tennessee Code 59-13-103
• 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}
• Child: means an individual, whether over or under the age of majority, who is or is alleged to be owed a duty of support by the individual's parent or who is or is alleged to be the beneficiary of a support order directed to the parent. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• Child support order: means a support order for a child, including a child who has attained the age of majority under the law of the issuing state or foreign country. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• Coal: means coal and all of its derivatives. See Tennessee Code 59-13-103
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Convention: means the Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance, concluded at The Hague on November 23, 2007. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• 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.
• Duty of support: means an obligation imposed or imposable by law to provide support for a child, spouse, or former spouse, including an unsatisfied obligation to provide support. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• Foreign country: means a country, including a political subdivision thereof, other than the United States, that authorizes the issuance of support orders and:
  (A) Which has been declared under the law of the United States to be a foreign reciprocating country. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• Foreign support order: means a support order of a foreign tribunal. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• Foreign tribunal: means a court, administrative agency, or quasi-judicial entity of a foreign country which is authorized to establish, enforce, or modify support orders or to determine parentage of a child. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• Income: includes earnings or other periodic entitlements to money from any source and any other property subject to withholding for support under the law of this state. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Issuing state: means the state in which a tribunal issues a support order or a judgment determining parentage of a child. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• 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.
• Law: includes decisional and statutory law and rules and regulations having the force of law. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• Member: means actual members of associations without capital stock, and holders of common stock in associations organized with capital stock. See Tennessee Code 59-13-103
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Obligee: means :
  (A) An individual to whom a duty of support is or is alleged to be owed or in whose favor a support order or a judgment determining parentage of a child has been issued. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• Obligor: means an individual, or the estate of a decedent that:
  (A) Owes or is alleged to owe a duty of support. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• 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: means any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, and association. See Tennessee Code 59-13-103
• Person: means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government, or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Responding state: means a state in which a petition or comparable pleading for support or to determine parentage of a child is filed or to which a petition or comparable pleading is forwarded for filing from another state or a foreign country. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• signed: includes a mark, the name being written near the mark and witnessed, or any other symbol or methodology executed or adopted by a party with intention to authenticate a writing or record, regardless of being witnessed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession under the jurisdiction of the United States. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• Support enforcement agency: means a public official, governmental entity, or private agency authorized to:
  (A) Seek enforcement of support orders or laws relating to the duty of support. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• Support order: means a judgment, decree, order, decision, or directive, whether temporary, final, or subject to modification, issued in a state or foreign country for the benefit of a child, a spouse, or a former spouse, which provides for monetary support, health care, arrearages, retroactive support, or reimbursement for financial assistance provided to an individual obligee in place of child support. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• 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.
• Tribunal: means a court, administrative agency, or quasi-judicial entity authorized to establish, enforce, or modify support orders or to determine parentage of a child. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105