Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 36 > Chapter 5 > Part 23 - Uniform Interstate Family Support Act - Civil Provisions of General Application

• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Board: means the Tennessee board of water quality, oil and gas created by §. See Tennessee Code 60-1-101
• Board: means the Tennessee board of water quality, oil and gas. See Tennessee Code 60-1-503
• 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
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of revenue, or the commissioner's authorized delegate. See Tennessee Code 60-3-102
• 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.
• Condensate: means liquid hydrocarbons that were in the gaseous phase in the reservoir in initial reservoir conditions. See Tennessee Code 60-1-101
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• 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.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the department of revenue. See Tennessee Code 60-3-102
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• 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
• 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.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• For exploratory purposes: means drilling of mineral test holes for the specific purpose of exploring for mineral resources. See Tennessee Code 60-1-503
• 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 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
• Gas: means all natural gas and all other fluid hydrocarbons not defined as oil, including condensate because it originally was in a gaseous phase in the reservoir. See Tennessee Code 60-1-101
• 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.
• Hearsay: Statements by a witness who did not see or hear the incident in question but heard about it from someone else. Hearsay is usually not admissible as evidence in court.
• 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
• Income-withholding order: means an order or other legal process directed to an obligor's employer or other debtor, as provided for in part 5 of this chapter, to withhold support from the income of the obligor. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• 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.
• Initiating tribunal: means the tribunal of a state or foreign country from which a petition or comparable pleading is forwarded or in which a petition or comparable pleading is filed for forwarding to another state or foreign country. 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.
• Inspector: means an employee of the petroleum tax division of the department who is designated as such. See Tennessee Code 60-3-102
• 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.
• Lands: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Law: includes decisional and statutory law and rules and regulations having the force of law. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Mineral: means any substance with economic value whether organic or inorganic that can be extracted from the earth, but excluding oil and gas. See Tennessee Code 60-1-503
• Mineral test hole: means any hole in excess of one hundred feet (100') drilled during the exploration for minerals but excludes auger drilling in surficial or otherwise unconsolidated material, drilling in conjunction with mining or quarrying operations, drill holes for the exploration of oil and/or gas, water, structural foundations, and seismic surveys. See Tennessee Code 60-1-503
• Minor: means any person who has not attained eighteen (18) years of age. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Month: means a calendar month. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• 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
• Oil: means crude petroleum that was originally in an oil phase in the reservoir. See Tennessee Code 60-1-101
• Oil or substance: means any oil or substance described in §. See Tennessee Code 60-3-102
• Operator: means any person who owns or is directly responsible for a business involved in some phase of the production, manufacture, refining or distribution of petroleum oil or natural gas. See Tennessee Code 60-1-101
• Operator: means the person, whether owner or not, supervising or responsible for drilling, operating, repairing, abandoning or plugging of mineral test holes subject to this part. See Tennessee Code 60-1-503
• Oral argument: An opportunity for lawyers to summarize their position before the court and also to answer the judges' questions.
• Outside this state: means a location in another state or a country other than the United States, whether or not the country is a foreign country. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• Owner: means the person who has the right to drill into and to produce from any pool, and to appropriate the production for such person or others. See Tennessee Code 60-1-101
• Owner: means the person who has or attains the right to drill, convert or operate any mineral test hole subject to this part. See Tennessee Code 60-1-503
• 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 natural person, corporation, association, partnership, receiver, trustee, guardian, executor, administrator, fiduciary or representative of any kind. See Tennessee Code 60-1-101
• 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
• Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Person: means any individual, corporation, company, association, joint venture, partnership, receiver, trustee, guardian, executor, administrator, personal representative or private organization of any kind. See Tennessee Code 60-1-503
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Personal property: includes money, goods, chattels, things in action, and evidences of debt. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Personal representative: when applied to those who represent a decedent, includes executors and administrators, unless the context implies heirs and distributees. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Pollution: means such alteration of the physical, chemical, biological, bacteriological, or radiological properties of the waters, soils, animal, fish and aquatic life or surface property of this state as will:
  (A) Result or will likely result in harm, potential harm, or detriment to the public health, safety, or welfare. See Tennessee Code 60-1-503
• Pool: means an underground reservoir containing a common accumulation of crude petroleum oil or natural gas or both. See Tennessee Code 60-1-101
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• 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. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Register: means to file in a tribunal of this state a support order or judgment determining parentage of a child issued in another state or a foreign country. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• Registering tribunal: means a tribunal in which a support order or judgment determining parentage of a child is registered. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• 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.
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Representative: when applied to those who represent a decedent, includes executors and administrators, unless the context implies heirs and distributees. 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
• Responding tribunal: means the authorized tribunal in a responding state or foreign country. See Tennessee Code 36-5-2101
• Road: includes public bridges and may be held equivalent to the words "county way" "county road" or "state road". See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Savings and loan association: includes a building and loan association, a federal or state savings and loan association, a federal savings bank, and any other financial institution, the accounts of which are insured by the federal savings and loan insurance corporation (FSLIC) or any successor of such corporation. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• 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
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Supervisor: means the commissioner of environment and conservation or the commissioner's designee. See Tennessee Code 60-1-101
• Supervisor: means the commissioner or the commissioner's designee. See Tennessee Code 60-1-503
• 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
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• 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
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105