Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 9 > Chapter 3 > Part 5 - Public Employee Defined Benefit Financial Security Act

• 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.
• Age of majority: means eighteen (18) years of age or older. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• 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.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• 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
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• 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}
• Board: means the underground storage tanks and solid waste disposal control board created pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 68-215-103
• 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: means a person entitled to support from such person's parents by virtue of such person's minority or who is entitled to support as provided in §. See Tennessee Code 36-5-401
• 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
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Coal: means coal and all of its derivatives. See Tennessee Code 59-13-103
• Code: includes the Tennessee Code and all amendments and revisions to the code and all additions and supplements to the code. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of environment and conservation, the commissioner's authorized representatives, or in the event of the commissioner's absence or a vacancy in the commissioner's office, the deputy commissioner. See Tennessee Code 68-215-103
• 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.
• 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 environment and conservation. See Tennessee Code 68-215-103
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• 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
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• 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.
• Fair Credit Reporting Act: A federal law, established in 1971 and revised in 1997, that gives consumers the right to see their credit records and correct any mistakes. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• 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.
• Highway: includes public bridges and may be held equivalent to the words "county way" "county road" or "state road". See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• 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
• individual party: means a party to the support action who is a person, but does not include a governmental agency, or the contractor or agent of such governmental agency, that is enforcing an order of support. See Tennessee Code 36-5-101
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Magistrate: means a duly licensed attorney who has been actively engaged in the practice of law for a period of not less than two (2) years appointed by court authority to set and enforce child support, to review the administrative hearing decisions of the department of human services pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 36-5-401
• 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
• Municipality: means any county, incorporated city or town, school district, utility district, improvement district, taxing district, housing authority, industrial development board, health and educational facilities board, or other district, authority, commission, board, public body or political subdivision in this state. See Tennessee Code 9-3-102
• 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
• Occurrence: means the discovery of environmental contamination at a specific time and date, due to the release of petroleum products from petroleum underground storage tanks. See Tennessee Code 68-215-103
• Operator: means any person in control of, or having responsibility for, the daily operation of the petroleum underground storage tank. See Tennessee Code 68-215-103
• Owner: means :
  (A) For petroleum storage tanks in use or brought into use on or after November 8, 1984, any person who owns a petroleum underground storage tank used for the storage, use, or dispensing of petroleum products. See Tennessee Code 68-215-103
• 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.
• Pension plan: means the defined benefit pension plan established and maintained by a political subdivision for its employees, excluding a political subdivision's participation in the Tennessee consolidated retirement system pursuant to title 8, chapters 34-37. See Tennessee Code 9-3-503
• 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 and all persons, including individuals, firms, partnerships, associations, public or private institutions, state and federal agencies, municipalities or political subdivisions, or officers thereof, departments, agencies or instrumentalities, or public or private corporations or officers thereof, organized or existing under the laws of this or any other state or country. See Tennessee Code 68-215-103
• Petitioner: means a person or governmental entity seeking to be awarded or to enforce support for a child, or seeking to modify a previous child support order. See Tennessee Code 36-5-401
• Petroleum: means crude oil or any fraction of crude oil which is a liquid at standard temperature and pressure (sixty degrees Fahrenheit (60°. See Tennessee Code 68-215-103
• Petroleum site: means any site or area where a petroleum underground storage tank is located. See Tennessee Code 68-215-103
• Petroleum underground storage tank: means any one (1) or combination of tanks (including the underground lines connected thereto) which are used or have been used to contain an accumulation of petroleum substances, and the volume of which (including the volume of the underground pipes connected thereto) is ten percent (10%) or more beneath the surface of the ground. See Tennessee Code 68-215-103
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Political subdivision: means any local governmental entity, including, but not limited to any municipality, metropolitan government, county, utility district, school district, public building authority, housing authority, emergency communications district, and development district created and existing pursuant to the laws of this state, or any instrumentality of government created by any one (1) or more of the named local governmental entities. See Tennessee Code 9-3-503
• Political subdivision employee: means any person in the employ of a political subdivision who participates in the political subdivision's pension plan. See Tennessee Code 9-3-503
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• 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
• Release: means any spilling, overfilling, leaking, emitting, discharging, escaping, leaching or disposing of a petroleum substance from a petroleum underground storage tank or its associated piping into groundwater, surface water, or subsurface soils. See Tennessee Code 68-215-103
• 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
• Rescission: The cancellation of budget authority previously provided by Congress. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that the President may propose to Congress that funds be rescinded. If both Houses have not approved a rescission proposal (by passing legislation) within 45 days of continuous session, any funds being withheld must be made available for obligation.
• Respondent: means a person from whom child support is sought or a person in opposition to modification of a prior order. See Tennessee Code 36-5-401
• Responsible party: means :
  (i) The owner and/or operator of a petroleum site. See Tennessee Code 68-215-103
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• 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: means the state of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 68-215-103
• 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
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• 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
• Tank: means a stationary device, designed to contain an accumulation of petroleum substances which is constructed primarily of non-earthen materials (e. See Tennessee Code 68-215-103
• 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.
• Unfunded accrued liability: means the actuarially determined accrued liabilities of the pension plan that are greater than the actuarially determined value of the pension plan assets. See Tennessee Code 9-3-503
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• UST system: means an underground storage tank, connected underground piping, underground ancillary equipment and containment system, if any. See Tennessee Code 68-215-201
• 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