Terms Used In Texas Insurance Code > Title 6 > Subtitle F - Farm and County Mutual Insurance Companies

• Affidavit: means a statement in writing of a fact or facts signed by the party making it, sworn to before an officer authorized to administer oaths, and officially certified to by the officer under his seal of office. See Texas Government Code 312.011
• 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.
• 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.
• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• 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.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• Claims: includes :
  (1) liabilities of a decedent that survive the decedent's death, including taxes, regardless of whether the liabilities arise in contract or tort or otherwise;
  (2) funeral expenses;
  (3) the expense of a tombstone;
  (4) expenses of administration;
  (5) estate and inheritance taxes; and
  (6) debts due such estates. See Texas Estates Code 22.005
• Community Reinvestment Act: The Act is intended to encourage depository institutions to help meet the credit needs of the communities in which they operate, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. It was enacted by the Congress in 1977. ^{Source: OCC}
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• 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.
• Court: means and includes:
  (1) a county court in the exercise of its probate jurisdiction;
  (2) a court created by statute and authorized to exercise original probate jurisdiction; and
  (3) a district court exercising original probate jurisdiction in a contested matter. See Texas Estates Code 22.007
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Devisee: includes a legatee. See Texas Estates Code 22.009
• Distributee: means a person who is entitled to a part of the estate of a decedent under a lawful will or the statutes of descent and distribution. See Texas Estates Code 22.010
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Effects: includes all personal property and all interest in that property. See Texas Government Code 312.011
• Embezzlement: In most states, embezzlement is defined as theft/larceny of assets (money or property) by a person in a position of trust or responsibility over those assets. Embezzlement typically occurs in the employment and corporate settings. ^{Source: OCC}
• Estate: means a decedent's property, as that property:
  (1) exists originally and as the property changes in form by sale, reinvestment, or otherwise;
  (2) is augmented by any accretions and other additions to the property, including any property to be distributed to the decedent's representative by the trustee of a trust that terminates on the decedent's death, and substitutions for the property; and
  (3) is diminished by any decreases in or distributions from the property. See Texas Estates Code 22.012
• Executive session: A portion of the Senate's daily session in which it considers executive business.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Exempt property: means the property in a decedent's estate that is exempt from execution or forced sale by the constitution or laws of this state, and any allowance paid instead of that property. See Texas Estates Code 22.013
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• 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.
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Forgery: The fraudulent signing or alteration of another's name to an instrument such as a deed, mortgage, or check. The intent of the forgery is to deceive or defraud. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• 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
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Heir: means a person who is entitled under the statutes of descent and distribution to a part of the estate of a decedent who dies intestate. See Texas Estates Code 22.015
• Independent executor: means the personal representative of an estate under independent administration as provided by Chapter 401 and § 402. See Texas Estates Code 22.017
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
• Judge: means the presiding judge of any court having original jurisdiction over probate proceedings, regardless of whether the court is:
  (1) a county court in the exercise of its probate jurisdiction;
  (2) a court created by statute and authorized to exercise probate jurisdiction; or
  (3) a district court exercising probate jurisdiction in a contested matter. See Texas Estates Code 22.019
• Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• lien: include :
  (1) a deed of trust;
  (2) a vendor's lien, a mechanic's, materialman's, or laborer's lien, an attachment or garnishment lien, and a federal or state tax lien;
  (3) a chattel mortgage;
  (4) a judgment; and
  (5) a pledge by hypothecation. See Texas Estates Code 22.024
• Minor: means a person younger than 18 years of age who:
  (1) has never been married; and
  (2) has not had the disabilities of minority removed for general purposes. See Texas Estates Code 22.022
• Month: means a calendar month. See Texas Government Code 312.011
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Oath: includes affirmation. See Texas Government Code 311.005
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• 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.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Person: includes a natural person and a corporation. See Texas Estates Code 22.027
• person interested: means :
  (1) an heir, devisee, spouse, creditor, or any other having a property right in or claim against an estate being administered; and
  (2) anyone interested in the welfare of an incapacitated person, including a minor. See Texas Estates Code 22.018
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• personal representative: include :
  (1) an executor and independent executor;
  (2) an administrator, independent administrator, and temporary administrator; and
  (3) a successor to an executor or administrator listed in Subdivision (1) or (2). See Texas Estates Code 22.031
• Population: means the population shown by the most recent federal decennial census. See Texas Government Code 311.005
• Probate: Proving a will
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Qualified delivery method: means delivery by:
  (1) hand delivery by courier, with courier's proof of delivery receipt;
  (2) certified or registered mail, return receipt requested, with return receipt; or
  (3) a private delivery service designated as a designated delivery service by the United States Secretary of the Treasury under Section 7502(f)(2), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, with proof of delivery receipt. See Texas Estates Code 22.0295
• Real property: includes estates and interests in land, whether corporeal or incorporeal or legal or equitable. See Texas Estates Code 22.030
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• 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.
• Signature: includes the mark of a person unable to write, and "subscribe" includes the making of such a mark. See Texas Government Code 312.011
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• 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.
• Testate: To die leaving a will.
• Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Ward: means a person for whom a guardian has been appointed. See Texas Estates Code 22.033
• Week: means seven consecutive days. See Texas Government Code 311.005
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.