Terms Used In Vermont Statutes > Title 11 > Chapter 25 > Subchapter 1 - General Provisions

• Abuse: means the occurrence of one or more of the following acts between family or household members:

• Abusive litigation: means litigation where the criteria set forth below in each of subdivisions (A)-(D) are found to have been established:

• Acknowledged parent: means a person who has established a parent-child relationship under chapter 3 of this title. See
• Adjudicated parent: means a person who has been adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction to be a parent of a child. See
• Adoptee: means a person who is adopted or is to be adopted. See
• Adult: means a person who has attained 18 years of age. See
• 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.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Agency: means the Department or a child-placing public or private entity that is licensed in this State to place minors for adoption. See
• Agency of Education: means the Secretary and staff necessary to carry out the functions of the Agency. See
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Alleged genetic parent: means a person who is alleged to be, or alleges that the person is, a genetic parent or possible genetic parent of a child whose parentage has not been adjudicated. See
• 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.
• Annual meeting: when applied to towns shall mean the annual town meeting in March or an adjournment thereof. See
• 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.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• 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.
• Articles of organization: means initial, amended, and restated articles of organization and articles of merger. See
• Assisted reproduction: means a method of causing pregnancy other than sexual intercourse and includes:

• between: as used in this title in respect to a specified age of a student, shall mean the period of time commencing on the birthday of the child when he or she becomes the age first specified and ending on the day next preceding the birthday of the child when he or she becomes the age last specified. See
• Birth: includes stillbirth. See
• Business: includes every trade, occupation, profession, and other lawful purpose, whether or not carried on for profit. See
• Case law: The law as laid down in cases that have been decided in the decisions of the courts.
• Child: means a minor or an adult son or daughter, by birth or adoption. See
• Child: means a person of any age whose parentage may be determined under this title. See
• 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.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• 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.
• Credit report: A detailed report of an individual's credit history prepared by a credit bureau and used by a lender in determining a loan applicant's creditworthiness. ^{Source: OCC}
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Dating: means a social relationship of a romantic nature. See
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department for Children and Families. See
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• 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.
• Designated office: means the office of a limited liability company designated pursuant to section 4007 of this title or the principal office of a foreign limited liability company. See
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Dissolution: means an event under section 4101 of this title which requires a limited liability company to wind up its affairs and to terminate its existence as a legal entity. See
• Distribution: means a transfer of money or property from a limited liability company to a member in the member's capacity as a member or to a transferee of the member's distributional interest. See
• Distributional interest: means the right of a member or transferee to receive a distribution from a limited liability company. See
• Document: 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
• Domestic: when applied to a corporation, company, association, or copartnership shall mean organized under the laws of this State; "foreign" when so applied, shall mean organized under the laws of another state, government, or country. See
• Domestic assault: shall include any offense as set forth in 13 Vt. See
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Donor: means a person who contributes a gamete or gametes or an embryo or embryos to another person for assisted reproduction or gestation, whether or not for consideration. See
• Embryo: means a cell or group of cells containing a diploid complement of chromosomes or a group of such cells, not including a gamete, that has the potential to develop into a live born human being if transferred into the body of a person under conditions in which gestation may be reasonably expected to occur. See
• Entity: means a person other than an individual. See
• 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 market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Fees: shall mean earnings due for official services, aside from salaries or per diem compensation. See
• 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.
• following: when used by way of reference to a section of the law shall mean the next preceding or following section. See
• foreign abuse prevention order: means any protection order issued by the court of any other state that contains provisions similar to relief provisions authorized under this chapter, the Vermont Rules for Family Proceedings, 33 Vt. See
• Foreign limited liability company: means an unincorporated entity organized under laws, other than the laws of this State, which afford limited liability to its owners comparable to the liability under section 4042 of this title. See
• Former parent: means the parent of the adoptee whose rights were terminated, voluntarily or involuntarily. See
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Gamete: means a sperm, an egg, or any part of a sperm or egg. See
• Gestational carrier: means an adult person who is not an intended parent and who enters into a gestational carrier agreement to bear a child conceived using the gametes of other persons and not the gestational carrier's own, except that a person who carries a child for a family member using the gestational carrier's own gametes and who fulfills the requirements of chapter 8 of this title is a gestational carrier. See
• Gestational carrier agreement: means a contract between an intended parent or parents and a gestational carrier intended to result in a live birth. See
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Grades: means the division of the educational work of the public schools into 13 school year units beginning with kindergarten and thereafter numbered from one to 12 beginning with the lowest. See
• 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.
• Guardian: means a person, other than a parent, appointed by a court to act as a parent for another individual and specifically authorized by the Court to place the individual for adoption. See
• Household members: means persons who, for any period of time, are living or have lived together, are sharing or have shared occupancy of a dwelling, are engaged in or have engaged in a sexual relationship, or minors or adults who are dating or who have dated. See
• Identifying information: means any information which might establish the current whereabouts of an adoptee, the adoptee's former parent or other family member, including full name, date and place of birth, and last known address. See
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Intended parent: means a person, whether married or unmarried, who manifests the intent to be legally bound as a parent of a child resulting from assisted reproduction or a gestational carrier agreement. See
• Interrogatories: Written questions asked by one party of an opposing party, who must answer them in writing under oath; a discovery device in a lawsuit.
• issuing state: shall mean any state other than Vermont and any federally recognized Indian tribe, territory or possession of the United States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or the District of Columbia. See
• 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.
• Justice: when applied to a person, other than a Justice of the Supreme Court, shall mean a justice of the peace for the county for which he or she is elected or appointed. See
• Kindergarten: means an educational program for children of one year adapted to the needs of students who will attend first grade the following year. See
• 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}
• Legal custody: means the right and duty to exercise continuing general supervision of a minor as authorized by law. See
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Litigation: means any kind of legal action or proceeding, including:

• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• low-profit limited liability company: means a limited liability company that elects to be a low-profit limited liability company pursuant to section 4161 of this title and meets the requirements of section 4162 of this title. See
• Magistrate: shall mean any Supreme Court Justice, Superior judge, District judge, or Probate judge. See
• Manager: means a person that under the operating agreement of a manager-managed limited liability company is responsible, alone or in concert with others, for performing the management functions stated in subsection 4054(c) of this title. See
• Manager-managed limited liability company: means a limited liability company that qualifies under subsection 4054(a) of this title. See
• Marriage: includes civil union and any legal relationship that provides substantially the same rights, benefits, and responsibilities as marriage and is recognized as valid in the state or jurisdiction in which it was entered. See
• Member: means a person that has become a member of a limited liability company under section 4051 of this title and has not dissociated under section 4081 of this title. See
• Member-managed limited liability company: means a limited liability company that is not a manager-managed limited liability company. See
• Minor: means a person who has not attained 18 years of age. See
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Municipality: shall include a city, town, town school district, incorporated school or fire district or incorporated village, and all other governmental incorporated units. See
• Oath: shall include affirmation where by law an affirmation may be substituted. See
• 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.
• Operating agreement: means any form of description of membership rights and obligations under section 4003 of this title, stored or depicted in any tangible or electronic medium, which is agreed to by the members, including amendments to the agreement. See
• Parent: means a person who is legally recognized as a mother or father or whose consent to the adoption of a minor is required under subdivision 2-401(a)(1)-(4) or (6) of this title. See
• Parent: means a person who has established parentage that meets the requirements of this title. See
• Parentage: means the legal relationship between a child and a parent as established under this title. See
• Perpetrator of abusive litigation: means a person who files, initiates, advances, or continues litigation in violation of an order restricting abusive litigation. See
• Person: shall include any natural person, corporation, municipality, the State of Vermont or any department, agency, or subdivision of the State, and any partnership, unincorporated association, or other legal entity. See
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Physical custody: means the physical care and supervision of a minor. See
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Presumed parent: means a person who is recognized as the parent of a child under section 401 of this title. See
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probate: Proving a will
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• protection order: means any injunction or other order issued for the purpose of preventing violent or threatening acts or harassment against, or contact or communication with or physical proximity to, another person, including temporary and final orders issued by civil and criminal courts, other than support or child custody orders, whether obtained by filing an independent action or as a pendente lite order in another proceeding so long as any civil order was issued in response to a complaint, petition or motion filed by or on behalf of a person seeking protection. See
• 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
• Registry: means the adoption registry administered by the Department. See
• Relative: means a grandparent, great-grandparent, sibling, first cousin, aunt, uncle, great-aunt, great-uncle, niece, or nephew of a person, whether related to the person by the whole or the half blood, affinity, or adoption. See
• Relinquishment: means the voluntary surrender to an agency by a minor's parent or guardian, for purposes of the minor's adoption, of the rights of the parent or guardian with respect to the minor, including legal and physical custody of the minor. See
• 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.
• 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.
• said: when used by way of reference to a person or thing shall apply to the same person or thing last mentioned. See
• School board: means the board of school directors elected to manage the schools of a school district, the prudential committee of an incorporated school district, the supervisory union board of directors, and the supervisors of unorganized towns and gores. See
• School district: means town school districts, union school districts, interstate school districts, city school districts, unified union districts, and incorporated school districts, each of which is governed by a publicly elected board. See
• School district meeting: means a duly warned meeting of a school district at which questions are presented to the electorate. See
• seal: shall include an impression of the official seal made upon paper alone or by means of a wafer or wax affixed thereto. See
• Secretary: means the Secretary of Education. See
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Sexual assault: shall include sexual assault as provided in 13 V. See
• Sexual exploitation: shall include sexual exploitation of an inmate as provided in 13 V. See
• Sign: means , with the intent to authenticate or adopt a record, to:

• Signatory: means a person who signs a record and is bound by its terms. See
• Spouse: includes a partner in a civil union or a partner in a legal relationship that provides substantially the same rights, benefits, and responsibilities as marriage and is recognized as valid in the state or jurisdiction in which it was entered. See
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States may apply to the District of Columbia and any territory and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See
• State Board: means the State Board of Education established by chapter 3 of this title. See
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Stepparent: means a person who is the spouse or surviving spouse of a parent of a child but who is not a parent of the child. See
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Superintendent: means the chief executive officer of a supervisory union and each school board within it. See
• sworn: shall include affirmed. See
• 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.
• Town: shall include city and wards or precincts therein; "selectboard members" and "board of civil authority" shall extend to and include the mayor and aldermen of cities; "trustees" shall extend to and include bailiffs of incorporated villages; and the laws applicable to the inhabitants and officers of towns shall be applicable to the inhabitants and similar officers of all municipal corporations. See
• Transfer: includes an assignment, a conveyance, a sale, a lease, an encumbrance, including a mortgage or security interest, a gift, and a transfer by operation of law. See
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• Writing: means a written communication, including a letter, fax, e-mail, or other electronic format that may be prescribed by the Secretary of State. See