Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 55.1 > Subtitle I > Chapter 5 - Commutation and Valuation of Certain Estates and Interests

• Annuities: means all agreements to make periodic payments in specified or calculable sums pursuant to the terms of a contract for a stated period of time or for the life of the person or persons specified in the contract. See Virginia Code 38.2-106
• 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.
• Attorney: means the person designated and authorized by subscribers as the attorney-in-fact having authority to obligate them on reciprocal insurance contracts. See Virginia Code 38.2-1201
• Board of supervisors: means the governing body of a county. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Bureau of Insurance: means the division of the Commission established to administer the insurance laws of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Business entity: means a partnership, limited partnership, limited liability company, corporation, or other legal entity other than a sole proprietorship. See Virginia Code 38.2-1800
• Catastrophic disaster: means an event where the President of the United States or the Governor of the Commonwealth has declared a state of emergency. See Virginia Code 38.2-1845.1
• City: means an independent incorporated community which became a city as provided by law before noon on July 1, 1971, or which has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more and which has become a city as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-208
• Commission: means the State Corporation Commission. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Company: means any association, aggregate of individuals, business, corporation, individual, joint-stock company, Lloyds type of organization, organization, partnership, receiver, reciprocal or interinsurance exchange, trustee or society. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• 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.
• County: means any existing county or such unit hereafter created. See Virginia Code 15.2-102
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• 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.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• 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.
• Home state: means the District of Columbia and any state or territory of the United States, except Virginia, or any province of Canada, in which a public adjuster maintains such person's principal place of residence or principal place of business and is licensed by that jurisdiction to act as a resident public adjuster. See Virginia Code 38.2-1845.1
• in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Virginia Code 1-257
• Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
• Insurance consultant: means any individual or business entity who acts as an independent contractor in relation to his client and for a fee or compensation, other than from an insurer or agent or surplus lines broker, advises or offers or purports to advise, as to life and health or property and casualty insurance, any person actively or prospectively insured. See Virginia Code 38.2-1837
• insurance policies: shall include contracts of fidelity, indemnity, guaranty and suretyship. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• insurance producer: when used without qualification, means an individual or business entity that sells, solicits, or negotiates contracts of insurance or annuity in the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 38.2-1800
• Insurer: means an insurance company. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• 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.
• License: means a document issued by the Commission authorizing an individual or business entity to act as a public adjuster. See Virginia Code 38.2-1845.1
• Life and health insurance consultant: means an insurance consultant whose services are limited to insurance as defined in §§ Virginia Code 38.2-1837
• Life estate: A property interest limited in duration to the life of the individual holding the interest (life tenant).
• Month: means a calendar month and "year" means a calendar year. See Virginia Code 1-223
• Negotiate: means the act of conferring directly with or offering advice directly to a purchaser or prospective purchaser of a particular contract of public adjusting concerning any of the substantive benefits, terms, or conditions of the contract. See Virginia Code 38.2-1845.1
• 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.
• 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 association, aggregate of individuals, business, company, corporation, individual, joint-stock company, Lloyds type of organization, organization, partnership, receiver, reciprocal or interinsurance exchange, trustee or society. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
• Person under disability: includes a person less than 18 years of age. See Virginia Code 1-232
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
• Property and casualty insurance consultant: means an insurance consultant whose services are limited to insurance as defined in §§ Virginia Code 38.2-1837
• Public adjuster: means an individual or business entity who receives, either directly or indirectly, a salary, fee, commission, or other compensation for engaging in public adjusting. See Virginia Code 38.2-1845.1
• Public adjusting: means soliciting, investigating, negotiating, adjusting, or providing advice to an insured in relation to first party claims arising under insurance contracts that insure the real or personal property of an insured for the purpose of effecting the settlement of a claim on behalf of the insured. See Virginia Code 38.2-1845.1
• Reciprocal: means the aggregation of subscribers under a common name. See Virginia Code 38.2-1201
• 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.
• 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.
• Solicit: means attempting to sell insurance or asking or urging a person to apply for a particular class of insurance from one or more insurers. See Virginia Code 38.2-1800
• Soliciting: means attempting to persuade or asking or urging an insured to enter into a public adjusting contract by describing the terms of the contract, including any fees or commissions, and offering to negotiate a claim of loss on behalf of the insured. See Virginia Code 38.2-1845.1
• State: means any commonwealth, state, territory, district or insular possession of the United States. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
• State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Surplus lines broker: means a person licensed pursuant to Article 5. See Virginia Code 38.2-1800
• Terminate: means the cancellation of the relationship between an insurance producer and the insurer, or the termination of an insurance producer's authority to transact insurance. See Virginia Code 38.2-1800
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July 1, 1971, as provided by law or which has within defined boundaries a population of 1,000 or more and which has become a town as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-254
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255
• Veto: The procedure established under the Constitution by which the President/Governor refuses to approve a bill or joint resolution and thus prevents its enactment into law. A regular veto occurs when the President/Governor returns the legislation to the house in which it originated. The President/Governor usually returns a vetoed bill with a message indicating his reasons for rejecting the measure. In Congress, the veto can be overridden only by a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House.
• Viatical settlement broker: means a person licensed pursuant to Chapter 60 (§ Virginia Code 38.2-1800