Terms Used In Alaska Statutes > Title 8 > Chapter 24 - Collection Agencies

• action: includes any matter or proceeding in a court, civil or criminal. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
• 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.
• 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 percentage rate: The cost of credit at a yearly rate. It is calculated in a standard way, taking the average compound interest rate over the term of the loan so borrowers can compare loans. Lenders are required by law to disclose a card account's APR. ^{Source: FDIC}
• 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.
• 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.
• Bail: Security given for the release of a criminal defendant or witness from legal custody (usually in the form of money) to secure his/her appearance on the day and time appointed.
• ballot: means any document provided by the director on which votes may be cast for candidates, propositions, or questions. See Alaska Statutes 15.80.010
• 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.
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Charity: An agency, institution, or organization in existence and operating for the benefit of an indefinite number of persons and conducted for educational, religious, scientific, medical, or other beneficent purposes.
• commercial use: means the sale of heat or power to a third party. See Alaska Statutes 41.06.060
• commission: means the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission created under Alaska Stat. See Alaska Statutes 41.06.060
• commissioner: means the commissioner of commerce, community, and economic development or a designee of the commissioner. See Alaska Statutes 06.20.900
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• 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.
• correlative rights: means the right of an owner of each property in a geothermal system to produce without waste the owner's just and equitable share of the geothermal resources in the geothermal system. See Alaska Statutes 41.06.060
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• 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.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• department: means the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development. See Alaska Statutes 06.20.900
• 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.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• director: means the director of elections who is the chief elections officer of the state appointed in accordance with Alaska Stat. See Alaska Statutes 15.80.010
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• division: means the division of elections created under Alaska Stat. See Alaska Statutes 15.80.010
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• election board: means the board appointed in accordance with Alaska Stat. See Alaska Statutes 15.80.010
• 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}
• 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}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• 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.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• 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.
• Federal Reserve System: The central bank of the United States. The Fed, as it is commonly called, regulates the U.S. monetary and financial system. The Federal Reserve System is composed of a central governmental agency in Washington, D.C. (the Board of Governors) and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks in major cities throughout the United States. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Finance charge: The total cost of credit a customer must pay on a consumer loan, including interest. The Truth in Lending Act requires disclosure of the finance charge. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Forbearance: A means of handling a delinquent loan. A
• 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}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• general election: means the election held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November of even-numbered years. See Alaska Statutes 15.80.010
• geothermal fluid: means liquids and steam at temperatures greater than 120 degrees Celsius or any commercial use of liquids and steam naturally present in a geothermal system at temperatures less than 120 degrees Celsius. See Alaska Statutes 41.06.060
• geothermal system: means a stratum, pool, reservoir, or other geologic formation containing geothermal resources. See Alaska Statutes 41.06.060
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• Gross estate: The total fair market value of all property and property interests, real and personal, tangible and intangible, of which a decedent had beneficial ownership at the time of death before subtractions for deductions, debts, administrative expenses, and casualty losses suffered during estate administration.
• 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.
• house district: means one of the districts described in art. See Alaska Statutes 15.80.010
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Intangible property: Property that has no intrinsic value, but is merely the evidence of value such as stock certificates, bonds, and promissory notes.
• 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}
• Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
• Joint meeting: An occasion, often ceremonial, when the House and Senate each adopt a unanimous consent agreement
• Joint session: When both chambers of a legislature adopt a concurrent resolution to meet together.
• judicial district: means one of the districts defined in Alaska Stat. See Alaska Statutes 15.80.010
• 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.
• 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}
• Legacy: A gift of property made by will.
• Legislative session: That part of a chamber's daily session in which it considers legislative business (bills, resolutions, and actions related thereto).
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• lieutenant governor: includes an appointed lieutenant governor, governor, or acting governor if a vacancy has occurred in the office of lieutenant governor or governor. See Alaska Statutes 15.80.010
• limited political party: means a political group which organizes for the purpose of selecting candidates for electors for President and Vice-President. See Alaska Statutes 15.80.010
• mining: includes the ordinary treatment processes normally applied by mine owners or operators to obtain the commercially marketable product, but does not include the extraction or production of oil and gas, marketable earth, quarry rock, or sand and gravel. See Alaska Statutes 43.65.060
• month: means a calendar month unless otherwise expressed. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• municipality: means a political subdivision incorporated under the laws of the state that is a home rule or general law city, a home rule or general law borough, or a unified municipality. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
• new mining operations: means mining operations which began production after January 1, 1953, or which have not been liable to pay a mining license tax under this chapter on net income since January 1, 1948. See Alaska Statutes 43.65.060
• numerical identifier: means a voter's date of birth, the last four digits of a voter's social security number, a voter's Alaska driver's license number, or a voter's Alaska identification card number or voter identification number. See Alaska Statutes 15.80.010
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• oath: includes affirmation or declaration. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
• 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.
• open-end loan: means a loan made by a licensee under this chapter under an agreement between the licensee and a borrower which provides that
  (A) the borrower may obtain advances of money from the licensee from time to time or the licensee may advance money on behalf of the borrower from time to time as directed by the borrower. See Alaska Statutes 06.20.900
• operator: means a person drilling, maintaining, operating, producing, or in control of a well. See Alaska Statutes 41.06.060
• ordinary treatment processes: includes
  (A) in the case of coal: cleaning, breaking, sizing, and loading for shipment,
  (B) in the case of sulphur: pumping to vats, cooling, breaking, and loading for shipment,
  (C) in the case of iron ore, bauxite, ball and sagger clay, rock asphalt, and minerals which are customarily sold in the form of crude mineral product: sorting, concentrating, and sintering to bring to shipping grade and form, and loading for shipment, and
  (D) in the case of lead, zinc, copper, gold, silver, platinum metals or fluorspar ores, potash and ores which are not customarily sold in the form of the crude mineral product: crushing, grinding, and beneficiation by concentration (gravity, flotation, amalgamation, electrostatic, or magnetic), cyanidation, leaching, crystallization, precipitation (but excluding electrolytic deposition roasting, thermal or electric smelting or refining), or by substantially equivalent processes or combination of processes used in the separation or extraction of a product from the ore, including the furnacing or quicksilver ore. See Alaska Statutes 43.65.060
• owner: means the person who has the right to drill into or produce from a geothermal system and to appropriate the geothermal resources produced from a geothermal system for that person and others. See Alaska Statutes 41.06.060
• 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.
• peace officer: means
  (A) an officer of the state troopers. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
• person: includes a corporation, company, partnership, firm, association, organization, business trust, or society, as well as a natural person. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• personal property: includes money, goods, chattels, things in action, and evidences of debt. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• political group: means a group of organized voters which represents a political program and which does not qualify as a political party. See Alaska Statutes 15.80.010
• political party: means an organized group of voters that represents a political program and has at least 5,000 registered voters in the state. See Alaska Statutes 15.80.010
• 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.
• presidential election year: means a year in which the presidential electors are elected. See Alaska Statutes 15.80.010
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probate: Proving a will
• production: means the date on which the initial shipment of products from mining operations is made. See Alaska Statutes 43.65.060
• property: includes real and personal property. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
• proposition: means an initiative, referendum, or constitutional amendment submitted at an election to the public for vote. See Alaska Statutes 15.80.010
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• qualified voter: means a person who has the qualification of a voter and is not disqualified as provided by art. See Alaska Statutes 15.80.010
• question: means an issue placed on the ballot to determine whether a judge or justice shall be accepted or rejected, whether a constitutional convention shall be called, whether a state debt shall be contracted, or whether a state official shall be recalled. See Alaska Statutes 15.80.010
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• 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.
• senate district: means one of the districts described in art. See Alaska Statutes 15.80.010
• 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.
• special election: means an election held at a time other than when the general or primary election is held and an election called to be held with, and at the time of, the general or primary election. See Alaska Statutes 15.80.010
• state: means the State of Alaska unless applied to the different parts of the United States and in the latter case it includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• sworn: includes affirmed. See Alaska Statutes 15.80.010
• Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
• 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.
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• voter: means a person who presents oneself for the purpose of voting either in person or by absentee ballot. See Alaska Statutes 15.80.010
• waste: means , in addition to its ordinary meaning, physical waste, and includes an inefficient, excessive, or improper production, use, or dissipation of geothermal resources, including
  (A) drilling, transporting, or storage methods that cause or tend to cause unnecessary surface loss of geothermal resources. See Alaska Statutes 41.06.060
• well: means a well drilled, converted, or reactivated for the discovery, testing, production, or subsurface injection of geothermal resources. See Alaska Statutes 41.06.060
• writing: includes printing. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060