Terms Used In Delaware Code > Title 12 > Chapter 39 - Guardianship

• Adult: means an individual who has attained 18 years of age. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
• 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.
• 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.
• 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
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Assignment: includes any written stock power, bond power, bill of sale, deed, declaration of trust or other instrument of transfer. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 4301
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• Ballot: means those portions of cardboard, paper or other material to be placed within the ballot frames of a voting machine or to be used for absentee voting in order to list the names of the offices to be voted for, the name of each candidate and the designation of the party by which the candidate is nominated, a space for the voter to write in the name of any candidate of that voter's choice for any office, and the statement of any question submitted with provision for a "yes" or "no" vote. See Delaware Code Title 15 Sec. 101
• Bank: means a bank or trust company created under this title or a national banking association created under the National Bank Act (12 U. See Delaware Code Title 5 Sec. 801
• Bank: means a bank or trust company existing under the laws of the State, or a national banking association existing under the National Bank Act, as amended (12 U. See Delaware Code Title 5 Sec. 821
• 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}
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Board: means that body of individuals appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate to serve or who otherwise serve as the State Board of Elections in accordance with Chapter 2 of this title, and are, as such, vested with the responsibility and power to see to the administration of the election laws of this State as more particularly defined in this title. See Delaware Code Title 15 Sec. 101
• Child: means a person of 3 years of age, or an earlier age if otherwise provided in this title, until the receipt of a regular high school diploma or the end of the school year in which the person attains the age of 22, whichever occurs first. See Delaware Code Title 14 Sec. 3101
• Child: means a person who has not reached the age of 18 years. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Child with a disability: means a child who because of mental, physical, emotional, developmental, speech or learning disability problems, as defined by the Department of Education rules and regulations approved by the State Board of Education, requires special education and related services in order to develop that person's own capabilities. See Delaware Code Title 14 Sec. 3101
• Claim of beneficial interest: includes a claim of any interest by a decedent's legatee, distributee, heirs or creditor, a beneficiary under a trust, a ward, a beneficial owner of a security registered in the name of a nominee or a minor owner of a security registered in the name of a custodian or a claim of any similar interest, whether the claim is asserted by the claimant or by a fiduciary or by any other authorized person on the claimant's behalf and includes a claim that the transfer would be in breach of fiduciary duties. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 4301
• Commissioner: means the person appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate who serves as the Marijuana Commissioner for the State. See Delaware Code Title 4 Sec. 1302
• Commissioner: means the State Bank Commissioner of the State of Delaware. See Delaware Code Title 5 Sec. 801
• 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.
• 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.
• Corporation: means a private or public corporation, association or trust issuing a security. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 4301
• County committee: means the regularly organized and constituted county committee or governing authority of a political party. See Delaware Code Title 15 Sec. 101
• Court: means the Court of Chancery. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
• court: as used in this chapter shall mean either the Resident Judge of the county in which the person appealing the decision resides, or, in case of such judge's disability or absence from the county, any judge entitled to sit in the Supreme Court. See Delaware Code Title 15 Sec. 2101
• 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.
• Department: means the State Department of Elections, consisting of the State Board of Elections and such staff as the Board shall appoint under this title, but shall not include the State Election Commissioner. See Delaware Code Title 15 Sec. 101
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Divest: means to transfer all interest, legal or equitable, to a person or other entity in which the transferor has no interest, direct or indirect, or which has no interest, direct or indirect, in the transferor. See Delaware Code Title 5 Sec. 801
• Division: means the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement. See Delaware Code Title 4 Sec. 1302
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Donee: The recipient of a gift.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Election officers: means the inspector of election, the 2 judges of election and the clerks of election who are appointed for each election district under § 4702 of this title. See Delaware Code Title 15 Sec. 101
• Emergency: means the respondent is in danger of incurring imminent serious physical harm or substantial economic loss or expense. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
• 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.
• 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.
• 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}
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fiduciary: means an executor, administrator, trustee, guardian, committee, conservator, curator, tutor, custodian or nominee. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 4301
• 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.
• 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}
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Grace period: The number of days you'll have to pay your bill for purchases in full without triggering a finance charge. ^{Source: Federal Reserve}
• 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: is a "guardian of the person" as that term is used in this title. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
• Home state: means the state in which the respondent was physically present, including any period of temporary absence, for at least 6 consecutive months immediately before the filing of a petition for a protective order or the appointment of a guardian; or if none, the state in which the respondent was physically present, including any period of temporary absence, for at least 6 consecutive months ending within the 6 months prior to the filing of the petition. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
• 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}
• Infant: means a person who has not reached the age of 18 years. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Inspector: means inspector of elections. See Delaware Code Title 15 Sec. 101
• Inter vivos: Transfer of property from one living person to another living person.
• Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
• Joint meeting: An occasion, often ceremonial, when the House and Senate each adopt a unanimous consent agreement
• Joint tenancy: A form of property ownership in which two or more parties hold an undivided interest in the same property that was conveyed under the same instrument at the same time. A joint tenant can sell his (her) interest but not dispose of it by will. Upon the death of a joint tenant, his (her) undivided interest is distributed among the surviving joint tenants.
• Judge: means judge of elections. See Delaware Code Title 15 Sec. 101
• 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.
• Legatee: A beneficiary of a decedent
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• License: means any license or permit to cultivate, possess, manufacture, sell, transport, or test marijuana or marijuana products and accessories authorized or issued by the Commissioner under this chapter. See Delaware Code Title 4 Sec. 1302
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Marijuana: means as defined in § 4701 of Title 16. See Delaware Code Title 4 Sec. 1302
• Marijuana products: means products that are comprised of marijuana, including concentrated marijuana, and other ingredients and are intended for use or consumption, such as edible products, ointments, and tinctures. See Delaware Code Title 4 Sec. 1302
• Minor political party: means any political party which does not qualify as a major political party. See Delaware Code Title 15 Sec. 101
• Month: means a calendar month, unless otherwise expressed. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• National Bank: A bank that is subject to the supervision of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department. A national bank can be recognized because it must have "national" or "national association" in its name. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Out-of-state bank holding company: has the meaning specified in the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended (12 U. See Delaware Code Title 5 Sec. 801
• Out-of-state bank holding company: means an out-of-state bank holding company as defined in § 801(2) of this title. See Delaware Code Title 5 Sec. 821
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Parent: means a biological or natural parent of a child with a disability, or, as appropriate, a stepparent, guardian, educational surrogate parent, appointed educational representative, relative caregiver or custodian. See Delaware Code Title 14 Sec. 3101
• 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.
• Party: means the respondent, petitioner, guardian, conservator, or any other person allowed by the Court to participate in a guardianship or protective proceeding. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
• Person: includes an individual, a corporation, government or governmental subdivision or agency, statutory trust, business trust, estate, trust, partnership or association, 2 or more persons having a joint or common interest or any other legal or commercial entity. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 4301
• Person: means as defined in § 302 of Title 1. See Delaware Code Title 4 Sec. 1302
• Person who is incapacitated: shall mean a "person with a disability" as that term is defined in § 3901(a)(2) of this title. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• political party: means any political organization which elects a state committee and officers of a state committee, by a state convention composed of delegates elected from each representative district in which the party has registered members, and which nominates candidates for electors of President and Vice-President, or nominates candidates for offices to be decided at the general election. See Delaware Code Title 15 Sec. 101
• 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}
• President pro tempore: A constitutionally recognized officer of the Senate who presides over the chamber in the absence of the Vice President. The President Pro Tempore (or, "president for a time") is elected by the Senate and is, by custom, the Senator of the majority party with the longest record of continuous service.
• 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.
• Primary election: means an election at which voters registered as members of a major political party may vote to determine the nominees of that political party for the general election. See Delaware Code Title 15 Sec. 101
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• protected 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 Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
• Protective order: means an order appointing a "guardian of the property" as that term is used in this title. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• real property: is synonymous with the phrase "lands, tenements and hereditaments. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Recess: A temporary interruption of the legislative business.
• 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 Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
• Registration officers: means the registrar, assistant registrar and alternate registrars appointed by the Department as defined in this section. See Delaware Code Title 15 Sec. 101
• Registration record: means a voter's registration record maintained in the State's Election Management System, the list or file of registered voters sent to each election district for use by election officers on the day of the election, and until determined obsolete, it also applies to a voter's record maintained in the county master file. See Delaware Code Title 15 Sec. 101
• 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.
• Respondent: means an adult for whom a protective order or the appointment of a guardian is sought. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
• Retail marijuana: means "marijuana" as defined in § 4701 of Title 16, that is cultivated, manufactured, distributed, or sold by a licensed marijuana establishment. See Delaware Code Title 4 Sec. 1302
• Retail marijuana store: means an entity licensed to purchase marijuana from marijuana cultivation facilities; to purchase marijuana and marijuana products from marijuana product manufacturing facilities; and to sell marijuana and marijuana products to consumers. See Delaware Code Title 4 Sec. 1302
• Retailer: means the person permitted to sell alcoholic liquors in a store in the State, not for consumption on the premises. See Delaware Code Title 4 Sec. 101
• Right of survivorship: The ownership rights that result in the acquisition of title to property by reason of having survived other co-owners.
• Sale: means every act of selling as defined in this section. See Delaware Code Title 4 Sec. 101
• Security: includes any share of stock, bond, debenture, note or other security issued by a corporation which is registered as to ownership on the books of the corporation. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 4301
• 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: means both a written signature conforming to § 302(23) of Title 1 and a digital or electronic signature that is an electronic sound, symbol or process attached to or logically associated with a document and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the document as specified by the State Election Commissioner. See Delaware Code Title 15 Sec. 101
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, a federally recognized Indian tribe, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 39A-101
• State: means the State of Delaware; and when applied to different parts of the United States, it includes the District of Columbia and the several territories and possessions of the United States. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• State assisted bank: means a bank which the State has, in order to relieve financial distress determined to exist by the State Bank Commissioner, assisted by means of a grant, loan, asset purchase or deposit made pursuant to a plan or agreement if:

  a. See Delaware Code Title 5 Sec. 821

• State Board: consists of 9 members who are citizens of this State andappointed as follows:

  (1) The Governor shall appoint, with Senate confirmation, 7 voting members. See Delaware Code Title 14 Sec. 104

• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subsidiary: means , with respect to an out-of-state bank holding company:

  a. See Delaware Code Title 5 Sec. 801

• Subsidiary: means a subsidiary as defined in § 801(6) of this title. See Delaware Code Title 5 Sec. 821
• Testate: To die leaving a will.
• 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.
• 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.
• Transfer: means a change on the books of a corporation in the registered ownership of a security. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 4301
• Transfer agent: means a person employed or authorized by a corporation to transfer securities issued by the corporation. See Delaware Code Title 12 Sec. 4301
• 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.
• Unaffiliated candidate: means any individual who files a declaration as a candidate for any office to be decided at the general election and who is not affiliated with any political party and has not been thus affiliated for at least 3 months prior to the filing of that individual's declaration. See Delaware Code Title 15 Sec. 101
• Under age: means an age of less than 18 years. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• United States: includes its territories and possessions and the District of Columbia. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302
• Year: means a calendar year, and is equivalent to the words "year of our Lord. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302