Terms Used In Florida Statutes > Chapter 61 > Part III - Collaborative Law Process Act

• Collaborative attorney: means an attorney who represents a party in a collaborative law process. See Florida Statutes 61.56
• Collaborative law communication: means an oral or written statement, including a statement made in a record, or nonverbal conduct that:
  (a) Is made in the conduct of or in the course of participating in, continuing, or reconvening for a collaborative law process; and
  (b) Occurs after the parties sign a collaborative law participation agreement and before the collaborative law process is concluded or terminated. See Florida Statutes 61.56
• Collaborative law participation agreement: means an agreement between persons to participate in a collaborative law process. See Florida Statutes 61.56
• Collaborative law process: means a process intended to resolve a collaborative matter without intervention by a tribunal and in which persons sign a collaborative law participation agreement and are represented by collaborative attorneys. See Florida Statutes 61.56
• Collaborative matter: means a dispute, a transaction, a claim, a problem, or an issue for resolution, including a dispute, a claim, or an issue in a proceeding which is described in a collaborative law participation agreement and arises under chapter 61 or chapter 742, including, but not limited to:
  (a) Marriage, divorce, dissolution, annulment, and marital property distribution. See Florida Statutes 61.56
• 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.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Department: means the Department of Revenue. See Florida Statutes 61.046
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Nonparty participant: means a person, other than a party and the party's collaborative attorney, who participates in a collaborative law process. See Florida Statutes 61.56
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• oath: includes affirmations. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Parenting plan: means a document created to govern the relationship between the parents relating to decisions that must be made regarding the minor child and must contain a time-sharing schedule for the parents and child. See Florida Statutes 61.046
• 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 a person who signs a collaborative law participation agreement and whose consent is necessary to resolve a collaborative matter. See Florida Statutes 61.56
• Person: means an individual; a corporation; a business trust; an estate; a trust; a partnership; a limited liability company; an association; a joint venture; a public corporation; a government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality; or any other legal or commercial entity. See Florida Statutes 61.56
• Proceeding: means a judicial, an administrative, an arbitral, or any other adjudicative process before a tribunal, including related prehearing and posthearing motions, conferences, and discovery. See Florida Statutes 61.56
• 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 Florida Statutes 61.56
• Related to a collaborative matter: means involving the same parties, transaction or occurrence, nucleus of operative fact, dispute, claim, or issue as the collaborative matter. See Florida Statutes 61.56
• 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.
• 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.
• Sign: means , with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record, to:
  (a) Execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or
  (b) Attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic symbol, sound, or process. See Florida Statutes 61.56
• Tribunal: means a court, an arbitrator, an administrative agency, or other body acting in an adjudicative capacity which, after presentation of evidence or legal argument, has jurisdiction to render a decision affecting a party's interests in a matter. See Florida Statutes 61.56