Terms Used In Florida Statutes > Chapter 125 > Part IV - Optional County Charters

• Abandoned: means a situation in which the parent or person having legal custody of a child, while being able, makes little or no provision for the child's support or makes little or no effort to communicate with the child, which situation is sufficient to evince an intent to reject parental responsibilities. See Florida Statutes 63.032
• Adoption: means the act of creating the legal relationship between parent and child where it did not exist, thereby declaring the child to be legally the child of the adoptive parents and their heir at law and entitled to all the rights and privileges and subject to all the obligations of a child born to such adoptive parents in lawful wedlock. See Florida Statutes 63.032
• Adoption entity: means the department, a child-caring agency registered under…. See Florida Statutes 63.032
• Adoption plan: means an arrangement made by a birth parent or other individual having a legal right to custody of a minor, born or to be born, with an adoption entity in furtherance of placing the minor for adoption. See Florida Statutes 63.032
• Adult: means a person who is not a minor. See Florida Statutes 63.032
• Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
• 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.
• Agency: means any child-placing agency licensed by the department pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 63.032
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• 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
• Child: means any unmarried person under the age of 18 years who has not been emancipated by court order. See Florida Statutes 63.032
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• County charter: means the charter by which county government in this state may exercise all powers of local self-government not inconsistent with general law and as adopted by a vote of the electors of the county. See Florida Statutes 125.81
• Court: means a circuit court of this state and, if the context requires, the court of any state that is empowered to grant petitions for adoption. See Florida Statutes 63.032
• Department: means the Department of Children and Families. See Florida Statutes 63.032
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• 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.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• 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.
• Intermediary: means an attorney who is licensed or authorized to practice in this state and who is placing or intends to place a child for adoption, including placing children born in another state with citizens of this state or country or placing children born in this state with citizens of another state or country. See Florida Statutes 63.032
• 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.
• Legal custody: has the meaning ascribed in…. See Florida Statutes 63.032
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• minor: includes any person who has not attained the age of 18 years. See Florida Statutes 1.01
• Officer: means all officials of county government operating under a charter which shall be provided in the charter. See Florida Statutes 125.81
• Parent: means a woman who gives birth to a child and who is not a gestational surrogate as defined in…. See Florida Statutes 63.032
• Person: includes a natural person, corporation, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, or association, and any other legal entity. See Florida Statutes 63.032
• Placement: means the process of a parent or legal guardian surrendering a child for adoption and the prospective adoptive parents receiving and adopting the child and all actions by any adoption entity participating in placing the child. See Florida Statutes 63.032
• Preliminary hearing: A hearing where the judge decides whether there is enough evidence to make the defendant have a trial.
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Relative: means a person related by blood to the person being adopted within the third degree of consanguinity. See Florida Statutes 63.032
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Unmarried biological father: means the child's biological father who is not married to the child's mother at the time of conception or on the date of the birth of the child and who, before the filing of a petition to terminate parental rights, has not been adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction to be the legal father of the child or has not filed an affidavit pursuant to…. See Florida Statutes 63.032
• 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.
• writing: includes handwriting, printing, typewriting, and all other methods and means of forming letters and characters upon paper, stone, wood, or other materials. See Florida Statutes 1.01