Terms Used In New York Laws > Abandoned Property > Article 2 - Escheat of Real Property

• 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.
• 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.
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• 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.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• 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
• Arraignment: A proceeding in which an individual who is accused of committing a crime is brought into court, told of the charges, and asked to plead guilty or not guilty.
• 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.
• athletic trainer: means any person who is duly certified in accordance with this article to perform athletic training under the supervision of a physician and limits his or her practice to secondary schools, institutions of postsecondary education, professional athletic organizations, or a person who, under the supervision of a physician, carries out comparable functions on orthopedic athletic injuries, excluding spinal cord injuries, in a health care organization. See N.Y. Education Law 8351
• 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.
• 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}
• Benefit corporation: means a business corporation incorporated under this article and whose status as a benefit corporation has not been terminated as provided in this article. See N.Y. Business Corporation Law 1702
• 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.
• 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.
• 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: shall mean any county in this state, except a county wholly within a city. See N.Y. Tax Law 1215
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• 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.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Design professional: means an individual licensed and registered pursuant to title eight of the education law to practice professional engineering, architecture, landscape architecture, geology or land surveying. See N.Y. Business Corporation Law 1501
• Design professional service corporation: means a corporation organized under this article practicing professional engineering, architecture, landscape architecture, geology, or land surveying, or practicing any combination of such professions. See N.Y. Business Corporation Law 1501
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• 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}
• Equity security: means any stock, bond, or other obligation of a target company, the holder of which has the right to vote for the election of members of the board of directors, or those exercising a similar function if the target company is not a corporation, of such target company. See N.Y. Business Corporation Law 1601
• Escheat: Reversion of real or personal property to the state when 1) a person dies without leaving a will and has no heirs, or 2) when the property (such as a bank account) has been inactive for a certain period of time. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Executive mansion: shall mean the lands and structures constituting the executive residence of the governor at 138 Eagle Street in Albany, New York. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 54.03
• 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.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• 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.
• Foreign professional service corporation: means a professional service corporation, whether or not denominated as such, organized under the laws of a jurisdiction other than this state, all of the shareholders, directors and officers of which are authorized and licensed to practice the profession for which such corporation is licensed to do business; except that all shareholders, directors and officers of a foreign professional service corporation which provides health services in this state shall be licensed in this state. See N.Y. Business Corporation Law 1525
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• General public benefit: means a material positive impact on society and the environment, taken as a whole, assessed against a third-party standard, from the business and operations of a benefit corporation. See N.Y. Business Corporation Law 1702
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• 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.
• 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}
• Independent: means that a person has no material relationship with a benefit corporation or any of its subsidiaries. See N.Y. Business Corporation Law 1702
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• 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}
• 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}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• licensing authority: means the regents of the university of the state of New York or the state education department, as the case may be, in the case of all professions licensed under title eight of the education law, and the appropriate appellate division of the supreme court in the case of the profession of law. See N.Y. Business Corporation Law 1501
• Licensing authority: means the regents of the university of the state of New York or the state education department, as the case may be, in the case of all professions licensed under title eight of the education law, and the appropriate appellate division of the supreme court in the case of the profession of law. See N.Y. Business Corporation Law 1525
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Minimum status vote: means that, in addition to any other approval or vote required by this chapter, the certificate of incorporation or a bylaw adopted by the shareholders:
  
  (1) The holders of shares of every class or series that are entitled to vote on the corporate action shall be entitled to vote as a class on the corporate action; and
  
  (2) The corporate action must be approved by vote of the shareholders of each class or series entitled to cast at least three-quarters of the votes that all shareholders of the class or series are entitled to cast thereon. See N.Y. Business Corporation Law 1702
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• 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.
• Offeree: means the beneficial owner, residing in this state, of securities which an offeror acquires or offers to acquire in connection with a takeover bid. See N.Y. Business Corporation Law 1601
• offeror: includes an issuer of securities whose securities are or are to be the subject of a takeover bid whether or not the issuer, upon acquisition, will become the beneficial owner of such securities. See N.Y. Business Corporation Law 1601
• Other business entity: means any person other than a natural person, general partnership or a domestic or foreign business corporation, and includes a professional service limited liability company formed pursuant to the provisions of the New York limited liability company law. See N.Y. Business Corporation Law 1501
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• 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.
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Petty offense: A federal misdemeanor punishable by six months or less in prison. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• 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.
• population: shall mean the number of people in the particular taxing jurisdiction as shown by the latest federal census. See N.Y. Tax Law 1215
• 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.
• 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.
• Profession: includes any practice as an attorney and counselor-at-law, or as a licensed physician, and those occupations designated in title eight of the education law. See N.Y. Business Corporation Law 1501
• Profession: includes any practice as an attorney and counsellor-at-law, or as a licensed physician, and those professions designated in title eight of the education law. See N.Y. Business Corporation Law 1525
• Professional service: means any type of service to the public which may be lawfully rendered by a member of a profession within the purview of his or her profession. See N.Y. Business Corporation Law 1501
• Professional service: means any type of service to the public which may be lawfully rendered by a member of a profession within the purview of his profession. See N.Y. Business Corporation Law 1525
• Professional service corporation: means a corporation organized under this article. See N.Y. Business Corporation Law 1501
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Specific public benefit: includes :
  
  (1) providing low-income or underserved individuals or communities with beneficial products or services;
  
  (2) promoting economic opportunity for individuals or communities beyond the creation of jobs in the normal course of business;
  
  (3) preserving the environment;
  
  (4) improving human health;
  
  (5) promoting the arts, sciences or advancement of knowledge;
  
  (6) increasing the flow of capital to entities with a public benefit purpose; and
  
  (7) the accomplishment of any other particular benefit for society or the environment. See N.Y. Business Corporation Law 1702
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Takeover bid: means the acquisition of or offer to acquire by an offeror from an offeree, pursuant to a tender offer or request or invitation for tenders, any equity security of a target company, if after acquisition thereof the offeror would, directly or indirectly, be a beneficial owner of more than five percent of any class of the issued and outstanding equity securities of such target company. See N.Y. Business Corporation Law 1601
• Target company: means a corporation, organized under the laws of this state and having its principal executive offices or significant business operations located within this state. See N.Y. Business Corporation Law 1601
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Third-party standard: means a recognized standard for defining, reporting and assessing general public benefit that is:
  
  (1) developed by a person that is independent of the benefit corporation; and
  
  (2) transparent because the following information about the standard is publicly available:
  
  (A) the factors considered when measuring the performance of a business;
  
  (B) the relative weightings of those factors; and
  
  (C) the identity of the persons who developed and control changes to the standard and the process by which those changes are made. See N.Y. Business Corporation Law 1702
• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trust: shall mean the trust created by section 54. See N.Y. Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 54.03
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.