Missouri Laws 404.703 – Definitions
As used in sections 404.700 to 404.735 the following terms mean:
(1) “Attorney in fact”, an individual or corporation appointed to act as agent of a principal in a written power of attorney;
Terms Used In Missouri Laws 404.703
- 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.
- Decedent: A deceased person.
- following: when used by way of reference to any section of the statutes, mean the section next preceding or next following that in which the reference is made, unless some other section is expressly designated in the reference. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- 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.
- 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.
- person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, and to partnerships and other unincorporated associations. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- 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
- Probate: Proving a will
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
(2) “Court”, the circuit court including the probate division of the circuit court;
(3) “Disabled” or “incapacitated”, a person who is wholly or partially disabled or incapacitated as defined in section 475.010 or in a similar law of the place having jurisdiction of the person whose capacity is in question;
(4) “Durable power of attorney”, a written power of attorney in which the authority of the attorney in fact does not terminate in the event the principal becomes disabled or incapacitated or in the event of later uncertainty as to whether the principal is dead or alive and which complies with subsection 1 of section 404.705 or is durable under the laws of any of the following places:
(a) The law of the place where executed;
(b) The law of the place of the residence of the principal when executed; or
(c) The law of a place designated in the written power of attorney if that place has a reasonable relationship to the purpose of the instrument;
(5) “Legal representative”, a decedent‘s personal representative, a guardian of a person or the conservator of the estate of a person, whether denominated as general, limited or temporary, or a person legally authorized to perform substantially the same functions;
(6) “Person”, an individual, corporation, or other legal entity;
(7) “Personal representative”, a legal representative of a decedent’s estate as defined in section 472.010;
(8) “Power of attorney”, a written power of attorney, either durable or not durable;
(9) “Principal’s family”, the principal’s parent, grandparent, uncle, aunt, brother, sister, son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter and their descendants, whether of the whole blood or the half blood, or by adoption, and the principal’s spouse, stepparent and stepchild;
(10) “Third person”, any individual, corporation or legal entity that acts on a request from, contracts with, relies on or otherwise deals with an attorney in fact pursuant to authority granted by a principal in a power of attorney and includes a partnership, either general or limited, governmental agency, financial institution, issuer of securities, transfer agent, securities or commodities broker, real estate broker, title insurance company, insurance company, benefit plan, legal representative, custodian or trustee.