Terms Used In Montana Code > Title 2 > Chapter 6 > Part 10 - General Provisions

• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• 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.
• 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.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• 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}
• Biodiesel: has the meaning provided in 15-70-401. See Montana Code 15-24-3102
• Biogas: means methane gas produced through controlled biochemical processes in which bacteria digest animal, municipal, or other organic wastes in an oxygen-free environment. See Montana Code 15-24-3102
• Biomass: means any renewable organic matter, including dedicated energy crops and trees, agricultural food and feed crops, agricultural crop wastes and residues, wood wastes and residues, aquatic plants, animal wastes, municipal wastes, and other organic waste materials. See Montana Code 15-24-3102
• Carbon sequestration: means the long-term storage of carbon dioxide from a plant or facility that produces or captures carbon dioxide, as defined in 15-6-158, in geologic formations, including but not limited to deep saline formations, basalt or oil shale formations, depleted oil and gas reservoirs, unminable coal beds, and closed-loop enhanced oil recovery operations. See Montana Code 15-24-3102
• Clean advanced coal research and development equipment: means equipment used primarily for research and development of emerging methods for pollution control, carbon capture, and carbon sequestration. See Montana Code 15-24-3102
• Coal gasification: means a process that converts coal into a synthesis gas composed of carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and other gases. See Montana Code 15-24-3102
• Coal-to-liquid facility: means improvements and personal property used for the production of synthetic liquid fuels from coal. See Montana Code 15-24-3102
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Confidential information: means information that is accorded confidential status or is prohibited from disclosure as provided by applicable law. See Montana Code 2-6-1002
• Constitutional officer: means the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, superintendent of public instruction, or auditor, who are the constitutionally designated and elected officials of the executive branch of government. See Montana Code 2-6-1002
• Constitutional officer record: means a public record prepared, owned, used, or retained by a constitutional officer. See Montana Code 2-6-1002
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• 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.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Department: means the department of revenue provided for in 2-15-1301. See Montana Code 15-30-3102
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Donation: means a gift of cash. See Montana Code 15-30-3102
• Donee: The recipient of a gift.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Electronic funds transfer: The transfer of money between accounts by consumer electronic systems-such as automated teller machines (ATMs) and electronic payment of bills-rather than by check or cash. (Wire transfers, checks, drafts, and paper instruments do not fall into this category.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Eligible student: means a student who is a Montana resident and who is 5 years of age or older on or before September 10 of the year of attendance and has not yet reached 19 years of age. See Montana Code 15-30-3102
• Ethanol: means nominally anhydrous ethyl alcohol that has been denatured as specified in 27 CFR, parts 20 and 21, and that meets the standards for ethanol adopted pursuant to 82-15-103. See Montana Code 15-24-3102
• 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 branch agency: means a department, board, commission, office, bureau, or other public authority of the executive branch of state government. See Montana Code 2-6-1002
• 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.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• 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.
• Historic record: means a public record found by the state archivist to have permanent administrative or historic value to the state. See Montana Code 2-6-1002
• Innovative educational program: includes any of the following:

  (a)transformational learning as defined in 20-7-1602;

  (b)advanced opportunity as defined in 20-7-1503;

  (c)any program, service, instructional methodology, or adaptive equipment used to expand opportunity for a child with a disability as defined in 20-7-401;

  (d)any courses provided through work-based learning partnerships or for postsecondary credit or career certification;

  (e)technology enhancements, including but not limited to any expenditure incurred for purposes specified in 20-9-533; and

  (f)capital improvements and equipment necessary to support an innovative educational program. See Montana Code 15-30-3102

• Intangible property: Property that has no intrinsic value, but is merely the evidence of value such as stock certificates, bonds, and promissory notes.
• Integrated gasification combined cycle facility: means improvements and personal property of an electrical generation facility that uses a coal gasification process and routes synthesis gas to a combustion turbine to generate electricity and captures the heat from the combustion to drive a steam turbine to produce more electricity. See Montana Code 15-24-3102
• 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.
• Knowingly: means only a knowledge that the facts exist which bring the act or omission within the provisions of this code. See Montana Code 1-1-204
• 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}
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Life estate: A property interest limited in duration to the life of the individual holding the interest (life tenant).
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Local government: means a city, town, county, consolidated city-county, special district, or school district or a subdivision of one of these entities. See Montana Code 2-6-1002
• Local government records committee: means the committee provided for in 2-6-1201. See Montana Code 2-6-1002
• 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.
• 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.
• Pass-through entity: has the meaning provided in 15-30-2101. See Montana Code 15-30-3102
• Person: includes a corporation or other entity as well as a natural person. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Personal property: means money, goods, chattels, things in action, and evidences of debt. See Montana Code 1-1-205
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• 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.
• principal business: means a renewable energy manufacturing facility with at least 50%, by value, of its annual production suitable for sale as renewable energy material, component parts, systems, or similar equipment. See Montana Code 15-24-3102
• Printing: means the act of reproducing a design on a surface by any process. See Montana Code 1-1-203
• Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See Montana Code 1-1-202
• Property: means real and personal property. See Montana Code 1-1-205
• Public agency: means the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of Montana state government, a political subdivision of the state, a local government, and any agency, department, board, commission, office, bureau, division, or other public authority of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the state of Montana. See Montana Code 2-6-1002
• Public information: means information prepared, owned, used, or retained by any public agency relating to the transaction of official business, regardless of form, except for confidential information that must be protected against public disclosure under applicable law. See Montana Code 2-6-1002
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Public officer: means any person who has been elected or appointed as an officer of state or local government. See Montana Code 2-6-1002
• Public record: means public information that is:

  (a)fixed in any medium and is retrievable in usable form for future reference; and

  (b)designated for retention by the state records committee, judicial branch, legislative branch, or local government records committee. See Montana Code 2-6-1002

• Qualified education provider: means an education provider that:

  (a)is not a public school;

  (b)(i) is accredited, has applied for accreditation, or is provisionally accredited by a state, regional, or national accreditation organization; or

  (ii)is a nonaccredited provider or tutor and has informed the child's parents or legal guardian in writing at the time of enrollment that the provider is not accredited and is not seeking accreditation;

  (c)is not a home school as referred to in 20-5-102(2)(e);

  (d)satisfies the health and safety requirements prescribed by law for private schools in this state; and

  (e)qualifies for an exemption from compulsory enrollment under 20-5-102(2)(e) and 20-5-109. See Montana Code 15-30-3102

• Real property: means lands, tenements, hereditaments, and possessory title to public lands. See Montana Code 1-1-205
• 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.
• Renewable diesel: means a biomass-derived fuel that is suitable for use in diesel engines that is hydrocarbon produced by hydrotreating and also through gasification, pyrolysis, or other biochemical and thermochemical technology, or any combination of these technologies. See Montana Code 15-24-3102
• Renewable energy: includes the following:

  (a)solar energy;

  (b)wind energy;

  (c)geothermal energy;

  (d)energy from the conversion of biomass;

  (e)energy from biogas;

  (f)energy from fuel cells that do not require a petroleum-based fuel;

  (g)energy from waste heat; and

  (h)cellulosic ethanol. See Montana Code 15-24-3102

• Renewable energy manufacturing facility: means improvements and personal property used by a facility with its principal business being the manufacturing of material, component parts, systems, or similar equipment for use in facilities that convert renewable energy into forms of energy useful to people, including electricity. See Montana Code 15-24-3102
• Renewable energy research and development equipment: means equipment used primarily for research and development of the efficient use of renewable energy sources. See Montana Code 15-24-3102
• 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.
• Several: means two or more. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Small business corporation: has the meaning provided in 15-30-3301. See Montana Code 15-30-3102
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• State records committee: means the state records committee provided for in 2-6-1107. See Montana Code 2-6-1002
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Student scholarship organization: means a charitable organization in this state that:

  (a)is exempt from federal income taxation under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U. See Montana Code 15-30-3102

• Sustainable aviation fuel: means an aviation fuel derived from renewable resources that enables a reduction in net life cycle carbon dioxide emissions compared to conventional fuels. See Montana Code 15-24-3102
• Taxpayer: has the meaning provided in 15-30-2101. See Montana Code 15-30-3102
• 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.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. ^{Source: OCC}
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Writing: includes printing. See Montana Code 1-1-203