Terms Used In Nevada Revised Statutes > Chapter 435 - Persons with Intellectual Disabilities and Developmental Disabilities

• Administrative officer: means a person with overall executive and administrative responsibility for those state or nonstate intellectual and developmental disability centers designated by the Administrator. See Nevada Revised Statutes 435.007
• Administrator: means the Administrator of the Division. See Nevada Revised Statutes 435.007
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• 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.
• 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.
• Capital offense: A crime punishable by death.
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• Charge to the jury: The judge's instructions to the jury concerning the law that applies to the facts of the case on trial.
• Child: means any person under the age of 18 years who may be eligible for intellectual disability services or developmental disability services. See Nevada Revised Statutes 435.007
• Client: means a person who receives advice from a financial planner. See Nevada Revised Statutes 628A.010
• Compensation: means a fee for services provided by a financial planner to a client or a commission or other remuneration derived by a financial planner from a person other than the client as the result of the purchase of a good or service by the client. See Nevada Revised Statutes 628A.010
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• controlled substance: means a drug, immediate precursor or other substance which is listed in schedule I, II, III, IV or V for control by the State Board of Pharmacy pursuant to Nevada Revised Statutes 0.031
• 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: includes Carson City. See Nevada Revised Statutes 0.033
• Court reporter: A person who makes a word-for-word record of what is said in court and produces a transcript of the proceedings upon request.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department of Health and Human Services. See Nevada Revised Statutes 435.007
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• Developmental disability: means autism, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder or any other neurological condition diagnosed by a qualified professional that:

  (a) Is manifested before the person affected attains the age of 22 years;

  (b) Is likely to continue indefinitely;

  (c) Results in substantial functional limitations, as measured by a qualified professional, in three or more of the following areas of major life activity:

  (1) Taking care of oneself;

  (2) Understanding and use of language;

  (3) Learning;

  (4) Mobility;

  (5) Self-direction; and

  (6) Capacity for independent living; and

  (d) Results in the person affected requiring a combination of individually planned and coordinated services, support or other assistance that is lifelong or has an extended duration. See Nevada Revised Statutes 435.007

• 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:
• Division: means the Aging and Disability Services Division of the Department. See Nevada Revised Statutes 435.007
• Division facility: means any unit or subunit operated by the Division for the care, treatment and training of consumers. See Nevada Revised Statutes 435.007
• 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}
• 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.
• Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: has the meaning ascribed to it in Nevada Revised Statutes 435.007
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Financial planner: means a person who for compensation advises others upon the investment of money or upon provision for income to be needed in the future, or who holds himself or herself out as qualified to perform either of these functions, but does not include:

  (a) An attorney and counselor at law admitted by the Supreme Court of this State;

  (b) A certified public accountant who holds a certificate issued pursuant to Nevada Revised Statutes 628A.010

• 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.
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• 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,
• 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.
• Habeas corpus: A writ that is usually used to bring a prisoner before the court to determine the legality of his imprisonment. It may also be used to bring a person in custody before the court to give testimony, or to be prosecuted.
• 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.
• Intellectual and developmental disability center: means an organized program for providing appropriate services and treatment to persons with intellectual disabilities and persons with developmental disabilities. See Nevada Revised Statutes 435.007
• Intellectual disability: means significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period. See Nevada Revised Statutes 435.007
• Interrogatories: Written questions asked by one party of an opposing party, who must answer them in writing under oath; a discovery device in a lawsuit.
• 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.
• Juror: A person who is on the jury.
• 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.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Medical director: means the chief medical officer of any program of the Division for persons with intellectual disabilities or developmental disabilities. See Nevada Revised Statutes 435.007
• Mental illness: has the meaning ascribed to it in Nevada Revised Statutes 435.007
• Mistrial: An invalid trial, caused by fundamental error. When a mistrial is declared, the trial must start again from the selection of the jury.
• 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.
• Parent: means the parent of a child. See Nevada Revised Statutes 435.007
• 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: includes a child and any other consumer with an intellectual disability and a child or any other consumer with a developmental disability who has attained the age of 18 years. See Nevada Revised Statutes 435.007
• person: means a natural person, any form of business or social organization and any other nongovernmental legal entity including, but not limited to, a corporation, partnership, association, trust or unincorporated organization. See Nevada Revised Statutes 0.039
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• physician: means a person who engages in the practice of medicine, including osteopathy and homeopathy. See Nevada Revised Statutes 0.040
• 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.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Preliminary hearing: A hearing where the judge decides whether there is enough evidence to make the defendant have a trial.
• Public defender: Represent defendants who can't afford an attorney in criminal matters.
• 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.
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Residential facility for groups: means a structure similar to a private residence which will house a small number of persons in a homelike atmosphere. See Nevada Revised Statutes 435.007
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• retailer: has the meaning ascribed to it in Nevada Revised Statutes 360.005
• 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.
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• substantial bodily harm: means :

  1. See Nevada Revised Statutes 0.060

• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Training: means a program of services directed primarily toward enhancing the health, welfare and development of persons with intellectual disabilities or persons with developmental disabilities through the process of providing those experiences that will enable the person to:

  (a) Develop his or her physical, intellectual, social and emotional capacities to the fullest extent;

  (b) Live in an environment that is conducive to personal dignity; and

  (c) Continue development of those skills, habits and attitudes essential to adaptation in contemporary society. See Nevada Revised Statutes 435.007

• 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.
• Treatment: means any combination of procedures or activities, of whatever level of intensity and whatever duration, ranging from occasional counseling sessions to full-time admission to a residential facility. See Nevada Revised Statutes 435.007
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Voir dire: The process by which judges and lawyers select a petit jury from among those eligible to serve, by questioning them to determine knowledge of the facts of the case and a willingness to decide the case only on the evidence presented in court. "Voir dire" is a phrase meaning "to speak the truth."
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.