Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws > Chapter 16-16 - Teachers' Retirement

• 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.
• 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.
• 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
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• 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}
• Beneficiary: means any person in receipt of annuity, benefit, or retirement allowance from the retirement system as provided in this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 16-16-1
• Child: includes a stepchild of a deceased member who has been a stepchild for at least one year immediately preceding the date on which the member died or an adopted child of a deceased member without regard to the length of time the child has been adopted. See Rhode Island General Laws 16-16-1
• compensation: includes any and all salary paid for teaching services regardless of whether any part of the salary or compensation is derived from any state or federal grant or appropriation for teachers' salaries, as the term is defined in § 36-8-1(8). See Rhode Island General Laws 16-16-1
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• 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.
• Former spouse divorced: means a person divorced from a deceased member, but only if the person meets one of the following conditions:

  (i)  Is the mother or father of the deceased member's child(ren);

  (ii)  Legally adopted the deceased member's child(ren) while married to the deceased member and while the child(ren) was under the age of eighteen (18) years;

  (iii)  Was married to the deceased member at the time both of them legally adopted a child(ren) under the age of eighteen (18) years; or

  (iv)  Was married to the deceased member for ten (10) or more years and to whom the deceased member was required by a court order to contribute post-divorce support. See Rhode Island General Laws 16-16-1

• in writing: include printing, engraving, lithographing, and photo-lithographing, and all other representations of words in letters of the usual form. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-16
• 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.
• Member: means any person included in the membership of the retirement system under the provisions of this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 16-16-1
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• 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 be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
• Prior service: means service as a teacher rendered prior to the first day of July, 1949, certified on the teacher's prior service certificate and allowable as prior service under the provisions of this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 16-16-1
• Retired teacher: means any teacher who retired prior to July 1, 1949, pursuant to the provisions of G. See Rhode Island General Laws 16-16-1
• Service: means service as a teacher as described in subdivision (12) of this section. See Rhode Island General Laws 16-16-1
• Spouse: means the surviving person who was married to a deceased member, but only if the surviving person meets one of the following conditions:

  (i)  Was married to the deceased member for not less than one year immediately prior to the date on which the member died;

  (ii)  Is the mother or father of the deceased member's child(ren);

  (iii)  Legally adopted the deceased member's child(ren) while married to the deceased member and while the child(ren) was under the age of eighteen (18) years; or

  (iv)  Was married to the deceased member at the time both of them legally adopted a child(ren) under the age of eighteen (18) years. See Rhode Island General Laws 16-16-1

• system: means the employees' retirement system of the state of Rhode Island created by chapter 8 of Title 36, and "retirement board" means the board established under that chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 16-16-1
• Teacher: means a person required to hold a certificate of qualification issued by or under the authority of the board of regents for elementary and secondary education and who is engaged in teaching as their principal occupation and is regularly employed as a teacher in the public schools of any city or town in the state, or any formalized, commissioner approved, cooperative service arrangement. See Rhode Island General Laws 16-16-1
• Teaching: includes teaching, supervising, and superintending or assistant superintending of schools. See Rhode Island General Laws 16-16-1
• Total service: means prior service as defined in subdivision (6) of this section, plus service rendered as a member of the system on or after the first day of July, 1949. See Rhode Island General Laws 16-16-1
• town: may be construed to include city; the words "town council" include city council; the words "town clerk" include city clerk; the words "ward clerk" include clerk of election district; the words "town treasurer" include city treasurer; and the words "town sergeant" include city sergeant. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-9
• United States: include the several states and the territories of the United States. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-8