Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 20 > Chapter 3 - Divorce

• Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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
• Area of operation: means the area within the territorial boundaries of the counties entitled to representation on an authority which consists of both the real property to be disposed of by an authority as well as any other properties disposed of directly by the federal government to public or private persons or entities, other than disposal to the federal government for other defense uses, in connection with military installation closure and realignment or other federal defense site closure, realignment, or drastic downsizing, together with such areas of the surrounding community as may need planning for infrastructure improvements to support the redevelopment project area. See South Carolina Code 31-12-30
• Area of operation: means the area within the territorial boundaries of the municipality or municipalities for which a particular commission is created. See South Carolina Code 31-10-20
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Authority: means a redevelopment authority created pursuant to § 31-12-40. See South Carolina Code 31-12-30
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Blighted area: means any improved or vacant area where if improved, industrial, commercial, and residential buildings or improvements, because of a combination of five or more of the following factors: age; dilapidation; obsolescence; deterioration; illegal use of individual structures; presence of structures below minimum code standards; excessive vacancies; overcrowding of structures and community facilities; lack of ventilation, light, or sanitary facilities; inadequate utilities; excessive land coverage; deleterious land use or layout; depreciation of physical maintenance; lack of community planning, are detrimental to the public safety, health, morals, or welfare or, if vacant, the sound growth is impaired by (a) a combination of two or more of the following factors: obsolete platting of the vacant land; diversity of ownership of such land; tax and special assessment delinquencies on such land; deterioration of structures or site improvements in neighboring areas adjacent to the vacant land; or (b) the area immediately prior to becoming vacant qualified as a blighted area. See South Carolina Code 31-10-20
• Bonds: means any bonds, interim certificates, notes, debentures or other obligations of a commission issued pursuant to this chapter. See South Carolina Code 31-10-20
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Commission: means a public body and a body corporate and politic created and organized in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. See South Carolina Code 31-10-20
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Conservation area: means any improved area that is not yet a blighted area but, because of a combination of three or more of the following factors: dilapidation; obsolescence; deterioration; illegal use of structures; presence of structures below minimum code standards; abandonment; excessive vacancies; overcrowding of structures and community facilities; lack of ventilation, light, or sanitary facilities; inadequate utilities; excessive land coverage; depreciation of physical maintenance; or lack of community planning, is detrimental to the public safety, health, morals, or welfare and may become a blighted area. See South Carolina Code 31-10-20
• 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.
• 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.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Dower: A widow
• 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.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• 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.
• Governing body: means in the legislative body of a municipality. See South Carolina Code 31-10-20
• Government: means the state and federal governments or any subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of either of them. See South Carolina Code 31-10-20
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Intangible property: Property that has no intrinsic value, but is merely the evidence of value such as stock certificates, bonds, and promissory notes.
• 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.
• 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.
• marital property: as used in this article means all real and personal property which has been acquired by the parties during the marriage and which is owned as of the date of filing or commencement of marital litigation as provided in § 20-3-620 regardless of how legal title is held, except the following, which constitute nonmarital property:
  
  (1) property acquired by either party by inheritance, devise, bequest, or gift from a party other than the spouse;
  
  (2) property acquired by either party before the marriage and property acquired after the happening of the earliest of:
  
  (a) entry of a pendente lite order in a divorce or separate maintenance action;
  
  (b) formal signing of a written property or marital settlement agreement; or
  
  (c) entry of a permanent order of separate maintenance and support or of a permanent order approving a property or marital settlement agreement between the parties;
  
  (3) property acquired by either party in exchange for property described in items (1) and (2) of this section;
  
  (4) property excluded by written contract of the parties. See South Carolina Code 20-3-630
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Municipality: means an incorporated municipality of this State. See South Carolina Code 31-12-30
• Municipality: means any incorporated city or town or any county. See South Carolina Code 31-10-20
• 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.
• Obligations: means bonds, notes, or other evidence of indebtedness issued by the municipality to carry out a redevelopment project or to refund outstanding obligations. See South Carolina Code 31-12-30
• obligee: means any bondholder, trustee or trustees for any bondholders, any lessor demising property to a commission used in connection with a redevelopment project, or any assignees of such lessor's interest, or any part thereof, and the federal government, when it is a party to any contract with a commission. See South Carolina Code 31-10-20
• Parent municipality: means the municipality or municipalities creating a commission. See South Carolina Code 31-10-20
• 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: includes all goods, classified as equipment, used or bought for use primarily in the operation of the federal defense facility, not to include inventory, consumer goods, or farm products, as defined in §§ 36-2-105 and 36-9-109. See South Carolina Code 31-12-30
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Persons engaged in national defense activities: shall include , without limiting the generality thereof, enlisted men in the military and naval services of the United States and employees of the Department of Defense assigned to duty at military or naval reservations, posts or bases, workers engaged or to be engaged in industries connected with and essential to the national defense program and the families of the aforesaid persons who are living with them;
  
  (2) "Persons of low income" shall mean persons or families who lack the amount of income which is necessary (as determined by the housing authority undertaking the housing project) to enable them, without financial assistance, to live in decent, safe and sanitary dwellings, without overcrowding;
  
  (3) "Development" shall mean any and all undertakings necessary for the planning, land acquisition, demolition, financing, construction or equipment in connection with a project, including the negotiation or award of contracts therefor, and shall include the acquisition of any project, in whole or in part, from the Federal Government;
  
  (4) "Administration" shall mean any and all undertakings necessary for management, operation or maintenance in connection with any project and shall include the leasing of any project, in whole or in part, from the Federal Government;
  
  (5) "Federal Government" shall mean the United States of America or any agency or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of the United States of America;
  
  (6) The development of such projects shall be deemed to be "initiated" if a housing authority has issued bonds, notes or other obligations with respect to the financing of such project of the housing authority or has contracted with the Federal Government with respect to the exercise of powers hereunder in the development of such project of the Federal Government for which an allocation of funds has been made or approved during a period of war or national emergency declared by the President or Congress of the United States; and
  
  (7) "Housing authority" shall mean any housing authority established or hereafter established pursuant to this chapter and Chapter 3. See South Carolina Code 31-11-10
• Persons of low income: shall mean persons or families who lack the amount of income which is necessary (as determined by the housing authority undertaking the housing project) to enable them, without financial assistance, to live in decent, safe and sanitary dwellings, without overcrowding;
  
  (3) "Development" shall mean any and all undertakings necessary for the planning, land acquisition, demolition, financing, construction or equipment in connection with a project, including the negotiation or award of contracts therefor, and shall include the acquisition of any project, in whole or in part, from the Federal Government;
  
  (4) "Administration" shall mean any and all undertakings necessary for management, operation or maintenance in connection with any project and shall include the leasing of any project, in whole or in part, from the Federal Government;
  
  (5) "Federal Government" shall mean the United States of America or any agency or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of the United States of America;
  
  (6) The development of such projects shall be deemed to be "initiated" if a housing authority has issued bonds, notes or other obligations with respect to the financing of such project of the housing authority or has contracted with the Federal Government with respect to the exercise of powers hereunder in the development of such project of the Federal Government for which an allocation of funds has been made or approved during a period of war or national emergency declared by the President or Congress of the United States; and
  
  (7) "Housing authority" shall mean any housing authority established or hereafter established pursuant to this chapter and Chapter 3. See South Carolina Code 31-11-10
• 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.
• 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.
• Probate: Proving a will
• 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.
• Real property: includes all property assessed under authority of § 12-4-540 when the term is used in this chapter with regard to tax increment financing. See South Carolina Code 31-12-30
• Recess: A temporary interruption of the legislative business.
• Redeveloper: means any individual, partnership, or public or private corporation that shall enter or propose to enter into a contract with a commission for the redevelopment of all or any part of a redevelopment area under the provisions of this chapter. See South Carolina Code 31-10-20
• Redevelopment: means the acquisition, replanning, clearance, rehabilitation or rebuilding of an area for residential, recreational, commercial, industrial or other purposes, including the provision of streets, utilities, parks, recreational areas and other open spaces; provided, without limiting the generality thereof, the term "redevelopment" may include a program of repair and rehabilitation of buildings and other improvements, and may include the exercise of any powers under this chapter with respect to the area for which such program is undertaken. See South Carolina Code 31-10-20
• Redevelopment area: means any area that a commission may find to be a blighted area, a conservation area, or any combination thereof, so as to require redevelopment under the provisions of this chapter. See South Carolina Code 31-10-20
• Redevelopment contract: means a contract between a commission and a redeveloper for redevelopment under the provisions of this chapter. See South Carolina Code 31-10-20
• Redevelopment plan: means a plan for the redevelopment of a redevelopment area made by a commission in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. See South Carolina Code 31-10-20
• Redevelopment plan: means the comprehensive program of the authority for redevelopment intended by the payment of redevelopment costs to redevelop properties scheduled for disposal which may tend to return properties to the tax rolls, replace lost jobs, and integrate the properties back into the community, enhancing the tax bases of the taxing districts which extend into the project redevelopment area and the economic health of the community in which it lies. See South Carolina Code 31-12-30
• Redevelopment project: means any work or undertaking:
  
  (a) to acquire blighted or conservation areas, including lands, structures, or improvements, the acquisition of which is necessary or incidental to the proper clearance, development, or redevelopment of such areas or to the prevention of the spread or recurrence of conditions of blight;
  
  (b) to clear any such areas by demolition or removal of existing buildings, structures, streets, utilities, or other improvements thereon and to install, construct, or reconstruct streets, utilities, and site improvements essential to the preparation of sites for uses in accordance with the redevelopment plan;
  
  (c) to sell land in such areas for residential, recreational, commercial, industrial, or other use or for the public use to the highest bidder set out by the provisions of this chapter or to retain such land for public use, in accordance with the redevelopment plan;
  
  (d) to carry out plans for a program of repair, rehabilitation, or reconditioning of buildings or other improvements in such areas, including the making of loans;
  
  (e) to engage in programs of assistance and financing, including the making of loans for rehabilitation, repair, construction, acquisition, or reconditioning of residential units in a redevelopment area. See South Carolina Code 31-10-20
• Redevelopment project: means buildings, improvements, including street improvements, water, sewer and storm drainage facilities, parking facilities, and recreational facilities. See South Carolina Code 31-12-30
• Redevelopment project area: means an area within the incorporated area of a municipality and designated pursuant to § 31-12-200, which is not less in the aggregate than one and one-half acres. See South Carolina Code 31-12-30
• Redevelopment project costs: means and includes the total of all reasonable or necessary costs incurred or estimated to be incurred and any costs incidental to a redevelopment project. See South Carolina Code 31-12-30
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• Sequester: To separate. Sometimes juries are sequestered from outside influences during their deliberations.
• 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.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Taxing districts: means counties, incorporated municipalities, schools, special purpose districts, and any other municipal corporations or districts with the power to levy taxes. See South Carolina Code 31-12-30
• 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.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.