Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 63 > Chapter 15 > Article 3 - Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act

• Abandoned: means left without provision for reasonable and necessary care or supervision. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• 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.
• 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.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Child: means an individual who has not attained eighteen years of age. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• Child custody determination: means a judgment, decree, or other order of a court providing for the legal custody, physical custody, or visitation with respect to a child. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• Child custody proceeding: means a proceeding in which legal custody, physical custody, or visitation with respect to a child is an issue. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• Commencement: means the filing of the first pleading in a proceeding. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• 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.
• Court: means an entity authorized under the law of a state to establish, enforce, or modify a child custody determination. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• 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.
• 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.
• Home state: means the state in which a child lived with a parent or a person acting as a parent for at least six consecutive months immediately before the commencement of a child custody proceeding. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• Initial determination: means the first child custody determination concerning a particular child. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• Issuing court: means the court that makes a child custody determination for which enforcement is sought under this article. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• 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.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Modification: means a child custody determination that changes, replaces, supersedes, or is otherwise made after a previous determination concerning the same child, whether or not it is made by the court that made the previous determination. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• 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 biological parent, adoptive parents, step-parent, or person with legal custody. See South Carolina Code 63-1-40
• 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: means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, government, governmental subdivision, governmental agency or instrumentality, public corporation, or any other legal or commercial entity. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• Person acting as a parent: means a person, other than a parent, who:
  
  (a) has physical custody of the child or has had physical custody for a period of six consecutive months, including any temporary absence, within one year immediately before the commencement of a child custody proceeding; and
  
  (b) has been awarded legal custody by a court or claims a right to legal custody under the law of this State. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• Physical custody: means the physical care and supervision of a child. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• 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.
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• 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.
• Tribe: means an Indian tribe or band, or Alaskan native village, which is recognized by federal law or formally acknowledged by a state. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302
• Warrant: means an order issued by a court authorizing law enforcement officers to take physical custody of a child. See South Carolina Code 63-15-302