Terms Used In Tennessee Code > Title 56 > Chapter 59 - Guaranteed Asset Protection Waiver Act of 2008

• abandonment: means that:
  (i)

  (a) If the child is four (4) years of age or more, for a period of four (4) consecutive months immediately preceding the filing of a proceeding, pleading, petition, or amended or supplemental petition to terminate the parental rights of the parent or parents or the guardian or guardians of the child who is the subject of the petition for termination of parental rights or adoption, the parent or parents or the guardian or guardians either have failed to visit or have failed to support or have failed to make reasonable payments toward the support of the child. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Abandonment of an infant: means , for purposes of terminating parental or guardian rights, "abandonment" of a child under one (1) year of age. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Adopted person: means :
  (A) Any person who is or has been adopted under this part or under the laws of any state, territory, or foreign country. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Adoption: means the social and legal process of establishing by court order, other than by paternity or legitimation proceedings or by voluntary acknowledgment of paternity, the legal relationship of parent and child. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Adoption assistance: means the federal or state programs that exist to provide financial assistance to adoptive parents to enable them to provide a permanent home to a special needs child as defined by the department. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Adoption record: means :
  (A)

  (i) The records, reports, or other documents maintained in any medium by the judge or clerk of the court, or by any other person pursuant to this part who is authorized to witness the execution of surrenders or revocations of surrenders, which records, reports, or documents relate to an adoption petition, a surrender or parental consent, a revocation of a surrender or parental consent, or which reasonably relate to other information concerning the adoption of a person, and which information in such records, reports, or documents exists during the pendency of an adoption or a termination of parental rights proceeding, or which records, reports, or documents exist subsequent to the conclusion of those proceedings, even if no order of adoption or order of dismissal is entered, but which records, reports or documents exist prior to those records, reports, or documents becoming a part of a sealed record or a sealed adoption record pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Adoptive parent or parents: means the person or persons who have been made the legal parents of a child by the entry of an order of adoption under this part or under of the laws of any state, territory or foreign country. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Adult: means any person who is eighteen (18) years of age or older. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• 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 a person that has a present or future beneficial interest in a trust, vested or contingent. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
• Biological parents: means the woman and man who physically or genetically conceived the child who is the subject of the adoption or termination proceedings or who conceived the child who has made a request for information pursuant to this part. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• Chartered child-placing agency: means an agency that had received a charter from the state of Tennessee through legislative action or by incorporation for the operation of an entity or a program of any type that engaged in the placement of children for foster care or residential care as part of a plan or program for which those children were or could have been made available for adoptive placement and that may have, at sometime during its existence, become subject to any licensing requirements by the department or its predecessors. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• children: means any person or persons under eighteen (18) years of age. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of commerce and insurance. See Tennessee Code 56-1-102
• Consent: means :
  (A) The written authorization to relinquish a child for adoption, which is given by an agency such as the department or a public child care agency of another state or country or licensed child-placing agency of this or another state, which agency has the authority, by court order or by surrender or by operation of law or by any combination of these, to place a child for adoption and to give permission for the adoption of that child by other persons. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Conservator: means a person or entity appointed by a court to provide partial or full supervision, protection, and assistance of the person or property, or both, of a disabled adult pursuant to title 34, chapter 1 or the equivalent law of another state. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporate trustee: means a Tennessee trust company, a Tennessee bank with trust powers, or a national bank with trust powers and with a physical presence in Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 35-15-1301
• court: includes the juvenile court for purposes of the authority to accept the surrender or revocation of surrenders of a child and to issue any orders of reference, orders of guardianship, or other orders resulting from a surrender or revocation that it accepts and for purposes of authorizing the termination of parental rights pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Court report: means the report to the adoption or surrender court in response to an order of reference that describes to the court the status of the child and the prospective adoptive parents or the persons to whom the child is surrendered. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Department: means the department of children's services or any of its divisions or units. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Department: means the department of financial institutions. See Tennessee Code 35-15-1301
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Designated ancestor: means one (1) or more ancestors of the family designated as such in the entity's governing documents. See Tennessee Code 35-15-1301
• disability: means that the individual is a minor pursuant to any state, territorial, or federal law, or the law of any foreign country, or that the individual has been determined by any such laws to be in need of a person or entity to care for the individual due to that individual's physical or mental incapacity or infirmity. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Entity: means a corporation or a limited liability company organized in this state. See Tennessee Code 35-15-1301
• Excluded fiduciary: means any trustee, trust advisor, or trust protector to the extent that, under the terms of a trust, an agreement of the qualified beneficiaries, an exercise of the authority described in §. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Executor: includes an administrator, where the subject matter applies to an administrator. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• failed to visit: means the failure, for the applicable time period, to visit or engage in more than token visitation. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Family member: means a designated ancestor and:
  (i) An individual within the twelfth degree of lineal kinship of a designated ancestor. See Tennessee Code 35-15-1301
• Fiduciary: means :
  (A) A trustee, conservator, guardian, agent under any agency agreement or other instrument, an executor, personal representative or administrator of a decedent's estate, or any other party, including a trust advisor or a trust protector, who is acting in a fiduciary capacity for any person, trust, or estate. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Final court report: means a written document completed by the department or a licensed child-placing agency or licensed clinical social worker after submission of any prior court reports in response to the court's order of reference. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Finance charge: The total cost of credit a customer must pay on a consumer loan, including interest. The Truth in Lending Act requires disclosure of the finance charge. ^{Source: OCC}
• Foster care: has the meaning given to that term in §. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• Guardian: means a person or entity appointed by a court to provide care, custody, control, supervision, and protection for a child, and authorized by the court to adopt or consent to the adoption of the child as a result of a surrender, parental consent, or termination of parental rights. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• 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.
• Guardianship: means the status created by a court order appointing a person or entity guardian of the child. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Home study: means the product of a preparation process in which individuals or families are assessed by themselves and the department or licensed child-placing agency, or a licensed clinical social worker as to their suitability for adoption and their desires with regard to the child they wish to adopt. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• 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}
• Legal parent: means :
  (i) The biological mother of a child. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Legal relative: means a person who is included in the class of persons set forth in the definition of "biological relative" or "legal parent" and who, at the time a request for services or information is made pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Licensed child-placing agency: means any agency operating under a license to place children for adoption issued by the department, or operating under a license from any governmental authority from any other state or territory or the District of Columbia, or any agency that operates under the authority of another country with the right to make placement of children for adoption and that has, in the department's sole determination, been authorized to place children for adoption in this state. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Licensed clinical social worker: means an individual who holds a license as an independent practitioner from the board of social worker certification and licensure pursuant to title 63, chapter 23, and, in addition, is licensed by the department to provide adoption placement services. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Minor: means any person who has not attained eighteen (18) years of age. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• National Bank: A bank that is subject to the supervision of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department. A national bank can be recognized because it must have "national" or "national association" in its name. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Order of reference: means the order from the court where the surrender is executed or filed or where the adoption petition is filed that directs the department or a licensed child-placing agency or licensed clinical social worker to conduct a home study or preliminary home study or to complete a report of the status of the child who is or may be the subject of an adoption proceeding, and that seeks information as to the suitability of the prospective adoptive parents to adopt a child. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Parental consent: means the consent described in subdivision (16)(C). See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Parental rights: means the legally recognized rights and responsibilities to act as a parent, to care for, to name, and to claim custodial rights with respect to a child. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• parents: means any biological, legal, adoptive parent or parents or, for purposes of §. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• 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 any association, aggregate of individuals, business, company, corporation, individual, joint-stock company, Lloyds-type organization, organization, partnership, receiver, reciprocal or interinsurance exchange, trustee or society. See Tennessee Code 56-16-102
• Person: means an individual. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
• Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Physical custody: means physical possession and care of a child. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Post-adoption record: means :
  (A) The record maintained in any medium by the department, separately from the sealed record or sealed adoption record and subsequent to the sealing of an adoption record or that is maintained about any sealed record or sealed adoption record. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Power of attorney: A written instrument which authorizes one person to act as another's agent or attorney. The power of attorney may be for a definite, specific act, or it may be general in nature. The terms of the written power of attorney may specify when it will expire. If not, the power of attorney usually expires when the person granting it dies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Preliminary home study: means an initial home study conducted prior to or, in limited situations, immediately after, the placement of a child with prospective adoptive parents who have not previously been subject to a home study that was conducted or updated not less than six (6) months prior to the date a surrender is sought to be executed to the prospective adoptive parents or prior to the date of the filing of the adoption petition. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Prospective adoptive parents: means a nonagency person or persons who are seeking to adopt a child and who have made application with a licensed child-placing agency or licensed clinical social worker or the department for approval, or who have been previously approved, to receive a child for adoption, or who have received or who expect to receive a surrender of a child, or who have filed a petition for termination or for adoption. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Putative father: means a biological or alleged biological father of a child who, at the time of the filing of the petition to terminate the parental rights of such person, or if no such petition is filed, at the time of the filing of a petition to adopt a child, meets at least one (1) of the criteria set out in §. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Related: means grandparents or any degree of great-grandparents, aunts or uncles, or any degree of great-aunts or great-uncles, or stepparent, or cousins of the first degree, or first cousins once removed, or any siblings of the whole or half degree or any spouse of the above listed relatives. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Representative: when applied to those who represent a decedent, includes executors and administrators, unless the context implies heirs and distributees. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Sealed adoption record: means :
  (i) The adoption record as it exists subsequent to its transmittal to the department, or subsequent to its sealing by the court, pursuant to the requirements of §. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Sealed record: means :
  (i) Any records, reports, or documents that are maintained at any time by a court, a court clerk, a licensed or chartered child-placing agency, licensed clinical social worker, the department, the department of health, or any other information source concerning the foster care or agency care placement, or placement for adoption, of a person by any branch of the Tennessee children's home society authorized by chapter 113 of the Public Acts of 1919. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Sibling: means anyone having a sibling relationship. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Sibling relationship: means the biological or legal relationship between persons who have a common biological or legal parent. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• signed: includes a mark, the name being written near the mark and witnessed, or any other symbol or methodology executed or adopted by a party with intention to authenticate a writing or record, regardless of being witnessed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
• Special purpose entity: means an entity that meets the requirements provided under subsection (b). See Tennessee Code 35-15-1301
• 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 Tennessee Code 35-15-103
• Surrender: means a document executed under §. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Surrogate birth: means :
  (i) The union of the wife's egg and the husband's sperm, which are then placed in another woman, who carries the fetus to term and who, pursuant to a contract, then relinquishes all parental rights to the child to the biological parents pursuant to the terms of the contract. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• This state: means the state of Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
• token support: means that the support, under the circumstances of the individual case, is insignificant given the parent's means. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• token visitation: means that the visitation, under the circumstances of the individual case, constitutes nothing more than perfunctory visitation or visitation of such an infrequent nature or of such short duration as to merely establish minimal or insubstantial contact with the child. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
• Trust advisor: means any person described in §. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
• Trust protector: means any person described in §. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Trustee: includes an original, additional, and successor trustee, and a cotrustee. See Tennessee Code 35-15-103
• Truth in Lending Act: The Truth in Lending Act is a federal law that requires lenders to provide standardized information so that borrowers can compare loan terms. In general, lenders must provide information on ^{Source: OCC}
• written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105