Terms Used In Michigan Laws > Chapter 700 > Act 386 of 1998 > Article III > Part 4 - Formal Testacy and Appointment Proceedings

• 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.
• Application: means a written request to the probate register for an order of informal probate or informal appointment under part 3 of article III. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attorney: means , if appointed to represent a child under the provisions referenced in section 5213, an attorney serving as the child's legal advocate in the manner defined and described in section 13a of chapter XIIA of the probate code of 1939, 1939 PA 288, MCL 712A. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
• Borrower: means a public corporation exercising the power to issue bonds as provided in this act or a county treasurer exercising the power to issue notes as provided in this act. See Michigan Laws 141.103
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• 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 treasurer: means an elected county treasurer or a county treasurer appointed under section 5 of 1923 PA 199, MCL 201. See Michigan Laws 141.103
• Court: means the probate court or, when applicable, the family division of circuit court. See Michigan Laws 700.1103
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Delinquent tax revenues: means the delinquent taxes, interest, penalties and fees, and chargebacks of uncollected delinquent taxes due or to become due to local units of government to be collected by a county treasurer as agent for the local unit of government in connection with a delinquent tax system and pledged to any borrowing by a county treasurer under section 7b. See Michigan Laws 141.103
• Delinquent tax system: means the delinquent tax revolving fund in any county created and designated under section 87b of the general property tax act, 1893 PA 206, MCL 211. See Michigan Laws 141.103
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• 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}
• Estate: includes the property of the decedent, trust, or other person whose affairs are subject to this act as the property is originally constituted and as it exists throughout administration. See Michigan Laws 700.1104
• 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.
• 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.
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Forgery: The fraudulent signing or alteration of another's name to an instrument such as a deed, mortgage, or check. The intent of the forgery is to deceive or defraud. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Governing body: means for a county, the board of commissioners; for a city, the body having legislative powers; for a village, the body having legislative powers; for a township, the township board; for a school district, the board of education; for a port district, the port commission; for a metropolitan district, the legislative body of the district; for a municipal health facilities corporation, the board of trustees; for a nonprofit subsidiary municipal health facilities corporation, the nonprofit subsidiary board; and for an authority, the body in which is lodged general governing powers. See Michigan Laws 141.103
• Heir: means , except as controlled by section 2720, a person, including the surviving spouse or the state, that is entitled under the statutes of intestate succession to a decedent's property. See Michigan Laws 700.1104
• in writing: shall be construed to include printing, engraving, and lithographing; except that if the written signature of a person is required by law, the signature shall be the proper handwriting of the person or, if the person is unable to write, the person's proper mark, which may be, unless otherwise expressly prohibited by law, a clear and classifiable fingerprint of the person made with ink or another substance. See Michigan Laws 8.3q
• Informal proceedings: means proceedings for probate of a will or appointment of a personal representative conducted by the probate register without notice to interested persons. See Michigan Laws 700.1105
• Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
• Issue: means an individual's descendant. See Michigan Laws 700.1105
• 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.
• 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.
• month: means a calendar month; the word "year" a calendar year; and the word "year" alone shall be equivalent to the words "year of our Lord". See Michigan Laws 8.3j
• 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: means the legislative enactment of a county treasurer's powers under this act. See Michigan Laws 141.103
• Ordinance: means an ordinance, resolution, or other appropriate legislative enactment of the governing body of a public corporation. See Michigan Laws 141.103
• person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, as well as to individuals. See Michigan Laws 8.3l
• Person: means an individual or an organization. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
• Personal representative: includes , but is not limited to, an executor, administrator, successor personal representative, and special personal representative, and any other person, other than a trustee of a trust subject to article VII, who performs substantially the same function under the law governing that person's status. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
• Petition: means a written request to the court for an order after notice. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
• 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
• Proceeding: includes an application and a petition, and may be an action at law or a suit in equity. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
• Property: means anything that may be the subject of ownership, and includes both real and personal property or an interest in real or personal property. See Michigan Laws 700.1106
• Public corporation: means a county, city, village, township, school district, port district, or metropolitan district of the state or a combination of these if authorized by law to act jointly; an authority created by or under an act of the legislature; or a municipal health facilities corporation or subsidiary municipal health facilities corporation incorporated as provided in the municipal health facilities corporations act, 1987 PA 230, MCL 331. See Michigan Laws 141.103
• public improvement: means the whole or a part of any of these improvements or of any combination of these improvements or any interest or participation in these improvements, as determined by the governing body. See Michigan Laws 141.103
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Rates: means the charges, fees, rentals, and rates that may be fixed and imposed for the services, facilities, and commodities furnished by a public improvement. See Michigan Laws 141.103
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Revenues: means the income derived from the rates charged for the services, facilities, and commodities furnished by a public improvement. See Michigan Laws 141.103
• shall not apply: means that the pertinent provision is not operative as to certain persons or things or in conjunction with a particular date or dates. See Michigan Laws 8.4c
• Special personal representative: means a personal representative as described by section 3614 to 3618. See Michigan Laws 700.1107
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or a territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Michigan Laws 700.1107
• state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, shall be construed to extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories belonging to the United States; and the words "United States" shall be construed to include the district and territories. See Michigan Laws 8.3o
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Supervised administration: means the proceedings described in part 5 of article III. See Michigan Laws 700.1107
• Testacy proceeding: means a proceeding to establish a will or determine intestacy. See Michigan Laws 700.1107
• Testate: To die leaving a will.
• 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.
• Trust: includes , but is not limited to, an express trust, private or charitable, with additions to the trust, wherever and however created. See Michigan Laws 700.1107
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.