Terms Used In Vermont Statutes > Title 11 > Chapter 23 > Subchapter 10 - Derivative Actions

• 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.
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• 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 request under the Convention by an obligee or obligor, or on behalf of a child, made through a central authority for assistance from another central authority. See
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Central authority: means the entity designated by the United States or a foreign country to perform the functions specified in the Convention. See
• Child: means an individual, whether over or under the age of majority, who is or is alleged to be owed a duty of support by the individual's parent or who is or is alleged to be the beneficiary of a support order directed to the parent. See
• Child: means an individual who has not attained 18 years of age. See
• 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
• Child custody proceeding: means a proceeding in which legal custody or parental rights, physical custody, or visitation or parent child contact with respect to a child is an issue. See
• Child support order: means a support order for a child, including a child who has attained the age of majority under the law of the issuing state or foreign country. See
• Commencement: means the filing of the first pleading in a proceeding. See
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Convention: means the Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance, concluded at the Hague on November 23, 2007. See
• Convention support order: means a support order of a tribunal of a foreign country. See
• 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 the court with jurisdiction over the proceeding. See
• Court: means an entity authorized under the law of a state to establish, enforce, or modify a child custody determination. See
• Credit bureau: An agency that collects individual credit information and sells it for a fee to creditors so they can make a decision on granting loans. Typical clients include banks, mortgage lenders, credit card companies, and other financing companies. (Also commonly referred to as consumer-reporting agency or credit-reporting agency.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• 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.
• Direct request: means a petition filed by an individual in a tribunal of this State in a proceeding involving an obligee, obligor, or child residing outside the United States. See
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Domestic: when applied to a corporation, company, association, or copartnership shall mean organized under the laws of this State; "foreign" when so applied, shall mean organized under the laws of another state, government, or country. See
• Duty of support: means an obligation imposed or imposable by law to provide support for a child, spouse, or former spouse, including an unsatisfied obligation to provide support. See
• Employer: means any employer or payor of wages of any type to the obligor. See
• 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}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• 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.
• Fees: shall mean earnings due for official services, aside from salaries or per diem compensation. See
• following: when used by way of reference to a section of the law shall mean the next preceding or following section. See
• Foreign country: means a country, including a political subdivision thereof, other than the U. See
• Foreign support agreement:

• Foreign support order: means a support order of a foreign tribunal. See
• Foreign tribunal: means a court, administrative agency, or quasi-judicial entity of a foreign country which is authorized to establish, enforce, or modify support orders or to determine parentage of a child. See
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• General partner: means a person who has been admitted to a limited partnership as a general partner in accordance with the partnership agreement and named in the certificate of limited partnership as a general partner. See
• governor: includes an individual performing the functions of governor or the executive authority of a state covered by this title. See
• Income: includes earnings or other periodic entitlements to money from any source and any other property subject to withholding for support under the law of this State. See
• Income withholding order: means an order or other legal process directed to an obligor's employer or other debtor, as defined by 15 Vt. See
• Issuing state: means the state in which a tribunal issues a support order or renders a judgment determining parentage of a child. See
• Issuing tribunal: means the tribunal of a state or foreign country that issues a support order or renders a judgment determining parentage of a child. See
• 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.
• Justice: when applied to a person, other than a Justice of the Supreme Court, shall mean a justice of the peace for the county for which he or she is elected or appointed. See
• Law: includes decisional and statutory law and rules and regulations having the force of law. See
• 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.
• Limited partner: means a person who has been admitted to a limited partnership as a limited partner in accordance with the partnership agreement. See
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Magistrate: shall mean any Supreme Court Justice, Superior judge, District judge, or Probate judge. See
• 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
• Month: shall mean a calendar month and "year" shall mean a calendar year and be equivalent to the expression "year of our Lord. See
• 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.
• Obligee: means :

• Obligee: means the person found to be legally entitled to receive support or any person to whom the obligee has assigned or authorized all rights of collection. See
• Obligor: means an individual or the estate of a decedent that:

• Obligor: means the person required to pay support under a support order. See
• Partner: means a limited or general partner. See
• 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, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity. See
• Person: means a natural person, partnership, limited partnership (domestic or foreign), trust, estate, association, corporation, or limited liability company. See
• Person: means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, government; governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality; public corporation; or any other legal or commercial entity. See
• Person: shall include any natural person, corporation, municipality, the State of Vermont or any department, agency, or subdivision of the State, and any partnership, unincorporated association, or other legal entity. See
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Physical custody: means the physical care and supervision of a child. See
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• 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.
• real estate: shall include lands, tenements, and hereditaments and all rights thereto and interests therein, and pews or slips in places of public worship shall be treated as real estate. See
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See
• Register: means to file in a tribunal of this State a support order or judgment determining parentage of a child issued in another state or a foreign country. See
• Registering tribunal: means a tribunal in which a support order or judgment determining parentage of a child is registered. See
• Registry: means the registry established in 33 V. See
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Responding tribunal: means the authorized tribunal in a responding state or foreign country. See
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• 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.
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U. See
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U. See
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Support: means periodic payments ordered for the support of dependent children or, for the purposes of sections 783-790 of this title only, a spouse. See
• Support enforcement agency: means a public official, governmental entity, or private agency authorized to:

• Support order: means a judgment, decree, order, decision, or directive whether temporary, final, or subject to modification, issued in a state or foreign country for the benefit of a child, a spouse, or a former spouse, which provides for monetary support, health care, arrearages, retroactive support, or reimbursement for financial assistance provided to an individual obligee in place of child support. See
• Support order: means any judgment, order or contract for support enforceable in this state, including, but not limited to, orders issued pursuant to 15 Vt. See
• sworn: shall include affirmed. See
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Town: shall include city and wards or precincts therein; "selectboard members" and "board of civil authority" shall extend to and include the mayor and aldermen of cities; "trustees" shall extend to and include bailiffs of incorporated villages; and the laws applicable to the inhabitants and officers of towns shall be applicable to the inhabitants and similar officers of all municipal corporations. See
• 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.
• Tribunal: means a court, administrative agency, or quasi-judicial entity authorized to establish, enforce, or modify support orders or to determine parentage of a child. See
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Wage withholding order: means a transfer from the obligor to the obligee of the right to receive a portion of the obligor's wages directly from the obligor's employer. See
• Wages: means any compensation paid or payable for personal services, whether designated as wages, salary, commission, bonuses, or otherwise, and shall include periodic payments under pension or retirement programs, workers' compensation, or insurance policies of any type. See
• Warrant: means an order issued by a court authorizing law enforcement officers to take physical custody of a child. See