Terms Used In Vermont Statutes > Title 15 > Chapter 11 - Annulment and Divorce

• Adoptee: means a person who is adopted or is to be adopted. See
• Adult: means a person who has attained 18 years of age. See
• 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.
• Agency: means the Department or a child-placing public or private entity that is licensed in this State to place minors for adoption. See
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• 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.
• 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.
• Available income: means gross income, less:

• 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}
• Central authority: means the entity designated by the United States or a foreign country to perform the functions specified in the Convention. See
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• Child: means a minor or an adult son or daughter, by birth or adoption. 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 care costs: means the actual child care costs reasonably incurred by a parent on behalf of the children due to employment or employment related education. 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
• Circumstantial evidence: All evidence except eyewitness testimony.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• 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
• 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.
• Court: means the court with jurisdiction over the proceeding. See
• Court: means the court with jurisdiction over a child support proceeding. 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.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• 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.
• Department: means the Department for Children and Families. See
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Deploying parent: means a military parent who has been notified by military leadership that he or she will deploy or mobilize with the U. See
• 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
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• 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.
• Extraordinary expenses: means any extraordinary medical or education expenses, including expenses related to the special needs of a child, incurred on behalf of involved children. See
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Fees: shall mean earnings due for official services, aside from salaries or per diem compensation. See
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• 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 limited partnership: means a partnership formed under laws other than the laws of this State and having as partners one or more general partners and one or more limited partners. 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
• Former parent: means the parent of the adoptee whose rights were terminated, voluntarily or involuntarily. 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
• Gross income: means actual gross income of a parent. See
• 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.
• Guardian: means a person, other than a parent, appointed by a court to act as a parent for another individual and specifically authorized by the Court to place the individual for adoption. See
• Hearsay: Statements by a witness who did not see or hear the incident in question but heard about it from someone else. Hearsay is usually not admissible as evidence in court.
• Home state: means the state or foreign country in which a child lived with a parent or a person acting as parent for at least six consecutive months immediately preceding the time of filing of a petition or comparable pleading for support and, if a child is less than six months old, the state or foreign country in which the child lived from birth with any of them. See
• Identifying information: means any information which might establish the current whereabouts of an adoptee, the adoptee's former parent or other family member, including full name, date and place of birth, and last known address. 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
• Initiating tribunal: means the tribunal of a state or foreign country from which a petition or comparable pleading is forwarded or in which a petition or comparable pleading is filed for forwarding to another state or foreign country. 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
• Legal responsibility: means the rights and responsibilities to determine and control various matters affecting a child's welfare and upbringing, other than routine daily care and control of the child. 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
• Military parent: means a natural parent, adoptive parent, or legal parent of a child under the age of 18 whose parental rights have not been terminated or transferred to the state or another person through a juvenile proceeding pursuant to 33 Vt. See
• Minor: means a person who has not attained 18 years of age. 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
• Municipality: shall include a city, town, town school district, incorporated school or fire district or incorporated village, and all other governmental incorporated units. See
• Nondeploying parent: means a parent who is either not a member of the U. 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
• Parent: means a person who is legally recognized as a mother or father or whose consent to the adoption of a minor is required under subdivision 2-401(a)(1)-(4) or (6) of this title. See
• Parent child contact: means the right of a parent who does not have physical responsibility to have visitation with the child. See
• Parental rights and responsibilities: means the rights and responsibilities related to a child's physical living arrangements, education, medical and dental care, religion, travel, and any other matter involving a child's welfare and upbringing. See
• Parental support obligation: means the proportion of total support obligation a parent is ordered to pay in money as child support. 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: 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 estate: shall include all property other than real estate. See
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Physical responsibility: means the rights and responsibilities to provide routine daily care and control of the child subject to the right of the other parent to have contact with the 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.
• Probate: Proving a will
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Psychiatric disability: means an impairment of thought, mood, perception, orientation, or memory that limits one or more major life activities but does not include intellectual disability. See
• 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
• Records: means all documents, exhibits and data pertaining to an adoption, whether collected prior to or after the decree of adoption. 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 adoption registry administered by the Department. See
• Registry: means the registry established in 33 V. See
• Relative: means a grandparent, great-grandparent, sibling, first cousin, aunt, uncle, great-aunt, great-uncle, niece, or nephew of a person, whether related to the person by the whole or the half blood, affinity, or adoption. See
• Relinquishment: means the voluntary surrender to an agency by a minor's parent or guardian, for purposes of the minor's adoption, of the rights of the parent or guardian with respect to the minor, including legal and physical custody of the minor. 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.
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Responding state: means a state in which a petition or comparable pleading for support or to determine parentage of a child is filed or to which a petition or comparable pleading is forwarded for filing from another state or a foreign country. See
• Responding tribunal: means the authorized tribunal in a responding state or foreign country. See
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Self-support reserve: means the needs standard established annually, and calculated at 120 percent of the U. 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.
• Sibling: means a full or half brother or sister. See
• Spousal support order: means a support order for a spouse or former spouse of the obligor. See
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U. See
• State: means a state, territory, or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States may apply to the District of Columbia and any territory and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See
• State active duty: means the call-up by a governor for the performance of any military duty in state status. See
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Stepparent: means a person who is the spouse or surviving spouse of a parent of a child but who is not a parent of the child. See
• 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 guideline: means the guideline for child support established by the Secretary of Human Services under section 654 of this title. See
• 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
• Temporary duty: means the transfer of a service member to a geographic location outside Vermont for a limited period of time to accomplish training or to assist in the performance of a noncombat mission. See
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Total support obligation: means the sum of money determined by adding:

• 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
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• 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.
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• 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