Sections
Subchapter I Definitions 49.001
Subchapter II Relief Block Grants 49.01 – 49.08
Subchapter III Children and Family Support Services 49.11 – 49.385
Subchapter IV Medical Assistance 49.43 – 49.499
Subchapter V Other Support and Medical Programs 49.66 – 49.797
Subchapter VI General Provisions 49.81 – 49.96

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Terms Used In Wisconsin Statutes > Chapter 49 - Public assistance and children and family services

  • Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
  • Affected commodity: means any agricultural commodity for which the production, marketing, processing, handling, sale or distribution of is included under the terms of a marketing order or marketing agreement or a proposed marketing order or marketing agreement. See Wisconsin Statutes 96.01
  • 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.
  • Agricultural commodity: means any agricultural, horticultural (excepting floricultural), viticultural, vegetable, poultry, and livestock products produced in this state, including for use as a bioenergy feedstock, including milk and milk products, bees and honey, or any class, variety or utilization thereof, either in their natural state or as processed by a producer for the purpose of marketing such product or by a processor, but not including timber and wood products, except timber and wood products used as a bioenergy feedstock. See Wisconsin Statutes 96.01
  • Allegation: something that someone says happened.
  • 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.
  • American Indian: means a person who is recognized by an elected tribal governing body in this state as a member of a federally recognized Wisconsin tribe or band of Indians. See Wisconsin Statutes 49.01
  • Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
  • Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
  • Appraisal: A determination of property value.
  • Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
  • Assent: means a signed statement of affected producers or handlers consenting to the terms of a marketing agreement. See Wisconsin Statutes 96.01
  • 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.
  • Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
  • 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
  • Bioenergy feedstock: means biomass used to produce energy, including transportation fuel, heat, or electricity. See Wisconsin Statutes 96.01
  • Chambers: A judge's office.
  • Chief judge: The judge who has primary responsibility for the administration of a court but also decides cases; chief judges are determined by seniority.
  • Chiropractor: means a person holding a license issued by the chiropractic examining board. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Civil forfeiture: The loss of ownership of property used to conduct illegal activity.
  • Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
  • Collar: means a band, strip or chain placed around the neck of a dog. See Wisconsin Statutes 174.001
  • Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
  • Communicable disease: means any disease that the department of health services determines, by rule, to be communicable in fact. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
  • 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.
  • Dentist: means a person who is licensed as a dentist under subch. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Department: means the department of agriculture, trade and consumer protection. See Wisconsin Statutes 174.001
  • Department: means the department of health services. See Wisconsin Statutes 49.01
  • Dependent person: means an individual who is eligible for relief under…. See Wisconsin Statutes 49.01
  • 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.
  • Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. Source:
  • Domestic animal: means any of the following:
         1. See Wisconsin Statutes 95.001
  • Domestic animal: includes livestock, dogs and cats. See Wisconsin Statutes 174.001
  • Donor: The person who makes a gift.
  • Executive session: A portion of the Senate's daily session in which it considers executive business.
  • Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
  • 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.
  • Farm-raised deer: means a cervid that is kept in captivity or a cervid that is present in the wild and that has an ear tag or other mark identifying it as being raised on a farm. See Wisconsin Statutes 95.001
  • Farm-raised fish: means any fish egg that is present on a fish farm or any fish that is reared on a fish farm. See Wisconsin Statutes 95.001
  • Farm-raised game bird: has the meaning given in…. See Wisconsin Statutes 95.001
  • Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
  • Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
  • Fish farm: means a facility at which a person hatches fish eggs or rears fish for the purpose of introduction into the waters of the state, human or animal consumption, permitting fishing, use as bait or fertilizer or any other purpose specified by the department by rule or for sale to another person to rear for one of those purposes. See Wisconsin Statutes 95.001
  • 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
  • Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
  • Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
  • Grace period: The number of days you'll have to pay your bill for purchases in full without triggering a finance charge. Source: Federal Reserve
  • Handler: means any person engaged in the business of distributing or placing an agricultural commodity in commercial channels, or any person engaged in the business of processing an agricultural commodity. See Wisconsin Statutes 96.01
  • Health care services: means such emergency and nonemergency medical, surgical, dental, hospital, nursing and optometric services as are reasonable and necessary under the circumstances, as determined by the county or tribal governing body. See Wisconsin Statutes 49.01
  • 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.
  • homestead: means the dwelling and so much of the land surrounding it as is reasonably necessary for use of the dwelling as a home, but not less than one-fourth acre, if available, and not exceeding 40 acres. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
  • Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
  • Intangible property: Property that has no intrinsic value, but is merely the evidence of value such as stock certificates, bonds, and promissory notes.
  • Intergovernmental commission: means an intergovernmental commission formed by contract under…. See Wisconsin Statutes 174.001
  • Irrevocable trust: A trust arrangement that cannot be revoked, rescinded, or repealed by the grantor.
  • Joint tenancy: A form of property ownership in which two or more parties hold an undivided interest in the same property that was conveyed under the same instrument at the same time. A joint tenant can sell his (her) interest but not dispose of it by will. Upon the death of a joint tenant, his (her) undivided interest is distributed among the surviving joint tenants.
  • Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
  • Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
  • Licensed practical nurse: includes a licensed practical/vocational nurse who holds a multistate license, as defined in…. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Life estate: A property interest limited in duration to the life of the individual holding the interest (life tenant).
  • Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
  • Live birth: means the complete expulsion or extraction from his or her mother, of a human being, at any stage of development, who, after the expulsion or extraction, breathes or has a beating heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, regardless of whether the umbilical cord has been cut, and regardless of whether the expulsion or extraction occurs as a result of natural or induced labor, a cesarean section, or an abortion, as defined in…. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Livestock: means any horse, bovine, sheep, goat, pig, llama, alpaca, domestic rabbit, farm-raised deer, as defined in…. See Wisconsin Statutes 174.001
  • Marketing agreement: means an agreement entered into by the secretary under this chapter. See Wisconsin Statutes 96.01
  • Marketing order: means an order issued by the secretary under this chapter. See Wisconsin Statutes 96.01
  • Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
  • Motorcycle: has the meaning given in…. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Net salvage value: means the salvage value of an animal plus any federal indemnity paid for the animal. See Wisconsin Statutes 95.001
  • Nonmarital child: means a child who is neither conceived nor born while his or her parents are lawfully intermarried, who is not adopted and whose parents do not subsequently intermarry under…. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Officer: has the meaning designated under…. See Wisconsin Statutes 174.001
  • Official vaccinate: means any female bovine animal officially reported to the department as having been vaccinated by an approved veterinarian at an age and in accordance with the procedures the department prescribes and which was properly tattooed at the time of vaccination as required by law or rules of the department. See Wisconsin Statutes 95.001
  • Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
  • Owner: includes any person who owns, harbors or keeps a dog. See Wisconsin Statutes 174.001
  • Paratuberculosis: means the disease of domestic ruminants, commonly known as Johne's disease, that is caused by mycobacterium paratuberculosis. See Wisconsin Statutes 95.001
  • 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.
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • Personal property: includes money, goods, chattels, things in action, evidences of debt and energy. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Physician assistant: means a person who is licensed as a physician assistant under subch. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
  • Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
  • Plea agreement: An arrangement between the prosecutor, the defense attorney, and the defendant in which the defendant agrees to plead guilty in exchange for special considerations. Source:
  • Police department: includes a department under…. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Police officer: includes a person serving under…. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
  • Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
  • Probate: Proving a will
  • Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
  • Producer: means any person engaged in the business of producing or causing to be produced for market in commercial quantities any agricultural commodity. See Wisconsin Statutes 96.01
  • Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
  • Psychologist: means a psychologist who is licensed under…. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Public defender: Represent defendants who can't afford an attorney in criminal matters.
  • Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
  • railroad company: include any person managing, maintaining, operating or in possession of a railroad, whether as owner, contractor, lessee, mortgagee, trustee, assignee or receiver. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • real property: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments and all rights thereto and interests therein. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Referendum: means any voting procedure under which affected producers or handlers may, by secret ballot, vote for or against the issuance, amendment or termination of a marketing order. See Wisconsin Statutes 96.01
  • Registered nurse: includes a registered nurse who holds a multistate license, as defined in…. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Relief: means assistance that is provided to a dependent person and funded by a relief block grant. See Wisconsin Statutes 49.01
  • Relief agency: means a tribal governing body or an agency under contract with a tribal governing body to administer relief if the tribal governing body operates a relief program funded by a relief block grant. See Wisconsin Statutes 49.01
  • 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).
  • Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
  • Revocable trust: A trust agreement that can be canceled, rescinded, revoked, or repealed by the grantor (person who establishes the trust).
  • seal: includes the word "seal" the letters "L S" and a scroll or other device intended to represent a seal, if any is affixed in the proper place for a seal, as well as an impression of a seal on the instrument. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • 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.
  • Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
  • Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
  • Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
  • Sworn: includes "affirmed" in all cases where by law an affirmation may be substituted for an oath. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Tax-free land: means land in this state within the boundaries of a federally recognized reservation or within the bureau of Indian affairs service area for the Winnebago tribe, which is not subject to assessment or levy of a real property tax either as a general tax or as a payment in lieu of taxes. See Wisconsin Statutes 49.01
  • Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
  • Tenancy in common: A type of property ownership in which two or more individuals have an undivided interest in property. At the death of one tenant in common, his (her) fractional percentage of ownership in the property passes to the decedent
  • Testify: Answer questions in court.
  • Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
  • Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
  • Town board: means the town board of supervisors. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
  • Tribal governing body: means an elected tribal governing body of a federally recognized American Indian tribe. See Wisconsin Statutes 49.01
  • Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. Source: OCC
  • Uphold: The decision of an appellate court not to reverse a lower court decision.
  • Veto: The procedure established under the Constitution by which the President/Governor refuses to approve a bill or joint resolution and thus prevents its enactment into law. A regular veto occurs when the President/Governor returns the legislation to the house in which it originated. The President/Governor usually returns a vetoed bill with a message indicating his reasons for rejecting the measure. In Congress, the veto can be overridden only by a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House.
  • Vote: means to cast a ballot in a referendum or an election. See Wisconsin Statutes 96.01
  • Week: means 7 consecutive days. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.