18-A §1-201. General definitions
Title 18-A: PROBATE CODE
Article 1: GENERAL PROVISIONS, DEFINITIONS AND JURISDICTION
Part 2: DEFINITIONS
§1-201. General definitions
Subject to additional definitions contained in the subsequent Articles which are applicable to specific Articles or parts, and unless the context otherwise requires, in this Code: [1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW).]
(1). "Application" means a written request to the registrar for an order of informal probate or appointment under Part 3 of Article III.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(2). "Beneficiary", as it relates to trust beneficiaries, includes a person who has any present or future interest, vested or contingent, and also includes the owner of an interest by assignment or other transfer and as it relates to a charitable trust, includes any person entitled to enforce the trust.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(3). "Child" includes any individual entitled to take as a child under this Code by intestate succession from the parent whose relationship is involved and excludes any person who is only a stepchild, a foster child, a grandchild or any more remote descendant.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(4). "Claims", in respect to estates of decedents and protected persons, includes liabilities of the decedent or protected person whether arising in contract, in tort or otherwise, and liabilities of the estate which arise at or after the death of the decedent or after the appointment of a conservator, including funeral expenses and expenses of administration. The term does not include estate or inheritance taxes, or demands or disputes regarding title of a decedent or protected person to specific assets alleged to be included in the estate.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(5). "Court" means any one of the several courts of probate of this State established as provided in Title 4, sections 201 and 202.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(6). "Conservator" means a person who is appointed by a Court to manage the estate of a protected person.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(7). "Devise", when used as a noun, means a testamentary disposition of real or personal property and when used as a verb, means to dispose of real or personal property by will.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(8). "Devisee" means any person designated in a will to receive a devise. In the case of a devise to an existing trust or trustee, or to a trustee on trust described by will, the trust or trustee is the devisee and the beneficiaries are not devisees.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(9). "Disability" means cause for a protective order as described by section 5-401.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(10). "Distributee" means any person who has received property of a decedent from his personal representative other than as creditor or purchaser. A testamentary trustee is a distributee only to the extent of distributed assets or increment thereto remaining in his hands. A beneficiary of a testamentary trust to whom the trustee has distributed property received from a personal representative is a distributee of the personal representative. For purposes of this provision, "testamentary trustee" includes a trustee to whom assets are transferred by will, to the extent of the devised assets.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(10-A). "Domestic partner" means one of 2 unmarried adults who are domiciled together under long-term arrangements that evidence a commitment to remain responsible indefinitely for each other's welfare.
[ 2003, c. 672, §2 (NEW) .]
(11). "Estate" includes the property of the decedent, trust, or other person whose affairs are subject to this Code as originally constituted and as it exists from time to time during administration.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(12). "Exempt property" means that property of a decedent's estate which is described in section 2-402.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(13). "Fiduciary" includes personal representative, guardian, conservator and trustee.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(14). "Foreign personal representative" means a personal representative of another jurisdiction.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(15). "Formal proceedings" means those within the exclusive jurisdiction of the court conducted before a judge with notice to interested persons.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(16). "Guardian" means a person who has qualified as a guardian of a minor or incapacitated person pursuant to testamentary or court appointment, but excludes one who is merely a guardian ad litem.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(17). "Heirs" means those persons, including the surviving spouse or surviving registered domestic partner, who are entitled under the statutes of intestate succession to the property of a decedent.
[ 2003, c. 672, §3 (AMD) .]
(18). "Incapacitated person" is as defined in section 5-101.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(19). "Informal proceedings" mean those conducted without notice to interested persons by an officer of the Court acting as a registrar for probate of a will or appointment of a personal representative.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(20). "Interested person" includes heirs, devisees, children, spouses, domestic partners, creditors, beneficiaries and any others having a property right in or claim against a trust estate or the estate of a decedent, ward or protected person that may be affected by the proceeding. It also includes persons having priority for appointment as personal representative, and other fiduciaries representing interested persons. In any proceeding or hearing under Article 5 affecting a trust estate or estate, when the ward or protected person has received benefits from the Veterans Administration within 3 years, the administrator of Veterans Affairs of the United States is an "interested person." The meaning as it relates to particular persons may vary from time to time and must be determined according to the particular purposes of, and matter involved in, any proceeding.
[ 2003, c. 672, §4 (AMD) .]
(21). "Issue" of a person means all his lineal descendants of all generations, with the relationship of parent and child at each generation being determined by the definitions of child and parent contained in this Code.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(21-A). "Judge" means the judge of any one of the several courts of probate as defined in paragraph (5).
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(22). "Lease" includes an oil, gas, or other mineral lease.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(23). "Letters" includes letters testamentary, letters of guardianship, letters of administration, and letters of conservatorship.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(24). "Minor" means a person who is under 18 years of age.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(25). "Mortgage" means any conveyance, agreement or arrangement in which property is used as security.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(26). "Nonresident decedent" means a decedent who was domiciled in another jurisdiction at the time of his death.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(26-A). "Oath" means an oath or affirmation.
[ 1979, c. 663, §§123, 123-A (AMD) .]
(27). "Organization" includes a corporation, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership or association, 2 or more persons having a joint or common interest, or any other legal entity.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(28). "Parent" includes any person entitled to take, or who would be entitled to take if the child died without a will, as a parent under this Code by intestate succession from the child whose relationship is in question and excludes any person who is only a stepparent, foster parent, or grandparent.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(29). "Person" means an individual, a corporation, an organization, or other legal entity.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(30). "Personal representative" includes executor, administrator, successor personal representative, special administrator, and persons who perform substantially the same function under the law governing their status. "General personal representative" excludes special administrator.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(31). "Petition" means a written request to the court for an order after notice.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(32). "Proceeding" includes any civil action in any court of competent jurisdiction.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(33). "Property" includes both real and personal property or any interest therein and means anything that may be the subject of ownership.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(34). "Protected person" is as defined in section 5-101.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(35). "Protective proceeding" is as defined in section 5-101.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(36). "Register" means the official of the court elected or appointed as provided in section 1-501, or any other person performing the functions of register as provided in section 1-307.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(36-A). "Registered domestic partners" means domestic partners who are registered in accordance with Title 22, section 2710.
[ 2003, c. 672, §5 (NEW) .]
(37). "Security" includes any note, stock, treasury stock, bond, debenture, evidence of indebtedness, certificate of interest or participation in an oil, gas or mining title or lease or in payments out of production under such a title or lease, collateral trust certificate, transferable share, voting trust certificate or, in general, any interest or instrument commonly known as a security, or any certificate of interest or participation, any temporary or interim certificate, receipt or certificate of deposit for, or any warrant or right to subscribe to or purchase, any of the foregoing. It shall not include an account as defined in section 6-101, paragraph (1).
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(38). "Settlement," in reference to a decedent's estate, includes the full process of administration, distribution and closing.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(39). "Special administrator" means a personal representative as described by sections 3-614 through 3-618.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(40). "State" includes any state or the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any territory or possession subject to the legislative authority of the United States.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(41). "Successor personal representative" means a personal representative, other than a special administrator, who is appointed to succeed a previously appointed personal representative.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(42). "Successors" means those persons, other than creditors, who are entitled to property of a decedent under his will or this Code.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(43). "Supervised administration" refers to the proceedings described in Article III, Part 5.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(44). "Testacy proceeding" means a proceeding to establish a will or determine intestacy.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(45). "Trust" includes any express trust, private or charitable, with additions thereto, wherever and however created. It also includes a trust created or determined by judgment or decree under which the trust is to be administered in the manner of an express trust. "Trust" excludes other constructive trusts, and it excludes resulting trusts, conservatorships, personal representatives, trust accounts as defined in Article VI, custodial arrangements pursuant to Title 33, sections 1001 to 1010, or other special custodial arrangements, business trusts provided for certificates to be issued to beneficiaries, common trust funds, voting trusts, security arrangements, liquidation trusts, and trusts for the primary purpose of paying debts, dividends, interest, salaries, wages, profits, pensions, or employee benefits of any kind, and any arrangement under which a person is nominee or escrowee for another.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(46). "Trustee" includes an original, additional, or successor trustee, whether or not appointed or confirmed by court.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(47). "Ward" is as defined in section 5-101.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
(48). "Will" includes codicil and any testamentary instrument which merely appoints an executor or revokes or revises another will.
[ 1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW) .]
SECTION HISTORY
1979, c. 540, §1 (NEW). 1979, c. 663, §§123,123-A (AMD). 1979, c. 690, §3 (AMD). 2003, c. 672, §§2-5 (AMD).