General definitions

Subject to additional definitions contained in the subsequent chapters that are applicable to specific chapters, parts, or sections, and unless the context otherwise requires, in this code: (1) "Absentee" means an individual who has disappeared, who has been forcibly detained either illegally or by a foreign power, or who is otherwise located in a foreign country and is unable to return. (2) "Agent" includes an attorney-in-fact under a durable or nondurable power of attorney. (3) "Application" means a written request to the clerk of court for an order of informal probate or appointment under Part 3 of chapter 29A-3 . (4) "Beneficiary," as it relates to a trust beneficiary, 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; as it relates to a charitable trust, includes any person entitled to enforce the trust; as it relates to a "beneficiary of a beneficiary designation," refers to a beneficiary of an insurance or annuity policy, of a POD account, of a security registered in beneficiary form (TOD), or of a pension, profit-sharing, retirement, or similar benefit plan, or other nonprobate transfer at death; and, as it relates to a "beneficiary designated in a governing instrument," includes a grantee of a deed, a devisee, a trust beneficiary, a beneficiary of a beneficiary designation, a donee, appointee, or taker in default of a power of appointment, and a person in whose favor a power of attorney or a power held in any individual, fiduciary, or representative capacity is exercised. (5) "Beneficiary designation" refers to a governing instrument naming a beneficiary of an insurance or annuity policy, of a POD account, of a security registered in beneficiary form (TOD), or of a pension, profit-sharing, retirement, or similar benefit plan, or other nonprobate transfer at death. (6) "Child" includes an individual entitled to take as a child under this code by intestate succession from the parent whose relationship is involved and excludes a person who is only a stepchild, a foster child, a grandchild, or any more remote descendant. Any child of a deceased parent who is born after the decedent's death is considered a child in being at the decedent's death, if the child was conceived prior to the decedent's death, was born within ten months of the decedent's death, and survived one hundred twenty hours or more after birth. (7) "Claims," in respect to estates of decedents, includes liabilities of the decedent whether arising in contract, in tort, or otherwise, and liabilities of the estate which arise at or after the death of the decedent, 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 to specific assets alleged to be included in the estate. (8) "Court" means the circuit court. (9) "Conservator" means a person appointed by a court to manage the estate of a minor or protected person. (10) "Descendant" of an individual means the individual's descendants of all generations, with the relationship of parent and child at each generation being determined by the definition of child and parent contained in this code. (11) "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. (12) "Devisee" means a person designated in a will to receive a devise. For the purposes of chapter 29A-2 , in the case of a devise to an existing trust or trustee, or to a trustee or trust described by will, the beneficiaries are devisees and the trustee or trust is not a devisee. For purposes of chapter 29A-3 , the trust or trustee is the devisee and the beneficiaries are not devisees. (13) "Distributee" means any person who has received property of a decedent from a personal representative other than as a creditor or purchaser. A testamentary trustee is a distributee only to the extent of distributed assets or increment thereto remaining with the trustee. 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 the purposes of this provision, "testamentary trustee" includes a trustee to whom assets are transferred by will, to the extent of the devised assets. (14) "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. (15) "Exempt property" means the property of a decedent's estate which is referred to in §