Section 102. Definitions

In this [Act]:

(1) “Certificate of limited partnership” means the certificate required by Section 201. The term includes the certificate as amended or restated.

(2) “Contribution”, except in the phrase “right of contribution,” means any benefit provided by a person to a limited partnership in order to become a partner or in the person’s capacity as a partner.

(3) “Debtor in bankruptcy” means a person that is the subject of:

(A) an order for relief under Title 11 of the United States Code or a comparable order under a successor statute of general application; or

(B) a comparable order under federal, state, or foreign law governing insolvency.

(4) “Designated office” means:

(A) with respect to a limited partnership, the office that the limited partnership is required to designate and maintain under Section 114; and

(B) with respect to a foreign limited partnership, its principal office.

(5) “Distribution” means a transfer of money or other property from a limited partnership to a partner in the partner’s capacity as a partner or to a transferee on account of a transferable interest owned by the transferee.

(6) “Foreign limited liability limited partnership” means a foreign limited partnership whose general partners have limited liability for the obligations of the foreign limited partnership under a provision similar to Section 404(c).

(7) “Foreign limited partnership” means a partnership formed under the laws of a jurisdiction other than this State and required by those laws to have one or more general partners and one or more limited partners. The term includes a foreign limited liability limited partnership.

(8) “General partner” means:

(A) with respect to a limited partnership, a person that:

(i) becomes a general partner under Section 401; or

(ii) was a general partner in a limited partnership when the limited partnership became subject to this [Act] under Section 1206(a) or (b); and

(B) with respect to a foreign limited partnership, a person that has rights, powers, and obligations similar to those of a general partner in a limited partnership.

(9) “Limited liability limited partnership”, except in the phrase “foreign limited liability limited partnership”, means a limited partnership whose certificate of limited partnership states that the limited partnership is a limited liability limited partnership.

(10) “Limited partner” means:

(A) with respect to a limited partnership, a person that:

(i) becomes a limited partner under Section 301; or

(ii) was a limited partner in a limited partnership when the limited partnership became subject to this [Act] under Section 1206(a) or (b); and

(B) with respect to a foreign limited partnership, a person that has rights, powers, and obligations similar to those of a limited partner in a limited partnership.

(11) “Limited partnership”, except in the phrases “foreign limited partnership” and “foreign limited liability limited partnership”, means an entity, having one or more general partners and one or more limited partners, which is formed under this [Act] by two or more persons or becomes subject to this [Act] under [Article] 11 or Section 1206(a) or (b). The term includes a limited liability limited partnership.

(12) “Partner” means a limited partner or general partner.

(13) “Partnership agreement” means the partners’ agreement, whether oral, implied, in a record, or in any combination, concerning the limited partnership. The term includes the agreement as amended.

(14) “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.

(15) “Person dissociated as a general partner” means a person dissociated as a general partner of a limited partnership.

(16) “Principal office” means the office where the principal executive office of a limited partnership or foreign limited partnership is located, whether or not the office is located in this State.

(17) “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.

(18) “Required information” means the information that a limited partnership is required to maintain under Section 111.

(19) “Sign” means:

(A) to execute or adopt a tangible symbol with the present intent to authenticate a record; or

(B) to attach or logically associate an electronic symbol, sound, or process to or with a record with the present intent to authenticate the record.

(20) “State” means a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

(21) “Transfer” includes an assignment, conveyance, deed, bill of sale, lease, mortgage, security interest, encumbrance, gift, and transfer by operation of law.

(22) “Transferable interest” means a partner’s right to receive distributions.

(23) “Transferee” means a person to which all or part of a transferable interest has been transferred, whether or not the transferor is a partner.

Comment

This section contains definitions applicable throughout the Act. Section 1101 provides additional definitions applicable within Article 11.

Paragraph 8(A)(i) [General partner] – A partnership agreement may vary Section 401 and provide a process or mechanism for becoming a general partner which is different from or additional to the rules stated in that section. For the purposes of this definition, a person who becomes a general partner pursuant to a provision of the partnership agreement “becomes a general partner under Section 401.”

Paragraph 10(A)(i) [ Limited partner] – The Comment to Paragraph 8(A)(i) applies here as well. For the purposes of this definition, a person who becomes a limited partner pursuant to a provision of the partnership agreement “becomes a limited partner under Section 301.”

Paragraph (11) [Limited partnership] – This definition pertains to what is commonly termed a “domestic” limited partnership. The definition encompasses: (i) limited partnerships originally formed under this Act, including limited partnerships formed under Section 1101(11) to be the surviving organization in a merger; (ii) any entity that becomes subject to this Act by converting into a limited partnership under Article 11; (iii) any preexisting domestic limited partnership that elects pursuant to Section 1206(a) to become subject to this Act; and (iv) all other preexisting domestic limited partnerships when they become subject to this Act under Section 1206(b).

Following the approach of predecessor law, RULPA Section 101(7), this definition contains two substantive requirements. First, it is of the essence of a limited partnership to have two classes of partners. Accordingly, under Section 101(11) a limited partnership must have at least one general and one limited partner. Section 801(3)(B) and (4) provide that a limited partnership dissolves if its sole general partner or sole limited partner dissociates and the limited partnership fails to admit a replacement within 90 days of the dissociation. The 90 day limitation is a default rule, but, in light of Section 101(11), a limited partnership may not indefinitely delay “having one or more general partners and one or more limited partners.”

It is also of the essence of a limited partnership to have at least two partners. Section 101(11) codifies this requirement by referring to a limited partnership as “an entity . . . which is formed under this [Act] by two or more persons.” Thus, while the same person may be both a general and limited partner, Section 113 (Dual Capacity), one person alone cannot be the “two persons” contemplated by this definition. However, nothing in this definition prevents two closely affiliated persons from satisfying the two person requirement.

Paragraph (13) [Partnership agreement] – Section 110 is essential to understanding the significance of the partnership agreement. See also Section 201(d) (resolving inconsistencies between the certificate of limited partnership and the partnership agreement).

Paragraph (21) [Transfer] – Following RUPA, this Act uses the words “transfer” and “transferee” rather than the words “assignment” and “assignee.” See RUPA Section 503.

The reference to “transfer by operation of law” is significant in connection with Section 702 (Transfer of Partner's Transferable Interest). That section severely restricts a transferee's rights (absent the consent of the partners), and this definition makes those restrictions applicable, for example, to transfers ordered by a family court as part of a divorce proceeding and transfers resulting from the death of a partner.

Paragraph (23) [Transferee] – See comment to Paragraph 21 for an explanation of why this Act refers to “transferee” rather than “assignee.”