(b) In this act:

(1) "Insurer" means any person, firm, corporation, association, or aggregation of persons doing an insurance business and subject to the insurance supervisory authority of, or to liquidation, rehabilitation, reorganization, or conservation by, the superintendent of financial services of this state, or the equivalent insurance supervisory official of another state.

(2) "Delinquency proceeding" means any proceeding commenced against an insurer for the purpose of liquidating, rehabilitating, reorganizing, or conserving such insurer.

(3) "Foreign country" means territory not in any state.

(4) "Domiciliary state" means the state in which an insurer is incorporated or organized, or, as to an insurer incorporated or organized in a foreign country, the state in which such insurer, having become authorized to do business in such state, has, at the commencement of delinquency proceedings, the largest amount of its assets held in trust and assets held on deposit for the benefit of its policyholders or policyholders and creditors in the United States; and any such insurer is deemed to be domiciled in such state.

(5) "Ancillary state" means any state except a domiciliary state.

(6) "Reciprocal state" means any state other than this state in which in substance and effect the provisions of this act are in force, including the provisions requiring that the insurance commissioner or equivalent insurance supervisory official be the receiver of a delinquent insurer.

(7) "General assets" means all property, real, personal, or otherwise, not specifically mortgaged, pledged, deposited, or otherwise encumbered for the security or benefit of specified persons or a limited class of persons, and as to such specifically encumbered property the term includes all such property or its proceeds in excess of the amount necessary to discharge all sums secured thereby. Assets held in trust and assets held on deposit for the security or benefit of all policyholders, or all policyholders and creditors in the United States, are general assets.

(8) "Preferred claim" means any claim with respect to which the law of a state or of the United States accords priority of payment from the general assets of the insurer.

(9) "Special deposit claim" means any claim secured by a deposit made pursuant to statute for the security or benefit of a limited class of persons, but not including any general assets.

(10) "Secured claim" means any claim secured by mortgage, trust, deed, pledge, deposit as security, escrow, other security interest, or otherwise, but not including special deposit claims or claims against general assets. The term also includes claims which more than four months prior to the commencement of delinquency proceedings in the state of the insurer's domicile have become liens upon specific assets by reason of judicial process.

(11) "Receiver" means receiver, liquidator, rehabilitator, or conservator as the context may require.