Lawyers use a lot of words when talking about wills, assuming that everyone knows their meaning. But from talking to friends and clients, I realized that many people outside the legal community don’t understand what we’re talking about. Below are some common commonly used terms defined:
- Testate: Dying with a valid will.
- Intestate: Dying without a valid will.
- Intestacy statutes: State laws that dictate how to distribute the assets of a person who dies intestate.
- Testator (Testatrix): A man (woman) who makes a will.
- Will: A legal document that contains instructions about how a person’s property should be divided after death. Typically, a will also names a guardian for minor children, and appoints an executor to administer the estate in accordance with the decedent’s last wishes.
- Codicil: A supplement, amendment, or addition to a will executed with all the formalities of the will itself.
- Attested will: A written will signed by the maker in front of witnesses, who also sign the will.
- Holographic will: A will that is completely in the handwriting of the testator.
- Decedent: Someone who is no longer alive.
- Administrator: A personal representative appointed by the probate court to oversee the winding up of the decedent’s affairs.
- Executor: A personal representative appointed by the testator to administer the estate in accordance with his last wishes.
- Beneficiary: A person or entity eligible to receive benefits under the will.
- Probate: The court procedure by which a will is proved to be valid or invalid. Current usage of this term has been expanded to generally refer to the legal process in which the estate of the decedent is administered.
- Non-Probate assets: Assets that do not have to pass through probate to be transferred, including life insurance policies, pension plans, 401(k) plans, IRA’s, joint bank accounts, payable-on-death accounts, and property owned as joint tenants with right of survivorship.
- Per stirpes: Method of distributing an estate to a group of individuals. If a member of the group predeceases the testator, his share is distributed to his descendants.
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