This section explains the legal vocabulary readers encounter when planning for incapacity or death, transferring property, and administering estates through probate or trust structures.
- Administrator Appointed When an Estate Needs Probate Management
Learn how an administrator manages an estate when no executor is available or appointed.
- Advance Directive for Future Health-Care Decisions
Learn how advance directives express health-care wishes or appoint decision-makers before incapacity.
- Beneficiary Designation for Nonprobate Transfers
A beneficiary designation names who should receive certain assets such as retirement accounts, life insurance, or payable-on-death accounts.
- Beneficiary in Estate and Trust Law
A beneficiary is a person or entity entitled to receive property, money, or another benefit under a legal arrangement.
- Bequest as a Gift Made in a Will
A bequest is a gift of property made through a will to a named person, charity, or other recipient.
- Codicil as a Formal Change to a Will
Understand codicils as formal documents used to amend an existing will.
- Creditor Claim Against an Estate
A creditor claim is a demand for payment from an estate based on a debt or obligation owed by the deceased person.
- Devisee Named to Receive Property Under a Will
A devisee is a person or entity named in a will to receive property from the testator's estate.
- Durable Power of Attorney That Continues After Incapacity
Understand durable powers of attorney as authority that can continue after the principal becomes incapacitated.
- Estate Administration After Someone Dies
Estate administration is the process of collecting, managing, paying claims from, and distributing a deceased person's estate.
- Estate as the Property Left After Death
An estate is the property, rights, and obligations a person leaves at death, including assets that may pass through probate or outside probate.
- Estate Inventory Listing Probate Assets
An estate inventory is a list of estate assets and values prepared during probate or estate administration.
- Executor of a Will and Estate
An executor is the person named to administer an estate under a will, subject to court oversight where required.
- Grantor as the Person Who Creates or Funds a Trust
Learn how a grantor creates or transfers property into a trust.
- Healthcare Proxy Appointing a Medical Decision-Maker
Understand healthcare proxies as documents that name someone to make medical decisions.
- Heir Under Intestacy and Inheritance Law
An heir is a person who may inherit from someone under intestacy law when property is not fully controlled by a valid will or other transfer.
- Intestate Succession When There Is No Will
Intestate succession is the legal order for distributing property when a person dies without a valid will controlling that property.
- Intestate Succession Without a Valid Will
Intestate means a person died without a valid will controlling the distribution of the estate.
- Irrevocable Trust with Limited Grantor Control
An irrevocable trust is a trust that the grantor generally cannot freely revoke or amend after creation.
- Letters Testamentary Showing Executor Authority
Understand letters testamentary as court documents proving an executor's authority to act for an estate.
- Living Trust for Lifetime Estate Planning
Learn what a living trust is and how it differs from a will in estate planning.
- Living Will and Advance Health-Care Wishes
A living will is a document stating a person's wishes about certain medical treatment decisions if the person cannot communicate them later.
- Nonprobate Asset Passing Outside Probate
A nonprobate asset is property that transfers after death outside the probate process, often through beneficiary designation, joint ownership, or trust ownership.
- Per Stirpes Distribution by Family Branch
Per stirpes is a distribution method that passes a deceased beneficiary's share down to that beneficiary's descendants by family branch.
- Personal Representative in Estate Administration
Understand personal representatives as the people appointed to administer a probate estate.
- Pour-Over Will and Trust-Based Estate Planning
Understand what a pour-over will is and how it works alongside a living trust in estate planning.
- Power of Attorney in Estate Planning
A power of attorney is a legal document authorizing one person to act on another person's behalf in specified matters.
- Probate Asset Controlled Through the Estate
A probate asset is property that must pass through probate before it can be transferred after death.
- Probate Court for Estate and Guardianship Matters
Probate court is a court that handles probate, estate administration, guardianship, and related matters under state law.
- Probate in Estate Administration
Probate is the legal process for administering a deceased person's estate under court supervision when required.
- Residuary Clause Covering What Remains in an Estate
A residuary clause is a will provision that disposes of property remaining after specific gifts, debts, expenses, and other transfers are handled.
- Residuary Estate Left After Specific Gifts and Debts
Learn how a residuary estate captures what remains after specific gifts, debts, and expenses.
- Revocable Trust Used in Estate Planning
A revocable trust is a trust the grantor can usually amend or revoke during life, often used to manage property and avoid some probate administration.
- Small Estate Affidavit for Simplified Transfers
A small estate affidavit is a simplified document used in some jurisdictions to transfer estate property without full probate.
- Testamentary Capacity to Make a Valid Will
Understand testamentary capacity and why mental competence matters when a person signs a will.
- Testator as the Person Making a Will
Learn what testator means in estate planning and why the term matters in wills and probate law.
- Trust in Estate Planning and Probate
A trust is a legal arrangement in which one party holds or manages property for the benefit of another under stated terms.
- Trustee Duties in Managing Trust Property
Understand trustees as fiduciaries who manage trust property for beneficiaries.
- Will in Estate Planning
A will is a legal document that states how a person wants property and certain responsibilities handled after death.