LEGAL TERMS AND WHAT THEY MEAN
1. Property:
Property includes all those things and rights which are the objects of ownership. Real property consists of land or anything attached to or a part of the land such as a house. All other property (such as stocks, insurance, jewelry,) is called personal property.
2. Estate:
All the property, real and personal, owned by a person at the time of his death.
3. Bequeath:
To give personal property in a will.
4. Devise:
To give real property in a will.
5. Codicil:
A document modifying, adding to, or qualifying a will and forming an integral part of a will.
6. Administrator:
A man appointed by the courts to distribute the property of a person who leaves no will. A woman doing this job is called an administratrix.
7. Personal Representative:
A person named in a will to distribute the property of the person who made the will.
8. Testator:
The man making out the will. You are a testatrix if you are a woman making a will.
9. Legatee:
The person to whom you leave your personal property is your legatee. What you leave him is a legacy.
10. Probate:
To prove, in court, that an instrument is truly the last will and testament of a person.
11. Testament:
Another name for a will. There is no legal distinction between a will and a testament.
12. Letter to the Executor:
Aid for disposing of personal items.
13. Various Trusts:
A testamentary TRUST is created by one during their lifetime, but is not “activated” until their death. An example would be a “Minor’s Trust” or “Children’s Trust.”
A revocable living trust is one created by the grantor during his or her lifetime in which the grantor retains the right to revoke the trust, change its terms, or regain possessions of the property in the trust.
An irrevocable living trust is created when the grantor has relinquished title to property placed in the trust and has given up all right to revoke, amend, alter, or terminate the trust.
The marital deduction trust (also commonly referred to as the “A-B trust”) is an arrangement designed to give the surviving spouse full use of the family’s economic wealth, while at the same time minimizing, to the extent possible, the total federal estate tax payable at the death of both spouses.
14. Trustee:
One in charge of managing a Trust.
15. Guardian:
The person(s) you name in your will have legal custody of your minor child(ren)until the age of majority.
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