Wills, trusts & probate terms

Administrator - the person entitled at law to administer your Estate if you die without a Will (that is, Intestate).

Bequest - a generic term used to cover both legacies and devises.

Beneficiary - a generic term for any person who benefits under a Will.

Codicil - a formal amendment to a Will. Technology has made these rare now.

Devise - a gift of real or immovable property such as land, houses or flats in a Will.

Estate - everything you own at the time of your death.

Executor - the person or body responsible for collecting in the deceased's assets, paying any taxes, and distributing the Estate in accordance with the Will. The female form is Executrix, though rarely used now.

Guardian - person appointed by the Will to take over such parental rights as you may have over any child of yours under 18 at your death.

Intestacy/Intestate - dying without having made a Will. The law then states how your Estate is distributed, usually to close relatives. There is no provision under the intestacy laws for unmarried partners, whether the same or differing sex.

Legacy - gift of personal or moveable property (including cash, shares etc.) in a Will. Someone who receives a legacy is a legatee.

Letters of Administration - the application to court after someone dies without a Will to prove that the person applying is entitled to administer the Estate and perhaps take a share of it.

Probate - the application to court after someone dies to prove the Will is valid and which results in authority being granted to the Executors via a Grant of Probate after any tax due is paid.

Residuary estate - everything you own at the time of your death less any legacies or devises you have made, your debts, funeral expenses and costs of winding up your Estate.

Testamentary expenses - the legal costs of winding up your Estate.

Testator - The person making a Will (the female form is testatrix).

Trust - arrangement by which a person (the Trustee) holds legal ownership of money or property for the benefit of another person.

Trustee - a person to whom an Estate is conveyed on trust for another.

Will - a document conforming to certain legal requirements that sets out what you want to happen to your property and the rest of your Estate upon death.