Abatement

A proportional reduction of the pecuniary legacies, when there are not sufficient funds to pay them.

Ademption

When the property mentioned in a will cannot be given to a beneficiary because it no longer belonged to the deceased at the time of death. For example, the particular gift may have been destroyed, sold or given away between the time of the will and the time of death.

Administrator

A person or institution appointed by a court to act on behalf of the deceased person in connection with the administration of the decedent's estate.

Administrator with Will Annexed (for Administrator CTA)

An administrator appointed by the court to act on behalf of the deceased person who left a will, but where no nominated executor is willing and able to act.

Affidavit

A written statement or affirmation made under penalty of perjury that requires notarization.

Ancillary Administration

An administration of a decedent's property located in a state other than that of the decedent's domicile.

Beneficiary

The individual or corporation who receives the benefit of a transaction (e.g., the beneficiary of a life insurance policy, beneficiary of a trust, or beneficiary under a will.)

Codicil

An addition to a will, the codicil may modify, add to, subtract from, qualify, alter, or revoke provisions in the will. The codicil is a separate document. It is signed with the same formalities as a will. The codicil can be changed, revoked, cancelled, or destroyed anytime.

Community Property

Real or personal property that is owned in common by a husband and wife as a kind of marital partnership. Either spouse has management and control of the community real and personal property; however, both spouses must join in a transfer of ownership or lease for more than one year of community real property or a gift of community property. All property acquired during the marriage from earnings , and the earnings themselves, are community property. Property acquired by a gift or inheritance is seperate property, not community property.

Conservator

The individual or corporation who legally has charge of the care and management of the person, property, or both of an adult who is unable to provide for his or her own personal needs or who is substantially unable to mange his or her financial affairs. Limited conservatorships may be established for developmentally disabled adults.

Contingent Beneficiary

One to whom distribution is dependent upon the occurrence of an event.

Declaration

A written statement made under penalty of perjury

Devisees and Legatees

Persons named by a decedent in his will.  A bequest or devise generally refers to real property and a legacy of money or personal property.

Disclaimer

A refusal to accept, for example, a testamentary gift that is made in a prescribed manner and time.

Domicile

The specific location of a person's permanent residence that determines, for many purposes, the laws that will govern his affairs. A person may have many residences, but he can have only one domicile. The domiciliary proceeding is that created in the jurisdiction of the decedent's domicile.

Donee

A person who receives a gift from another.

Donor

A person who makes a gift to another.

Escheat

The term which describes the reversion of property to the state in the event a person dies leaving no valid will and no heirs at law surviving him.

Estate Taxes - Federal

The death taxes imposed the federal government on the transfer of assets upon death.

Ex Parte

A judicial proceeding granted without notice,

Fiduciary

A person charges with a high degree of care who acts on behalf of another. Executors and trustees are fiduciaries.

Gift Tax Annual Exclusion

Both California and federal law allow a donor to exclude an amount of gift from taxation each year, if the gift is one in which the donee has an immediate and unrestricted right of use, benefit and enjoyment.

Grantor

The individual or corporation who makes a grant (transfer) of property to another person (e.g., grantor of a trust, grantor of a deed of property.)

Guardian

The individual or corporation who legally has charge of the care and management of the person, property, or both, of a child during his minority.

Heir

The person who inherits the property.

Inheritance Tax

The taxes impose, according to the relationship to the decedent, on the person who receives the property.

Intestate

Refers to someone who dies leaving no will.

Inter Vivos Trust

A trust created "between the living".  The grantor (trustor) is a living person. An inter vivos trust can be either revocable or irrevocable.

Irrevocable Trust

A trust whose terms and provisions cannot be changed, modified, altered, amended, or revoked.

Joint Tenancy

A form of property ownership by two or more persons, often designated as "joint tenants with right of survivorship". Joint tenants always own equal parts of joint tenancy property.  When a joint tenant dies, his or her interest in the property automatically goe to the surviving  joint tenant.

Life Estate

An interest in property, the term of which is measured by the life of it's owner.

Life Tenant

The person who receives the benefits from the real or personal property during his lifetime only. The benefit stops when he dies.

Minor

A person who is under the age of legal competence. Usually 18 years old.

Personal Representative

A person named by the probate court to administer the estate if there is no will.

Power of Appointment

The actual power of legal authority given by the trust or will of one person, the "donor" of the power, to a second person, the "donee" of the power, which enables the second person to designate the manner of disposing of the property. A power of appointment may be general or special, as defined below:

General Power

Enables the donee to designate himself, his creditors, his estate, the creditors, his estate, the creditor of his estate, or any other person of the subject property.

Special Power

Limits the donee as to the persons to whom he can designate as owners of the property over which he has the power of appointment. The limitation of the appointment can be very specific (e.g., to a group consisting only of A's children) but can never be the donee, his estate, his creditors, or the creditors of his estate because this would defeat the purpose of the special power, namely, to keep the appointive property from being taxed in the estate of the donee on his death.

Pour-Over Will

A will that provides for the transfer , after or during the probate court proceedings, of all or part of the net asset of a decedent's probate estate from the executor's control to the control of a trustee who is in charge of a trust that was in existence immediately before the death of the deceased person (inter vivos trust)

Permitted Heir

One who would normally be beneficiary of the decedent but who is not mentioned in the will.

Probate Administration

The legal process whereby a probate court supervises the marshaling of a deceased person's debts and taxes and orders the property distributed according to decedent's will, or in it's absence, to the deceased person's heirs. The probate court has jurisdiction over the personal representative and the decedent's assets.

Real Property

An interest in land or property permanently affixed to land.

Remainder Interest

An ownership in property that will become a present interest after the present owner or life tenant has received all the property benefits to which he is entitled.

Residue

The remaining part of a decedent's estate after the payments of debts and legacies. Also called "residuary estate".

Residuary Beneficiary

An ownership in property that returns to the original owner when the intervening interest expires.

Revocable Trust

A trust whose terms and provisions can be changed, modified, altered, amended, or revoked.

Right of Representation

A method of distribution, sometimes referred to as "per stirpes", whereby the share of distribution of a deceased befeficiary is divided equally among his children.

Settlor

Another word for grantor or trustor of a trust. The person who "settles' the assets of the trust.

Tenancy in Common

A form of holding title to real property by two or more persons. Because there is no right of survivorship, the legal relationships and results are very different from joint tenancy. Tenants in common need not hold equal interest, and on the death of a tenant in common, his interest will pass by his will or according to the laws of intestate succession.

Testamentary Trust

The trust that comes into being only as a result of the death of a person whose will provides for the creation of the trust after his death, hence, the term "testamentary". Once in existence, this trust is irrevocable.

Testate

Refers to someone who dies leaving a will.

Testator

The person who signs the will that disposes of his property; testatrix is the female term. It is common as a convenience to use the term testator for either a man or woman.

Totten Trust

A form of revocable trust, usually a bank account, that allows distribution to the beneficiary upon the death of the trustee, without the need for probate of the asset. Example, John Jones as Trustee for Mary Jones.

Trust

A legal entity established either during a trustor's lifetime (inter vivos) or at his death (testamentary). The trust is governed by the terms set forth in the trust documents. A trust must have a trustee, a beneficiary, and a "corpus" or property subjected to the trust.

Trustor

The person or persons who establish a trust. There can be more than one trustor.

Will

A document, prepared and executed by a person with the formality required by the laws of the state of his domicile at the time, which is intended to govern and direct the disposition of his estate and settlement of his legal affairs at the time of his death and which has no legal effect until his death. If the document is entirely in his own handwriting, it is called a "holographic will". If it is typed, ot is called a "witnessed will" because the signing of it generally requires two or more witnesses to testify later, if necessary, that the execution was not procured by fraud, duress, or misrepresentation.

Probate Glossary of terms