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This is the Attorney For You Legal Dictionary. Please click on
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Glossary Results:
attestation - The act of watching another person sign a legal document, usually an affidavit or will, and then signing that document as a witness. Usually the signatures of the person signing the document and those of the witnesses are acknowledged by a notary public.
beneficiary - A person or organization listed in a document such as a will or trust who is to receive something of value such as money or property stated in the will or trust.
Bequeath - To give a gift to someone through a will.
Bequests - Gifts made in a will.
Chattel - An article of personal property.
Codicil - An amendment to a will.
collateral - Property which is used to secure the repayment of a secured debt.
grantor - The trustor or settler of a trust.
holographic will - Will that is hand written, signed and dated by its creator.
Intangible assets - Nonphysical items such as stock certificates, bonds, bank accounts, and pension benefits that have value and must be taken into account in estate planning.
intestate - A person who dies without a valid will.
Lapsed gift - A gift made in a will to a person who has died prior to the will-makers death.
Letters of Administration - Legal document issued by a court that shows an administrator's legal right to take control of assets in the deceased person's name.
Letters Testamentary - Legal document issued by a court that shows an executor's legal right to take control of assets in the deceased person's name.
life beneficiary - A lifetime benefit given to a person usually by a trust or a will.
living trust - Trust set during ones lifetime in which assets that are transferred into the trust during the grantor's lifetime are passed directly to the trust beneficiaries after death, bypassing court involvement.
living will - Legal document, that takes effect upon incapacitation, in which a person states her wishes about certain kinds life
Nonprobate - The distribution of a deceased person's property by any means other than probate. Many types of property pass free of probate, including property left to a surviving spouse and property left outside of a will through probate-avoidance methods such as pay-on-death designations, joint tenancy ownership, living trusts and life insurance. Property that avoids probate is sometimes described as the ?nonprobate estate.? Nonprobate distribution may also occur if the deceased person leaves an invalid will. In that case, property will pass according to the particular state's laws of intestate succession.
Nuncupative will - An oral (unwritten) will.
Self-proving will - A will whose validity does not have to be testified to in court by the witnesses to it, since the witnesses executed an affidavit reflecting proper execution of the will prior to the maker's death.
specific bequest - A gift of a specific item of property to a named beneficiary under a will.
Spendthrift trust - A trust set up for the benefit of someone who the grantor believes would be incapable of managing his or her own financial affairs.
Surety Bond - A bond purchased at the expense of the estate to insure the executor's proper performance. Also referred to as "fidelity bond."
Testamentary Capacity - The legal ability to make a will.
testamentary trust - This type of trust is created by a will, and becomes effective upon the death of the will maker.
testator - One who makes a will.
Trust - A legal device used to manage real or personal property, established by one person (grantor or settler) for the benefit of another (beneficiary). (See trustee)
Trust Agreement of Declaration - The legal document that sets up a living trust. Testamentary trusts are set up in a will.
trustee - One who manages assets of a trust under the terms of the trust document.
will - Document in which a person specifies what is to be done with his property when deceased. Must usually be signed by the deceased and witnessed by two other witnesses.
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