Resources · Glossary

The words, in plain English.

Estate and probate language can feel like a foreign tongue, often at the worst possible moment. Here is what the key terms actually mean — one clear definition per word, with the context that helps and none of the jargon that doesn't.

• Ademption

  Ademption is what happens when a specific gift made in a will no longer exists at the time of the testator's death. If you leave someone "my blue car" in your will and you no longer own that car when you die, the gift adeems — it fails — and the beneficiary generally receives nothing in its place.

• Administrator

  An administrator is a person appointed by a probate court to settle an estate when the deceased left no will, or when the will named no executor who can serve. The administrator has the same duties as an executor — gathering assets, paying debts, and distributing what remains — but receives their authority from the court rather than from a will.

• Advance Healthcare Directive

  An advance healthcare directive is a legal document that records a person's wishes about medical treatment in the event they become unable to communicate those wishes themselves. It typically covers decisions about life-sustaining treatment, resuscitation, artificial nutrition, and similar interventions. Many states combine this document with a healthcare proxy designation.

• Beneficiary

  A beneficiary is a person or organization designated to receive an asset or benefit from a will, trust, life insurance policy, retirement account, or other arrangement. Being named a beneficiary gives someone a legal right to receive that specific asset — often outside of probate — when the owner passes.

• Codicil

  A codicil is a formal written amendment to an existing will. It modifies, adds to, or revokes specific provisions without replacing the entire will. A codicil must meet the same signing and witness requirements as a will to be legally valid.

• Digital Assets

  Digital assets are electronic records owned or controlled by a person — including online accounts, email, social media profiles, digital photos, cloud storage, domain names, cryptocurrency, and digital purchases such as ebooks or music libraries. After death, access to these assets depends on each platform's terms of service, any legacy contact designations, and, in some states, laws governing digital asset access by fiduciaries.

• Durable Power of Attorney

  A durable power of attorney is a legal document granting an agent authority to handle financial and legal matters on behalf of the principal, with the crucial feature that it remains in effect even if the principal becomes mentally incapacitated. "Durable" is the word that makes it useful for estate and incapacity planning.

• Escheat

  Escheat is the legal process by which a person's property passes to the state when they die with no valid will and no living heirs who can be found. It also applies to dormant financial accounts — banks and other institutions are required in most states to turn over unclaimed funds to the state after a period of inactivity.

• Executor

  An executor is the person named in a will to carry out its instructions — gathering the deceased's assets, paying debts and taxes, and distributing what remains to the beneficiaries. The executor is accountable to the probate court and must act in the interest of the estate, not their own.

• Healthcare Proxy

  A healthcare proxy is a person legally designated to make medical decisions on your behalf if you become unable to make or communicate them yourself. The document appointing them — sometimes called a medical power of attorney or healthcare proxy designation — is separate from a financial power of attorney and limited to healthcare decisions.

• Heir

  An heir is a person who is legally entitled to inherit from an estate under state intestacy law — typically a spouse, child, parent, or other close relative. The term is often used more loosely to mean anyone who inherits, whether under a will or by law, but in its precise sense it refers only to those who would inherit if there were no will.

• Holographic Will

  A holographic will is a will written entirely in the testator's own handwriting and signed by them, with no witnesses required. Holographic wills are recognized as valid in roughly half of U.S. states; in states that do not recognize them, such a document may have no legal effect.

• Intestate

  Intestate means dying without a valid will. When that happens, state law — called intestate succession — decides who inherits, in a fixed order that usually favors a spouse and children, then other close relatives. The court appoints an administrator to settle the estate.

• Letter of Instruction

  A letter of instruction is an informal, non-binding document that supplements a will or trust by providing practical guidance the legal documents do not cover — funeral wishes, a list of accounts and passwords, the location of important documents, explanations for unusual bequests, and personal messages to loved ones. Because it is not a legal document, it is flexible and easy to update.

• Letters of Administration

  Letters of administration is a document issued by a probate court that formally authorizes a court-appointed administrator to manage and settle an estate when the deceased left no will, or when the named executor cannot serve. It serves the same practical purpose as letters testamentary — proving legal authority to act — but applies to intestate estates.

• Letters Testamentary

  Letters testamentary is a document issued by a probate court that officially authorizes the executor named in a will to act on behalf of the estate — to access accounts, transfer property, and conduct the business of settling the estate. Without it, banks and institutions will not cooperate with an executor.

• Living Trust

  A living trust is a legal arrangement created during a person's lifetime in which they transfer ownership of their assets to the trust — typically naming themselves as the initial trustee — to be managed for their benefit while alive and distributed to named beneficiaries when they die, all without going through probate. Because the trust, not the individual, holds the assets, those assets pass directly to beneficiaries outside of the probate process.

• Payable on Death

  Payable on death (POD) is a designation on a bank account, certificate of deposit, or similar financial account that names one or more people to receive the account balance directly upon the account holder's death, without going through probate. The parallel term for brokerage and investment accounts is transfer on death (TOD).

• Per Capita

  Per capita is a Latin phrase meaning "by the head." When an inheritance is distributed per capita, each surviving person in the designated class receives an equal share. If a member of that class has already died, their share is divided equally among the remaining survivors rather than passing to their descendants.

• Per Stirpes

  Per stirpes is a Latin phrase meaning "by the branch." When an inheritance is distributed per stirpes, a deceased beneficiary's share passes to their descendants rather than lapsing or being split among the surviving beneficiaries. If a child of the deceased predeceased them, that child's share goes to their own children (the grandchildren of the deceased) in equal parts.

• Personal Representative

  Personal representative is a neutral legal term used in many states to refer to the person responsible for administering a deceased person's estate — whether they were named in a will (an executor) or appointed by a court without one (an administrator). Using one term for both roles simplifies court paperwork and reflects that the duties are identical.

• Power of Attorney

  A power of attorney is a legal document in which one person (the principal) grants another person (the agent or attorney-in-fact) the authority to act on their behalf in financial and legal matters. A standard power of attorney typically becomes invalid if the principal loses mental capacity — unlike a durable power of attorney, which survives incapacity.

• Probate

  Probate is the court-supervised process of proving a will is valid, settling the deceased's debts and taxes, and distributing what remains to the people entitled to it. It applies whether or not there is a will, and it is overseen by a probate court in the county where the person lived.

• Residuary Estate

  The residuary estate is everything that remains in a deceased person's estate after all specific bequests have been made, debts and taxes have been paid, and costs of administration have been settled. The will's residuary clause names who receives this remainder — often the bulk of the estate.

• Self-Proving Affidavit

  A self-proving affidavit is a sworn statement, signed by the testator and witnesses before a notary, that is attached to a will to certify that it was properly executed. When a will has a valid self-proving affidavit, the probate court can accept it without needing to track down and question the witnesses — which can be particularly important if years have passed since signing.

• Successor Trustee

  A successor trustee is the person or institution named in a trust document to step in and manage the trust when the original trustee can no longer serve — typically because of death, incapacity, or resignation. In a revocable living trust where the grantor serves as their own initial trustee, the successor trustee is the person who carries out the trust's instructions after the grantor's death.

• Testamentary Trust

  A testamentary trust is a trust created by the instructions in a will, which comes into existence only after the testator dies and the will has been admitted to probate. Unlike a living trust, it does not exist during the testator's lifetime and does not avoid probate — the assets must pass through probate before they can be transferred into the trust.

• Trustee

  A trustee is the person or institution responsible for managing the assets held inside a trust, in accordance with the trust document and in the interest of the beneficiaries. The trustee holds legal title to the trust property but must use it only for the purposes the trust specifies.