These are the words that appear in the documents we generate, plus the ones you meet while
reading about Wills. Every definition is written to be useful on its own, without a second
lookup.
If a word in your Will is not here, it should not be in your Will — tell us and we will add
it.
Definitions
Agent
The person you appoint to act for you under a power of attorney. For a medical power of attorney, the agent makes health-care decisions when you cannot.
Attestation
The part of a Will where the witnesses confirm in writing, in front of each other, that they watched you sign it and that you appeared to understand what you were doing.
Beneficiary
A person or organisation you leave something to. A beneficiary can also be named on a life insurance policy or a retirement account, and those pass outside the Will entirely.
Bequest
A gift of a specific item or sum — “my grandfather’s watch to my daughter”. Also called a specific gift. If you no longer own the item when you die, the bequest usually fails.
Codicil
A separate document that amends an existing Will. It needs the same signing and witnessing as the Will itself, which is why signing a whole new Will is usually simpler.
Community property
A way of treating property earned during a marriage, used in a minority of states. Broadly, each spouse owns half of what was earned while married, which limits what either can give away by Will. The rules are state-specific.
Descendant
A child, grandchild and so on down the line. The word matters because a gift to descendants can be divided by branch of the family (per stirpes) or equally among survivors (per capita).
Elective share
The minimum a surviving spouse can claim from an estate in many states, whatever the Will says. It is the main limit on disinheriting a spouse.
Estate
Everything you own at death — property, accounts, investments, vehicles, personal belongings, and your share of anything held jointly.
Executor
The person you name in your Will to carry it out: gathering the assets, paying the debts and taxes, and distributing what is left. Some states call the role the personal representative.
Fiduciary
Someone legally required to act in another person’s interest rather than their own. An executor, a trustee and an agent under a power of attorney are all fiduciaries.
Guardian
The person you nominate to raise your minor children if neither parent can. A Will is the only place you can express this preference, and a court decides whether to follow it — which it nearly always does.
Holographic will
A Will written entirely in your own handwriting. Some states recognise them and some do not, and the ones that do usually still require the handwriting to be proved.
Intestate
Dying without a valid Will, so that your state decides who inherits under rules written without any knowledge of your family.
Irrevocable
Cannot be changed or cancelled. Most trusts people set up in their lifetime are revocable; an irrevocable trust generally cannot be changed once made.
Issue
A legal word for descendants — children, and their children, and so on.
Living will
A document stating your wishes about medical treatment if you are terminally ill or permanently unconscious, including whether you want life-prolonging treatment and artificial nutrition and hydration. Sometimes called an advance health care directive.
Medical power of attorney
Appoints someone to make health-care decisions for you when you cannot. It is not the same as a living will: the living will states your wishes, and the medical power of attorney gives someone the authority to act on them.
Notarisation
A notary public witnessing your signature and confirming your identity. It is not the same as witnessing a Will, and most Wills do not need a notary to be valid — a notarised self-proving affidavit is what spares your witnesses a later court appearance.
Per capita
“By head” — a gift divided equally among the people alive to take it. Contrast per stirpes.
Per stirpes
“By branch” — a gift divided by branch of the family, so a deceased child’s share goes to their children rather than being split among the surviving children. The difference from per capita changes who receives what whenever a child died first.
Power of attorney
A document giving someone authority to act for you. A medical power of attorney covers health-care decisions; a durable financial power of attorney covers money and property. We provide the medical one.
Principal
The person who makes a power of attorney and gives someone else authority to act. In the documents we generate, that is you.
Probate
The court process of proving a Will and administering an estate: confirming the Will is genuine, appointing the executor, settling debts and supervising distribution. Many states have a shorter procedure for smaller estates.
Residuary estate
Everything left after specific gifts are made and debts, expenses and taxes are paid. It catches whatever you forgot to name, which is why the residuary clause usually matters more than the list of gifts.
Revocable
Can be changed or cancelled. Your Will is revocable by definition — signing a new one revokes the old one.
Self-proving affidavit
A sworn statement, signed with your witnesses and usually notarised, that the formalities were followed. Where it is recognised, your witnesses generally do not have to be tracked down and brought to court after your death. It is one of the things that varies most by state.
Simultaneous death
You and a beneficiary dying in the same event, such as an accident. Without a survivorship period in the Will, the order of death can be disputed — and it decides whether the gift goes to that beneficiary’s family or back into your estate.
Testate
Dying with a valid Will. The opposite of intestate.
Testator
The person who made the Will. “Testatrix” is the old feminine form and is almost never used now.
Trust
An arrangement where someone holds property for someone else’s benefit. A trust for minor children is the one most people meet first: it holds a child’s inheritance until they are old enough, because a minor cannot legally inherit outright.
Trustee
The person who manages property held in a trust, with a fiduciary duty to do it in the beneficiaries’ interest. The trustee and the guardian of your children can be — and often should be — different people.
Undue influence
Pressure that overrides someone’s real wishes, and the ground on which Wills are most often challenged. It is another reason a Will signed in front of witnesses who are not beneficiaries is harder to attack.
Will
A document stating who should receive your property when you die, who should administer the estate, and who should raise your minor children. Also called a Last Will and Testament. A Will does not cover jointly owned property, or accounts and policies with a named beneficiary — those pass to those people directly.
Witness
Someone who watches you sign your Will and then signs it themselves. Every state requires witnesses; how many, and whether they may also be beneficiaries, depends on where you live. In general they should be adults, unrelated to you, and not named in the Will.