Administrator
- A person appointed when either no Will can be found or there is no executor to carry out the intentions of the Will.
Letters of Administration
- Granted by the high court to administrators to give them the authority they need to act and to administer/distribute the estate where there is no Will.
Assets
- Generally everything that you own.
Beneficiary
- Someone who will inherit from the Will, a trust or under the intestacy laws.
Bequest
- A gift left in a Will.
Chargeable gift
- A gift on which Inheritance Tax may be payable.
Codicil
- A document executed by a testator subsequent to the Will that alters, cancels or adds to the provisions of the previously drafted Will. Codicils can adversly affect a Will. It is therefore more common to re-write the whole Will.
Confirmation of the Estate (Scotland)
- The document that confirms to executors that they have authority to act, and which validates the Will.
Devise
- A gift by Will of freehold property.
Disbursement
- A payment made to a third party.
Executor
- A person appointed in the Will to administer the estate.
Guardian
- Someone appointed to look after the interests of a child under the age of 18 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland or under 16 in Scotland.
Inheritance tax
- Tax payable on the transfer of assets either during an individual's lifetime (within the last 7 years) or following their death.
Intestate
- A person who dies without making a valid Will.
Legacy
- A gift of a specific item or cash sum left in a Will, apart from land.
Life interest
- The right to enjoy for life (or until a specified time period has elapsed or an event has occurred), either money or property which will eventually revert to the original estate in some way on death - instructions are included in the original deceased's Will as to what should happen to the gift when the life interest ends.
Moveable property
- Anything other than buildings or land.
Pecuniary legacy
- A gift of money under a Will.
Potentially exempt transfer (PET)
- A gift made during ones lifetime that is exempt from Inheritance Tax if the donor lives for seven years after making the gift.
Predeceased
- Someone who dies before the person who has made the Will.
Grant of Probate (England, Wales and Northern Ireland)
- The document that confirms to executors that they have authority to act, and which validates the Will.
Residue
- What is left of the estate after the payment of all debts, taxes, administration expenses, legacies and bequests under the Will.
Reversionary interest
- Benefit from a trust property.
Specific legacy
- A gift of a specific object under a Will.
Testator/testatrix
- The person (male/female) who makes the Will.
Trust
- An arrangement by which property is handed over to trustees to be applied for the benefit of other people known as beneficiaries.
Trustee
- The person who holds property on behalf of another person and is responsible for administering the trust assets.
Variation, deed of
- An arrangement whereby certain provisions under a Will may be varied by consent of the beneficiaries.
Will
- A form of instructions as to how someone wishes to dispose of their assets on death.