Glossary of Estate Planning Terms

Assets:  Property of all kinds, real, personal, tangible and intangible. The entire property of a person that is applicable or subject to the payment of his or her debts.

Attorney in fact:  A private attorney authorized by another to act in his or her place.  This authority is conferred in a power of attorney and may be for a particular purpose or for the transaction of business in general.

Debt:  A sum of money due by an express agreement.

Estate planning:  That branch of the law which, in arranging a person’s property and estate, takes into account the laws of wills, taxes, insurance, property, and carrying out the person’s own wishes for the disposition of his or her property upon death.

Guardian:  A person lawfully vested with the power, and charged with the responsibility, of taking care of the person and, or managing the property and rights of another person, who, for the defect of age, understanding, or self-control, is considered incapable of administering his or her own affairs.

Heir:  The person who, by law, succeeds an intestate estate.

Intestate:  To die without a valid last will and testament.

Last Will and Testament:  The instrument which ultimately fixes the disposition of real and personal property at death.

Living Will:  An instrument which governs the application or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment from an individual in the event of an incurable or irreversible condition in which death is imminent and also in the event the person is no longer able to participate in healthcare decisions.

Non probate estate:  The property of the decedent which is not subject to probate administration.

Personal representative:  The person designated and authorized under a will to dispose of the assets and satisfy the lawful and legitimate debts of the decedent.

Power of Attorney:  An written instrument which designates and authorizes a person to act on behalf of another as agent and attorney-in-fact.

Probate:  The legal process by which the assets of the decedent are collected and administered, legal debts are paid and other tangible property is distributed under the supervision of a court.

Probate estate: The sum of property, of all types, which are subject to administration in a probate action.

Testate:  To die with a valid last will and testament.

Trust:  A legal entity, as established by a valid trust instrument, created by one person for the benefit of another or other persons.

Trustee:   The person authorized to hold, manage, protect and distribute property held in trust.