Glossary of United States Probate Terms

Accounts - The records of financial dealings for the estate.

Administration - Authority given to the administrator to settle the estate. Also refers to the probate process for intestate estates.

Administrator (-trix) - When no will exists (intestate), the court appoints an administrator (male) or administratrix (female) to handle the estate proceedings.

Administrator cum testamento annexo (administrator c.t.a.) - The court appoints an administrator when no executor is named in the will or the executor is unable to serve.

Administrator de bonis non (administrator d.b.n.) - A successor administrator appointed by the court to handle the remainder of the affairs of the estate (such as upon the death of the administrator).

Affidavits - A legal written statement made under oath.

Affinity - Relationship by marriage.

Agnate- A relationship through the males of the family.

Appearance docket - An index of all cases coming into a court.

Appraisal - An itemized valuation of real or personal property.

Attest - To witness, offer testimony, or to certify that a copy is genuine.

Beneficiary - One who will receive benefit from the estate.

Bequeath - The act of assigning personal property in a will. (See testament.)

Bequest - The personal property assigned in a will.

Bond - The legal instrument used to commit the bondsman to pay a certain fee if an agreement or act is not carried out.

Bondsmen - A person who pledges a sum of money as bond in another's behalf.

Calendar - A list or schedule of cases to be presented before the court.

Case file - These are all of the various papers that have been created throughout the probate process. These are bound together and archived by case number; they are also called estate files or probate estate papers.

Codicil - An addendum to a will.

Committee - A group of people charged with specific duties for a limited time.

Common law - The body of unwritten law developed in England based on custom and precedent, rather than by statute.

Community property - Based on Spanish custom, all real and personal property acquired by a couple after marriage, belongs to both husband and wife. Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Washington are community property states.

Consanguinity - A close relation.

Conservators - A person appointed to manage the affairs of one considered incompetent; protector.

Contest - To dispute the will.

Coverture - 

Curtesy - Based on English common law, a husband's right, upon the death of his wife, to a life estate in land that the wife owned while living, and only applicable if a child had been born to the couple.

Decedent - The person who is deceased.

Degree of relationship - A legal term referring to the degree (generations) of two persons who descend from a common ancestor but not one from the other.

Devise - To transfer real property through a will.

Devisee - The person receiving real property through a will.

Devisor - The person transferring real property through a will; testator.

Distributions - The manner in which the deceased's possessions are allocated.

Docket - A list or schedule of cases to be presented before the court.

Dower rights - The rights that a non-owner spouse has in the real property.

Entail - To limit the inheritance of real property to only those in a specified line of descent, such as to the oldest male in each generation.

Escheat - In cases where no one is entitled to inherit, property reverts to the state.

Estate - The transfer of property to the state in cases where no one has been determined qualified to inherit.

Estate file - The file containing information about the property left by the deceased to be dispersed between the surviving heirs.

Executor (-trix) - The person (executor = male; executrix = female) who has been named by the testator of the will to manage the estate.

Feme sole - A single woman.

Fiduciary - A person who is holding assets for another. In probate, this might be the executor, administrator, guardian, or a trustee.

Final account - The final accounting of the estate and how it was distributed; settlement.

Guardian - The person appointed by the court to manage the affairs of a minor or someone incapable of handling his or her own affairs.

Guardianship - The court appointment of an adult to take care of the child or the child's property.

Heir - A person who inherits property upon the death of the owner.

Holographic will - A will hand written by the testator.

Imprimis - Latin, meaning "in the first place."

Infant - A minor not yet of legal age, not necessarily a young child.

Intestate - When an individual dies without leaving a will.

Inventory - An itemized list of real or personal property.

Issue - Offspring; biological children; legitimate descendants.

Legacy - A gift (bequest) of real or personal property by way of a will.

Legatee - A person receiving real or personal property by way of a will.

Legator - A person giving personal property by way of a will; devisor; testator.

Letters of Administration - A formal document from the court granting authority to handle the affairs of the estate.

Lineal - Being in a direct line from a male or female ancestor.

Locus sigilli (L.S.) - Latin, meaning "in place of the seal."

Loose papers - A collection of various papers, separate from book records.

Majority - Of full legal age.

Minor - A person who has not yet reached full legal age.

Next friend - A person acting in behalf of a minor or one unable to represent himself.

Notices - Notices are published so that creditors, and others with an interest in the estate, have an opportunity to collect debts or contact the legal representatives.

Nuncupative will - An oral will.

Parcener - A joint heir.

Partition - To divide into parts or shares.

Per capita - The method of distributing an estate in which each person receives an equal share.

Per stirpes - The method of distributing an estate in which a group of people (such as the grandchildren whose parent is deceased) receive a share as if they were one person.

Petition - A formal, written request made to a court.

Primogeniture - The first-born son inheriting the intestate estate.This practice was based on English common law.

Probate - All matters and proceedings pertaining to the administration of estates, whether there is a will (testate) or not (intestate).

Probate case file - These are all of the various papers that have been created throughout the probate process. These are bound together and archived by case number; they are also called case files, estate files, or probate estate papers.

Probate fees - Compensation paid to the attorney

Probate packet - Probate case files placed together in an envelope or tied together with a string.

Prove - The evidentiary process validating a will.

Publication - Notices are published so that creditors, and others with an interest in the estate, have an opportunity to collect debts or contact the legal representatives.

Receipt - A written statement that funds, property, or legal documents have been received.

Register of wills - The name of the office with probate jurisdiction in some localitities.

Register - A bound book in which official matters are recorded by the court clerk.

Relict - A widow or widower.

Relinquishment - To waive one's rights; surrender.

Settlements - The final accounting of the estate and how it was distributed; final account.

Sine prole (s.p.) - Without offspring.

Succession - The process of settling an estate based on Spanish community property law, followed especially in Louisiana.

Successor administrator (-trix) - Administrator appointed by the court to handle the remainder of the affairs of the estate (such as upon the death of the administrator); administrator de bonis non (administrator d.b.n.).

Surety - A person who agrees to be liable for another's debts and obligations in case of default.

Surrogate - The court officer with jurisdiction over probate and guardianship matters in New Jersy and New York.

Testament - Technically, the document in which the testator distributes (bequeaths) personal property. This term is often dropped from "last will and testament."

Testamentary - Pertaining to a will.

Testate - When an individual dies having left a will.

Testator (-trix) - The person making the will or testament.

Trustee - A person who holds legal title to property for the benefit of someone else.

Videlicet (viz.) - Latin, meaning "namely."

Widow's allowance - State statute governs the share of real or personal property which a widow can claim from her husband's estate. Often this supercedes other claims and debts to the estate.

Widow's election - A widow's right to either accept what was granted to her by her husband's will or to accept the share granted to her by state statute.

Will - Technically, the document in which the testator distributes (devises) real property. This term is often used in place of "last will and testament."

Witness - A person who attests to actions or events personally seen.