Wills & Trusts Glossary

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Beneficiary: A beneficiary is a person who is intended to receive property through a testamentary plan.

Decedent: A decedent is the person who has died.

Estate: The property of a person after death, or post-mortem, is called an Estate. An Estate is an entity whose span of existence is expected to be temporary and whose purpose is to gather the assets or a decedent, ascertain & pay the debts of the decedent, and to distribute property remaining after paying debts to the beneficiaries of the Estate, in accordance with the testamentary plan.

Irrevocable Trust. An irrevocable trust is not revocable, meaning it cannot be revoked or amended by the Settlor or Trustor who formed it at will and requires a Court order to revoke or amend. For most people, an Irrevocable Trust is only appropriate for a Life Insurance Trust, to hold life insurance. Otherwise, Irrevocable Trusts are generally used by extremely wealthy people and families to protect assets and to minimize estate tax.

Life Insurance: Life insurance is a contract that the owner has with the life insurance company. The basics of the contract is that, allegedly, if the insured dies while the life insurance policy is in place, the life insurance policy will pay the money stated on the life insurance contract, called the death benefit, to the beneficiary or beneficiaries specified on the policy.

Living Trust. A Living Trust is a trust that is revocable, meaning it can be revoked or amended by the Settlor or Trustor who formed it at will, with no Court intervention.

Post-mortem: Post-mortem is an adjective used to describe the period of time after the testator’s death.

Probate: Probate refers to the legal process overseen by the Probate Division of civil court that oversees a decedent’s will or intestacy, or presides over challenges to a decedent’s trust.

Settlor: A Settlor is the person with property that places that Property in a trust. Also called a Trustee.

Testamentary Plan: A testamentary plan is either the written instructions of the Testator / decedent and/or the legal plan of distribution, if no testamentary plan exists, according to the statute of the State of the United States where the decedent died.

Testator: A testator is a living person who is making or has made a testamentary plan.

Trust: A trust is a document that directs who property will be administered and distributed. A trust is a mixture of a contract and a fiduciary relationship, whereby a living person who owns property gives that property to another person, whose job it is to protect, administer and distribute that property for the benefit of another person or persons, called the beneficiary or beneficiaries.

Trustee: A Trustee is a person who manages the property in a Trust for the benefit of a beneficiary.

Trustor: A Trustor is the person with property that places that Property in a trust. Also called a Settlor.

Will: A will is a type of testamentary document that is intended to leave post-mortem, or after death instructions of the decedent. Those instructions primarily concern the disposition of the decedent’s property, instructions pertaining to the decedent’s remains, naming guardians of the decedent’s minor children, and/or instructions regarding a person’s pets and/or social media accounts and assets. A will is overseen by the Probate division of Civil Court in California.

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