21764_24_glossary.3d 5/6/2008 13:55 page 581 Glossary 401(k) plan A company-sponsored retirement plan of a dead person whose executor (person chosen to in which an employee agrees either to take a salary hand it out) has died. Also called administrator de reduction or to forgo a bonus to provide money for bonis non or administrator d.b.n. retirement. administrator pendente lite Temporary administra- A tor appointed before the adjudication of testacy or intestacy to preserve the assets of an estate. abates 1. Destroy or completely end. 2. Greatly lessen or reduce. administrator with the will annexed (Latin) “With the will attached.” An administrator who is adeemed Take away. appointed by a court to supervise handing out the ademption 1. Disposing of something left in a will property of a dead person whose will does not before death, with the effect that the person it was name executors (persons to hand out property) or left to does not get it. 2. The gift, before death, of whose named executors cannot or will not serve. something left in a will to a person who was left it. Also known as administrator w.w.a., administrator cum testamento annexo, and administrator c.t.a. administrator A person appointed by the court to supervise the estate (property) of a dead person. If administratrix Female appointed to administer the the supervising person is named in the dead estate of an intestate decedent. ’ person s will, the proper name is executor. advance directives A document such as a durable administering an estate Settling and distributing the power of attorney, health-care proxy, or living will estate of a deceased person. that specifies your health-care decisions and who ad litem will make decisions for you if you cannot make your administrator Person appointed by a court own. Advance directives often specify a DNR to furnish a necessary party to a lawsuit in which a (do-not-resuscitate) order. deceased has an interest. “ affinity Relationship by marriage. For example, a administrator of goods not administered (Latin) Of wife is related by affinity to her husband’s brother. the goods not (already taken care of).” An administrator appointed to hand out the property agent A person authorized (requested or per- mitted) by another person to act for him or her; a person entrusted with another’s business. 21764_24_glossary.3d 5/6/2008 13:55 page 582 alternate valuation method Under federal tax rules, attestation clause A clause, usually at the end of a the administrator of a dead person’s property may document, that witnesses the signing of the docu- set a value for the property based on the date of ment with a signature of attestation. death or on the “alternate valuation date,” the day attorney-in-fact Any person who acts formally for the property is sold or given out. If six months go by another person. before the property is disposed of, the choice is between the value as of the day of death and six B months after, so long as the later value is less than the earlier. bastard A child born out of lawful wedlock. ambulatory Movable; capable of being changed or beneficiaries 1. A person (or organization, etc.) for revoked; able to walk. whose benefit a trust is created. 2. A person to whom an insurance policy is payable. 3. A person anatomical gift A donation of all or part of a who inherits under a will. 4. Anyone who benefits human body. from something or who is treated as the real owner ancillary administration A proceeding in a state of something for tax or other purposes. where a dead person had property, but which is beneficiary (cestui que trust) (French) “He or she different from the state where that person lived and who.” For example, a cestui que trust is a person has her main estate administered. who has a right to the property, money, and proceeds being managed by another. The modern annuity 1. A fixed sum of money, usually paid to a “ ” person at fixed times for a fixed time period or for phrase is beneficiary of a trust. life. 2. A retirement annuity is a right to receive bequeath To give property, usually not real estate, payments starting at some future date, usually by a will. retirement, but sometimes a fixed date. 3. An account with an investment or insurance company bequest A gift by will, usually of personal property. that is tax free until retirement. bond A document that promises to pay money if a antilapse statutes State laws that prevent lapsed particular future event happens, or a sum of money legacies and lapsed devises. that is put up and will be lost if that event happens. appearance 1. The coming into court as a party C (plaintiff or defendant) to a lawsuit. A person who caveat (Latin) “Beware;” warning. does this “appears.” 2. The formal coming into court as a lawyer in a specific lawsuit; often also charitable remainder annuity trust (CRAT) Trust in called “entering” the case. which a fixed amount of income is given to a beneficiary at least annually, and the entire appointee The person who is to receive the benefit remainder is given to charity. under a power of appointment. charitable remainder trust Trust in which the settlor appointive property Property that is an estate asset or a beneficiary retains the income from the trust that will be given out by power of appointment. for a period of time (usually for life), after which appointment The act of putting into effect a power the trust principal is given to a charity. of appointment. charitable remainder unitrust (CRUT) Trust in — — attest Swear to; act as a witness to; certify formally, which a percentage not less than five percent of usually in writing. the value of the trust property is determined annually and given to a beneficiary, with the entire attestation The act of witnessing the signing of a remainder going to charity. document and signing that you have witnessed it. 21764_24_glossary.3d 5/6/2008 13:55 page 583 charitable trust A trust set up for a public purpose curtesy A husband’s right to part of his dead wife’s such as to support a school, church, or charity. Also property. This right is regulated by statute and called a public trust. varies from state to state. chose in action A right to recover a debt or to get CUSIP number Nine-digit number assigned to all damages that can be enforced in court. These stocks and bonds traded on major exchanges and words also apply to the thing itself that is being sued many unlisted securities. on; for example, an accident, a contract, stocks, etc. cy pres (French) “As near as possible.” When a citation A notice to appear in court. dead person’s will can no longer legally or practically be carried out, a court may (but is not codicil A supplement or addition to a will that adds obligated to) order that the dead person’s estate be to it or changes it. used in a way that most nearly does what the person collateral consanguinity On the side. Kinship that would have wanted. The doctrine of cy pres is now includes uncles, aunts, and all persons similarly usually applied only to charitable trusts. related, but not direct ancestors such as grand- parents. D community property Property owned in common decedent A dead person. (both persons owning it all) by a husband and wife. declaration of trust A written statement by a person “Community property states” are those states that owning property that said property is held for call most property acquired during the marriage another person. This is one way of setting up a trust. the property of both partners no matter whose name it is in. degree of kindred The relationship between a deceased person and her relatives to determine consanguinity Having a blood relationship; kinship. who are most nearly related by blood. conservator A guardian or preserver of another demonstrative legacy A gift of a specific sum of person’s property appointed by a court because the money in a will that is to be paid out of a particular other person cannot legally manage it. fund where, if the fund has no money, the gift constructive trust A situation in which a person becomes a general legacy on an equal footing with holds legal title to property, but the property other general legacies. should, in fairness, actually belong to another descendants People who are of the bloodline of an person (because the title was gained by fraud, by a ancestor. clerical error, etc.). In this case, the property may be treated by a court as if the legal owner holds it in descent 1. Inheritance from parents or other trust for the “real” owner. ancestors. 2. Getting property by inheritance of any type, rather than by purchase or gift. conveyance in trust Trust created by a settlor’s transfer of legal title to trust property to a trustee devise 1. The gift of land by will. 2. Any gift by will. for the benefit of either the settlor or someone else. devisee A person to whom land is given by will. credit-shelter trust Trust under which a deceased devisor A person who makes a gift of land in a will. spouse’s estate passes to a trust rather than to the surviving spouse, thereby reducing the possibility of directive to physicians Another name for a living will.