Will Writing Glossary

Legal jargon can be confusing. Here's a plain-English guide to common terms you'll encounter when making a will.

People and roles

• Testator: The person making the will (that's you)
• Beneficiary: Anyone who receives something under your will
• Executor: The person you appoint to carry out your wishes and administer your estate
• Guardian: Someone you appoint to look after your children if you die while they're minors
• Trustee: Someone who manages assets held in trust (often the same as your executor)
• Witness: Someone who watches you sign and then signs the will themselves
• Attorney: Someone you appoint under a Lasting Power of Attorney to make decisions on your behalf if you lose mental capacity during your lifetime. An attorney is completely separate from your will. Their role ends when you die, at which point your executors take over. To set one up, see our LPA service.

Types of gift

• Specific gift/legacy: A particular item left to a named person (e.g., "my piano to my daughter")
• Pecuniary legacy: A gift of a fixed sum of money
• Residuary estate: Everything that's left after debts, expenses, and specific gifts have been dealt with
• Residuary beneficiary: The person who receives the residuary estate

Legal processes

• Probate: The legal process of administering someone's estate after death
• Grant of Probate: The court document that gives executors authority to deal with the estate
• Letters of Administration: Like probate, but when there's no will
• Intestacy: Dying without a valid will
• Codicil: A document that amends an existing will (rarely used now, as it's easier to make a new will)

Technical terms

• Estate: Everything you own: property, savings, possessions and investments
• Chattels: Personal possessions (not property or money)
• Issue: Legal term for children and their descendants
• Per stirpes: A way of dividing gifts so that if a beneficiary dies before you, their share goes to their children
• Attestation clause: The bit at the end of a will where witnesses confirm they saw the will being signed
• Revocation clause: A statement that cancels all previous wills

Inheritance tax

• IHT (Inheritance Tax): Tax charged on the value of your estate when you die, normally 40% on anything above your available tax-free allowances
• NRB (Nil-Rate Band): The main inheritance tax-free allowance, currently £325,000. Nothing is taxed on the value of your estate up to this amount
• RNRB (Residence Nil-Rate Band): An extra allowance, currently up to £175,000, that can apply when you leave your main home to your children or grandchildren

If you think inheritance tax may be an issue for your estate and you'd like further advice, please book a consultation with one of our solicitors.