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

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 - it's easier to make a new will)

Technical terms

• Estate: Everything you own - property, savings, possessions, 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