Administration: The process of managing a Trust or a person's estate after death.

Administrator: The title of the person or institution appointed by the Probate Court to handle the estate of a person who died without a Will (or “intestate”).

Beneficiary: The recipient, whether a person or other entity, of an asset of another as named in, for example, a Will, Trust, insurance policy, retirement benefit plan.

Codicil: A written amendment to a Will.

Devise: (v.) To grant an asset to a beneficiary through a Will. (n.) Inheritance by a beneficiary of an asset from another through his or her Will.

Devisee: A person or other entity identified in a Will to be the recipient of a devise; a beneficiary.

Domicile: The state of a person's permanent residence.

Donee: A person or other entity identified to be the recipient of a gift.

Donor: The person or entity making a gift to a donee.

Escheat: The assumption by a state of the assets of a deceased where the deceased has no known heirs or beneficiaries.

Estate: In its broadest sense, a person's estate includes everything that he or she owns, including real and personal property.

Estate Planning: The process of organizing your estate so that you may maximize the benefits that your assets can provide during your lifetime and ensure that they will pass on to your chosen beneficiaries.

Executor: The person or entity designated in a Will to administer the estate of the deceased.

Fiduciary: A person or entity that serves in a representative capacity, such as an executor, administrator, trustee, attorney-in-fact, etc. and charged with fulfilling certain duties.

Grantor: A person or entity that grants something to another.

Guardian: A person designated or appointed to be responsible for a minor child or an adult incapable of managing his or her own affairs.

Heir: A person who is related by blood or marriage to a deceased and who under law would receive some or all of the property of another who dies without a Will.

Inter Vivos Trust: A living Trust.

Intestate: To die without a Will.

Irrevocable Trust: A Trust that cannot be changed or revoked.

Living Trust: A Trust that applies during one's lifetime. A living Trust may be revocable or irrevocable.

Probate: The process of submitting a deceased's Will to the Probate Court to determine its validity. Also the process of submitting an estate to the Probate Court where a person has died without a Will.

Probate Court: The court of law that has jurisdiction over the estates and Wills of the deceased.

Revocable Living Trust: A living Trust capable of being amended or revoked.

Settlor: A person who establishes a living Trust.

Testamentary Trust: A Trust that is created through a person's Will upon their death.

Testate: To die with a Will.

Testator: Refers to the person who makes a Will.

Trust: A written agreement under which property is held in Trust by a trustee(s) for the benefit of a beneficiary(ies) in accordance with the terms of the Trust.

Trustee: The person or entity that administers a Trust.

Trustor: Refers to the person who makes a Trust.

Will: A document in which a person specifies how and to whom his or her assets will be distributed at the time of their death.