Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Glossary
Estate planning terms can feel overwhelming, especially when you are trying to protect your family, avoid unnecessary court involvement, and make sure the right people are in charge if something happens to you. This California-focused glossary explains common words and phrases you may see when creating or updating a will, living trust, power of attorney, advance health care directive, or other estate planning documents.
If you are researching estate planning in California, comparing a will and living trust, or trying to understand the probate process, this page is a strong place to start.
Estate Planning Glossary
These are common terms you may encounter when creating or updating a will, trust, power of attorney, or other estate planning documents.
Browse by letter: A B C D E F G H I L N P R S T W
A
- Advance Health Care Directive
- A legal document that lets you name someone to make medical decisions for you if you cannot speak for yourself. It can also include your wishes about medical treatment. In California, it also includes living will language regarding end-of-life decisions.
B
- Beneficiary
- A person or organization who is entitled to receive money, property, or other benefits from a trust, will, insurance policy, or retirement account.
C
- Community Property
- Property deemed owned equally by both spouses, regardless of title, depending upon applicable state law. In California, this generally is property acquired by either spouse during marriage, other than by gift or inheritance, unless there is a valid property agreement between spouses.
- Conservator
- A person appointed by the court to manage the personal care or financial affairs of an adult who can no longer handle those matters alone.
D
- Decedent
- A person who has died.
- Durable Power of Attorney
- A legal document that allows someone you choose to handle financial and legal matters for you when you later become incapacitated.
E
- Estate
- Everything a person owns at death, including real estate, bank accounts, investments, business interests, and personal property.
- Estate Plan
- Your overall legal plan for managing your affairs during life, planning for incapacity, and passing your assets after death.
- Executor
- The person named in a will to carry out its terms and handle the probate estate process.
F
- Funded Trust
- A trust that actually has assets transferred into it by change of title or beneficiary designation. A living trust usually works as intended only if assets are properly connected to the trust.
G
- Grantor
- Another word for the person who creates a trust. ‘Trustor’ and ‘settlor’ are also commonly used.
- Guardian
- A person appointed to care for a minor child. In estate planning, parents often nominate guardians for their children in a will.
H
- Heir
- A person who may inherit property under state law if someone dies without a valid will, or if all named beneficiaries in a will or trust are deceased.
I
- Inheritance
- Money, property, or assets received from someone who has died.
- Intestate
- Dying without a valid will.
- Intestate Succession
- The laws that decide who inherits when someone dies without a valid will and without a fully funded living trust.
L
- Living Trust
- A trust created during your lifetime to hold your assets and direct how they are managed and distributed during life and after death.
N
- No-Contest Clause
- A clause intended to discourage a beneficiary from challenging a will or trust by risking loss of an inheritance if the challenge is unsuccessful or legally barred.
P
- Personal Asset Trust™
- A beneficiary trust, activated after the trustor dies, allowing the beneficiary significant control and access while affording substantial inheritance protection.
- Pour-Over Will
- A will designed to direct certain assets into your trust after death if those assets were left outside the trust during life.
- Power of Attorney
- A legal document giving another person authority to act for you in financial or legal matters. If durable, it is valid even after you become incapacitated, up until your death.
- Probate
- The court-supervised process for transferring property after death, paying debts, and distributing assets, often necessary when you fail to have a fully funded living trust.
R
- Residual Beneficiary
- A beneficiary who receives the remainder of an estate or trust after specific gifts, expenses, debts, and taxes have been handled.
- Residuary Estate
- The part of an estate that remains after specific gifts, debts, taxes, and expenses have been paid.
- Revocable Living Trust
- A living trust that you can usually change, amend, or revoke during your lifetime.
S
- Separate Property
- Property owned by one spouse alone, usually because it was owned before marriage or was received afterwards by gift or inheritance.
- Settlor
- Another word for the person who creates a trust. ‘Grantor’ and ‘trustor’ are also commonly used.
- Specific Gift
- A gift of a particular item or a specifically identified asset, such as a piece of real estate or jewelry, a vehicle, or a named account.
- Successor Trustee
- The person or institution named to take over management of a trust when the original trustee can no longer serve.
T
- Testator
- A person who signs a will.
- Trust
- A legal arrangement in which one person or institution, the trustee, holds and manages property for the benefit of another according to written instructions. With regard to a living trust, you may be both the trustor and initial trustee.
- Trust Amendment
- A written change to part of an existing revocable trust, without replacing the entire trust.
- Trust Certification
- A shortened trust document or summary used to prove that a trust exists and that a trustee has authority to act, without providing the entire trust document.
- Trust Funding
- The process of transferring assets into a trust or coordinating titles and beneficiary designations so the estate plan works as intended.
- Trust Protector
- An independent third party who may adjust the level of inheritance protection afforded by a beneficiary’s Personal Asset Trust™.
- Trustor
- Another word for the person who creates a trust. ‘Grantor’ and ‘settlor’ are also commonly used.
- Trustee
- The person or institution responsible for managing trust assets and carrying out the trust terms.
W
- Will
- A legal document stating who should receive your property after death and who should handle your estate.
Trust Administration & Probate Glossary
When a loved one dies, trustees, executors, and family members often run into unfamiliar legal terms. This section explains many of the words commonly used in California trust administration and probate matters.
Browse by letter: A B C D E F G H I L N P S T
A
- Accounting
- A financial report showing what assets and income came into the trust or estate, what was paid out, and what remains for beneficiaries.
- Administrator
- A person appointed by the court to handle a probate estate when there is no valid will, or when no executor is available to serve.
- Appraisal
- An opinion of value for property. In probate and trust administration, appraisals are often used to determine what assets are worth for tax and distribution purposes.
- Asset Distribution
- The process of transferring trust or estate property to the people or organizations entitled to receive it.
B
- Breach of Fiduciary Duty
- A failure by a trustee, executor, administrator, or other fiduciary to properly carry out legal duties owed to beneficiaries or heirs.
C
- Community Property
- Property deemed owned equally by both spouses, regardless of title, depending upon applicable state law. In California, this generally is property acquired by either spouse during marriage, other than by gift or inheritance, unless there is a valid property agreement between spouses.
- Creditor
- A person or company to whom money is owed.
- Creditor Claim
- A claim made against an estate by someone asserting that the decedent owed money.
D
- Distribution
- The payment or transfer of money or property from a trust or estate to a beneficiary, heir, or other recipient.
- Duty of Care
- The duty of a trustee or other fiduciary to act prudently, responsibly, impartially, and with reasonable care.
- Duty of Loyalty
- The duty of a trustee or other fiduciary to act in the best interests of beneficiaries and not for personal advantage.
E
- Estate Administration
- The overall process of collecting assets, paying debts and expenses, handling required tax matters, and distributing property after death. This most often refers to a probate estate.
F
- Fair Market Value
- The price a willing buyer would pay a willing seller when neither is under pressure and both know the relevant facts. This is often determined by a professional appraisal.
- Fiduciary
- A person or institution with a legal duty to act in the best interests of another, such as a trustee, executor, or administrator.
G
- General Gift
- A gift made from general estate or trust assets rather than from one specifically identified item.
H
- Heggstad Petition
- A court petition sometimes used in California to ask the court to confirm that an asset belongs to a trust, and avoids a full probate, even though title was not properly transferred before death.
I
- Inventory
- A list of the assets in a trust or probate estate, often together with their fair market values.
L
- Letters of Administration
- Court documents giving an administrator authority to act on behalf of a probate estate, when there is no will.
- Letters Testamentary
- Court documents giving an executor authority to act on behalf of a probate estate, when there is a will.
N
- Non-Probate Assets
- Assets that pass outside probate, such as trust assets, certain jointly owned assets, and accounts with valid beneficiary designations.
- Notice to Beneficiaries
- A formal notice giving beneficiaries or heirs information they are legally entitled to receive during a trust or probate matter.
P
- Personal Representative
- A general term for the person authorized to administer a probate estate, such as an executor or administrator.
- Probate Assets
- Assets that must go through probate because they do not pass by trust, beneficiary designation, or another non-probate method.
- Probate Estate
- The property subject to the probate court process.
S
- Small Estate Affidavit
- A document that may allow certain assets to be collected or transferred without a full probate proceeding when the estate qualifies under California law.
- Spousal Property Petition
- A California court procedure often used to confirm or transfer property to a surviving spouse or registered domestic partner without a full probate administration.
- Step-Up in Basis
- A tax concept under which inherited property may receive a new income tax basis based on its value at death, thereby reducing future taxable capital gains when assets are sold after death.
T
- Trust Administration
- The process of carrying out the terms of a trust after the trust maker dies or becomes unable to act.
- Trust Assets
- Property owned by the trust or held in the name of the trustee of the trust.
Need Help With Estate Planning, Trust Administration, or Probate?
If you still have questions after reviewing the glossary, you can contact our team or register for a free estate planning seminar to learn more about your options.
