Definitions of Common Probate and Estate Administration Words:
Assets: All things of value owned by a person. All assets must be listed on the inheritance tax return.
Beneficiary: A person named in a will, life insurance policy, or retirement plan to get all or part of another person’s property.
Bequest: A gift of money or personal property made in a will.
Decedent: A person who has died.
Devise: A gift of real property made in a will.
Estate Administration: The process of settling an estate after a person dies, including paying any money still owed and giving away property of the person who passed away.
Estate: Everything the deceased person owned or had and interest in at the time of his or her death, including life insurance and joint property.
Heir: A person who will inherit property based on a will or state law, if there is no will.
Intestacy Law: The state law that determines who will get property when someone dies without a will.
Lien: The right to take all or part of property, like a house, to pay a debt.
Personal Representative: The person who is named in the will or appointed by the Register of Wills to divide the deceased person’s property and pay the deceased’s debts. This person is sometimes also called an Administrator or Executor.
Probate Property: The deceased person’s real estate and other belongings that must go through the probate system. This usually does not include unpaid wages, cars, a small bank account that will be used to pay funeral costs, property held jointly (in two names), and some life insurance and retirement benefits.
Probate: The process of having a deceased person’s will accepted by the Register of Wills.
Title: If you have title to a property, it means that you are the owner of that property.
Title Search: An investigation into the history of ownership of a property and the liens, unpaid claims, restrictions, or other problems with the property.
Reference: Philadelphia VIP; Philadelphia Law Works, July 2012
Filed Under: Estate Planning; Probate; Estate Administration
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