Estate Planning Smarts: A Practical, User-Friendly, Action-Oriented Guide
Planning an estate involves fitting together many pieces. This book explains in a straightforward and easy-to-understand way...
Read moreSome people feel uncomfortable meeting with an attorney to discuss their estate planning needs because of an unfamiliarity with the law. A good lawyer will discuss your available options in simple terms that a person with no legal training can comprehend.
You can also relieve some of that hesitancy by familiarizing yourself with legal terminology before meeting with a qualified estate planning attorney to discuss the appropriate choices for you. The following is a short list of common legal terms that may come up in an estate planning meeting. Take just a few minutes to familiarize yourself with this list and keep it handy for future reference.
Attorney-in-Fact: A person who is named under a Power of Attorney to act on behalf of another person.
Beneficiary: A person or entity that receives a benefit from an estate, trust or asset transfer vehicle.
Death Probate: The legal process used to assemble and transfer a decedent's assets to the intended beneficiaries and settle a decedent''s outstanding debts.
Decedent: A person who has passed away.
Donee: A person or entity who receives a gifted asset from a donor.
Donor: A person or entity who gifts an asset to another person or entity.
Estate: All the assets owned by a decedent upon his or her death.
Executor/Personal Representative: The person responsible for settling a decedent's estate.
Grantor: A person who transfers an asset to another person or entity.
Guardian of the Person: A court-appointed supervisor in charge of the care of a minor or incompetent person''s physical well-being.
Guardian of the Estate: A court-appointed supervisor in charge of the care of a minor or incompetent person's financial well-being.
Irrevocable Trust: A trust in which the trustor has not reserved the right to revoke and cannot change the wording in the trust.
Living Trust: A trust established and operating during the trustor's lifetime.
Revocable Trust: A trust in which the trustor reserves the right to revoke.
Testator: The creator of a will.
Trust: A legal arrangement created to facilitate the transfer of property to a trustee for the benefit of a beneficiary.
Trustee: A person or entity named in a trust agreement to be responsible for holding and administering the trust assets according to the terms of the trust.
Trustor: A person who creates a trust. (Also sometimes called a "grantor" or "settlor.")
Will: A legal document used to transfer assets upon a decedent''s death.
Attorneys Judith Sterling and Michelle Tucker are partners in the Honolulu, Hawaii, law firm of Sterling & Tucker. To visit the firm''s ElderLawAnswers home page, click here.
Local Elder Law Attorneys in Ashburn, VA
John Laster is a lawyer licensed to practice in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. He limits his practice to wealth transfer planning, trusts, wills, powers of attorney, health care decision-making issues, estate administration and related tax, elder law and disability concerns. Listed in The Best Lawyers...
Margaret A. O’Reilly is an estate planning and elder law attorney with over thirty-five years of legal experience. Attorney O’Reilly graduated from Duke University with a degree in psychology, and received her law degree from Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, Massachusetts. For over 15 y...
In practice since 1987, Fairfax Attorney Evan Farr is widely recognized as one of the leading Elder Law, Estate Planning, and Specials Needs attorneys in Virginia and one of foremost experts in the Country in the field of Medicaid Asset Protection and related Trusts. Evan Farr has been quoted or cited as an expert by n...
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