- Administrator
- The person a probate court appoints to settle an estate when there is no will (or the will names no one able to serve).
- Advance Directive
- A legal document that records your medical wishes and names a healthcare agent in case you can't communicate.
- Beneficiary
- A person or organization named to receive assets from a will, trust, insurance policy, or retirement account.
- Codicil
- A legal amendment to an existing will, used to make changes without rewriting the whole document.
- Decedent
- The legal term for the person who has died.
- Estate
- Everything a person owns at death — money, property, investments, and personal belongings — minus their debts.
- Executor
- The person named in a will to carry out its instructions and settle the estate.
- Fiduciary
- Anyone legally obligated to act in another's best interest — an executor, trustee, or agent under a power of attorney.
- Guardian
- A person named (usually in a will) to care for minor children after their parents die.
- Heir
- A person legally entitled to inherit when someone dies without a will, under state intestacy law.
- Intestate
- Dying without a valid will. State law then decides who inherits.
- Living Trust
- A revocable trust you create while alive to hold assets so they pass to heirs without probate.
- Living Will
- A written statement of the medical treatments you do or don't want at the end of life.
- Personal Representative
- The umbrella term for whoever settles an estate — an executor (with a will) or administrator (without).
- POD / TOD
- Payable-on-death and transfer-on-death designations that pass an account directly to a named beneficiary, avoiding probate.
- Pour-Over Will
- A short will used with a living trust that directs any leftover assets into the trust at death.
- Power of Attorney
- A document naming someone to act for you while you're alive; it ends at death.
- Probate
- The court-supervised process of validating a will, paying debts, and distributing an estate.
- Survivor Benefits
- Monthly Social Security payments to eligible family members of a deceased worker.
- Testator
- The person who makes a will.
- Trustee
- The person or institution that manages a trust's assets for its beneficiaries.
- Will
- A legal document stating who inherits your property and who should manage your estate.