Jargon buster
Assets - Things of value (house, savings, shares, car, antique gold necklaces, etc.) that you own.
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Beneficiary - Some who gets something from your estate.
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Capital Gains Tax - a type of tax that you have to pay when you sell or give away an asset that has increased in value while you have owned it. It does not apply to gifts of cash or (usually) the sale of your own home. See HMRC website.
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Domicile - The country where the law treats you as having your real home. See 'Is your main home outside the UK?' on 'Are trusts the answer?'.
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Estate - all the assets that you own when you die, minus all the debts you owe and other expenses such as funeral costs.
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Executor - the person you appoint in your will to sort out your estate.
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Exemptions - The ways you can give money to particular people without having to pay Inheritance Tax on it.
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Gift with reservation of benefit - Something that you give away, but continue to have the right to use. Anything deemed a 'gift with reservation of benefit' will still be seen as part of your estate when you die. (The person you give it to may also have to pay Capital Gains Tax when they sell it or give it away).
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Intestate - Dying without having made a will. See our 
Wills & Living Together guide (490 KB).
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Nil rate band - this is the amount below which no Inheritance Tax is charged. In tax year 2010-11 it is £325,000.
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Pre-owned assets tax - yearly income tax on the benefit you are deemed to get from things you give away but still retain the benefit of - for example, a house that you continue living in.
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Potentially exempt transfer (PET) - Gifts you make during your lifetime that become tax-free if you don’t die for seven years. See 'How does Inheritance Tax work?'.
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Probate - The legal ability of the executors of your will to distribute your estate.
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Reliefs - Rules which reduce the amount of tax you have to pay. The full value of certain assets is not counted.
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Taper relief - This reduces the amount of Inheritance Tax the recipient has to pay on a gift you made to them between three and seven years before your death.
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Transfers of value - things of value that you give to somebody else; gifts.
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Trusts - property held by one person, or a group, for the benefit of another. For more about trusts see 'Are trusts the answer?'.
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