Jargon buster

If you are dealing with a will, you are likely to come across a fair bit of jargon. Here we've tried to explain what the lawyers mean in plain english.

Administrator - the person who sorts out your estate if you have died without making a will. See 'Who will sort out everything if you die?' for more details.

Assets - the things you own; cash, investments, houses, things, etc.

Beneficiary - someone who receives property or money from the estate

Bequest - money or property left to a specific person in a will

Brothers and sisters of the whole blood - brothers and sisters who have the same parents.

Brothers and sisters of the half blood - brothers and sisters who have one parent in common.

Child - the biological offspring of a person or a child formally adopted by that person (but not a step child)

Estate - everything that you own when you die. Property that you own jointly as a joint tenant does not form part of your estate because it passes directly to your surviving co-owner.

Executor - the person appointed by the will to administer your estate.

Inheritance tax - the tax you have to pay if the value of the estate, plus certain lifetime gifts made by the deceased and the value of any trust from which the deceased was benefiting, exceed a certain threshold (£325,000 in April 2009-10, and £350,000 for 2010-2011).

Intestate - a person who dies without having made a will.

Issue - all the descendants of a person: their children, grandchildren and so on.

Next of kin - strictly speaking, the person entitled on intestacy but it can be used in a rather more general way to mean a close relation. Sometimes, people regard their next of kin as their closest relation, but they may not inheret anything if they die 'intestate' (see above) and are not a blood-relation or a married/civil partner to their next of kin.

Life interest - A right left to you in a will that stops when you die. For example, the right to live in a house for your lifetime, or the right to income from an investment for your life (you have no right to the capital). When you die the house or investment etc becomes the property of the 'remainderman' named in the will. The person who is given a life interest is called the 'life-tenant'.

Letters of administration - a document granted by the probate registry which entitles the administrator to gain access to the assets of the deceased.

Personal representative - a general name for administrators and executors.

Probate of the will - a document granted by the probate registry which entitles the executor to gain access to the assets of the deceased.

Probate registry - the government office which deals with applications for probate and letters of administration. The principal registry is in London but there are district registries in most cities and some large towns.

Remainderman - The person who receives the asset when a life interest comes to an end.

Residue - What is left to distribute from the estate once all the debts and taxes have been paid. If the deceased's will left any specific amounts to individuals or organizations they will be paid like debts. What is left is the residue.

Testator - the person who makes a will.

Trust - money of property looked after by a trustee on behalf of another person or group of people.

Trustees - people who look after assets on behalf of someone else (i.e. children until they are 18 or where there is a life interest).

Uncles and Aunts of the whole blood - Uncles and Aunts who have the same parents as your mother or father: your parents' brothers and sisters.

Uncles and Aunts of the half blood - Uncles and Aunts who share one parent with your mother or father: your parents' half-brothers or sisters.

Will - the document which says what is to happen to your money and property when you die and which is completed with certain formalities.