Funeral Service Law Vocab Quiz 5

Priority

(1) the order in which claims will be paid when there are insufficient assets to pay all of the claims; (2) the order in which certain classes of people have the right to make decisions concerning the disposition of the dead body.

Personal Representative

- person who represents and administers the estate of deceased persons; executor and/or administrator of an estate.

Intestate Succession

- the method used to distribute property owned by a person who dies without a valid will

Preferred Claim

a claim which is accorded a priority, advantage or privilege; a superior claim or right of payment as against another of the same kind or class. The first claim to be paid is the highest preferred claim and superior to all other claims.

Probate Court

a court having jurisdiction over estates.

Bequest (legacy)

a gift of personal property by will.

Legacy (Bequest)

a gift of personal property by will.

Devise

a gift of real estate; the act/process of transferring ownership of real property. (Devise applies to both transfers as well as by wills.)

Testator

a man who makes a valid will.

Executor/ Executrix

a man/woman appointed by the will of a deceased person to carry out the provisions thereof and settle the estate. (see also personal representative)

Abatement

a proportional reduction of a legacy under a will when assets out of which such legacy are payable are not sufficient to pay it in full.

Holographic Will

a will written entirely by the hand of the testator/testatrix

Testatrix

a woman who makes a valid will.

Codicil

an addition or amendment of a last will and testament executed with the same formality of the will.

Will

an instrument executed with required formality, by persons making disposition of their property to take effect upon their death.

Escheat

forfeiture of a decedent's property to the state in the absence of heirs.

Legatee

one who inherits personal property under a will.

Heir

one who inherits, or is entitled to receive property by will or by laws of intestacy.

Nuncupative Will

oral will declared or dictated by testator during last illness before appropriate witnesses to dispose of personal property and afterwards reduced to writing (not valid in all states).

Testate

the condition of leaving a will at death.

Insolvent Estate

the condition of the estate of a deceased person which is unable to pay the debts of the decedent and/or the estate.

Inheritance

the estate which passes from the decedent to his/her heirs.

Ademption

the extinction or withdrawal of an inheritance because decedent did not own the named property at the time of death.

Administrator/ Administratrix

the man/woman who is appointed by the court to settle the estate of a decedent who died without a last Will and Testament. (see also personal representative)

Per Capita

the method of dividing an estate by which an equal share is given to each of a number of persons, all of whom stand in equal degree of kindred to the decedent.

Per Stirpes

the method of proportionately dividing an estate between beneficiaries according to their deceased ancestor's share.

Devisee

the person who receives real property through the process of a devise.

Probate

the process of preserving the estate, determining the validity of a will and distributing the estate to the proper heirs.

Estate

the property of a deceased person, both real and/or personal.

Probate Estate

the property of a decedent that is subject to administration by the executor or administrator of an estate.

Intestate

the state or condition of dying without having made a will; intestacy.