Probate Law - Chapter 11

Surety Bond

A bond that contains an agreement by a third party to pay an obligation if the principal defaults.

Bond

A document that promises to pay money if a particular future event happens, or a sum of money that is put up and will be lost if that event happens.

Letters of Administration

A formal document appointing the administrator of the estate of a person who has died intestate.

Letters Testamentary

A formal document appointing the executor of the estate of a person who has died testate.

Administrator

A person appointed by the court to supervise the estate of a dead person. If the supervising person is named in the dead person's will, the proper name is executor.

Executor de Son Tort

A person who takes on a duty, such as being executor of a will, without any right to take on the duty. Such an unauthorized intermeddler will be held responsible for all actions he takes as executor.

Administrator of Goods Not Administered

An administrator appointed to hand out the property of a dead person whose executor has died. Also called administrator de bonis non.

Administrator with the Will Annexed

An administrator who is appointed by a court to supervise handing out the property of a dead person whose will does not name executors or whose named executors cannot or will not serve.

Special Administrator

An administrator who is appointed when necessary to preserve the estate or to secure its proper administration.

Public Administrator

An official appointed to administer an estate when no one appears who is entitled to act as an administrator.

Administrator ad Litem

Person appointed by a court to furnish a necessary party to a lawsuit in which a deceased has an interest.

Voluntary Administrator

Person who undertakes the informal administration of a small intestate estate.

Voluntary Executor

Person who undertakes the informal administration of a small testate estate.

Successor Personal Representative

Personal representative, other than a special administrator, who is appointed to succeed a previously appointed personal representative.

Fiduciary Capacity

The position of a person who manages money or property for another person.

Administratrix

Woman appointed to administer the estate of an intestate decedent.