Adult - A person must be 18 years of age to execute a will passing trust or restricted property or to serve as an attesting witness to such a will
Advance Health Care Directive - A document specifying what health actions should be taken in the event a person is no longer able to make decisions due to illness or incapacity (commonly known as a Living Will)
Affidavit to accompany Indian Will - An affidavit, or notarized statement, signed by the testator and attesting witnesses, intended to make the will self-proved
After-born children - Children born to a testator after the execution of a will
Allotment - A parcel of land granted to an Indian by the United States and held in trust for the individual by the Government, or owned in fee by the individual, subject to Federal restrictions. Some allotments; however, were granted in fee simple status
Assignment - The act of transferring to another all or part of one’s property, real or personal, in possession or in action or any estate or right therein
Attesting witness - A person who signs a will with the purpose of proving and identifying the will, and who is qualified to testify about the will
Beneficiary - A person who receives a benefit or advantage from another person’s will; a person named in a will as a recipient of property from the testator
Bequeath - To give a gift of personal property by will
Bequest - A gift of personal property given by will. A bequest is the same thing as a legacy
Class gift - A devise of property to a class or group of individuals, the membership of which will be determined at the time of the testator’s death
Codicil - A supplement or addition to a will
Confidential relationship - A relationship between two or more persons such that one person trusts in and acts upon the advice and representations of the other persons
Contingent remainderman - A person who right to receive the remainder estate is not certain, it is based upon the happening of a future events, such as surviving the life tenant
Decedent - A person who has died
Devise - A gift of real property by will. Also, to give a gift of real property by will
Devisee - A person who receives real property under a will
Disinterested witness - A person who will not gain or lose anything as a result of the execution of a will or codicil
Durable Power of Attorney - A legal document giving a person the power to act and make financial decisions on another person’s behalf in the event of incapacitation or disability
Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care - A legal document giving a person the power to make heath-care decisions for another person
Estate - As used for probate purposes, that property which a person owns at the time of his/her death
Executor - Person named in the will to execute the will and administer the probate estate
Execution of a will - The formal process by which a will is signed and witnessed
Extrinsic evidence - Evidence used in construing a document that is obtained from a source outside the document itself
Federally recognized Indian tribe - A group of Indians that has been acknowledged by the Department of the Interior or United States Congress as having a special relationship with the United States and that is listed in the Federal Register as being an entity recognized and eligible to receive services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs
Fee simple “fee” property - A shorthand expression for “fee simple” property, meaning unconditional ownership. When an individual Indian owns restricted fee property to when the United States hold property in trust for an individual Indian, the individual does not have fee simple title to that property
Forum - A court of quasi-judicial body empowered to determine legal rights
Four unities - When creating a joint tenancy, the “four unities” must be present. All joint tenants must acquire their title by the same deed or will at the same time. Each of the joint tenants’ fractional interest in the property must be the same, and each must have the same rights to possession and use of the property
Fractionation - The continued division of ownership of property into smaller and smaller undivided interest resulting when property descends to multiple heirs or devisees
Gift Deed - A conveyance of land interest by gift which is non-revocable once approved
Guardian - A person to whom the law has entrusted the custody and control of the person and estate, or both, or a minor or incompetent person
Heirs - Properly, a person who receives property under the laws of intestate succession, i.e. who receives property from a person dying without a will. The word is often used to mean a person receiving property either through intestate succession or under a will. See also Presumptive Heir and Pretermitted Heir
Heir-at-law - A person succeeding to property under the laws of intestate succession
Heir-of-the-body - A lineal descendant. The term excludes a surviving spouse, adopted children, and collateral relatives
Holographic will - A will written entirely in the testator’s own handwriting
Indian - A member of a Federally recognized Indian tribe, and, in some cases, a person with Indian blood derived from a Federally recognized Indian tribe, even through not a member of that tribe and without regard to the amount of Indian blood
Indian will - A will passing an interest in Indian trust or restricted property
Individual Indian Money (IIM) account - A cash account maintained by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for an Indian
Inter vivos - During life. An inter vivos conveyance is one made during the lifetime of the person making the conveyance
Interpreter - A person who speaks the language and dialect of a testator, and who enables the testator to communicate with the scrivener in English, so that the testator’s will can be written in English
Intestate - The condition of dying without having made a will. Also, a person who dies without having made a will
Intestacy/Intestate succession - The law by which property of a person dying without having made a will is passed on
Inherit - To take or receive (property, a right, a title, etc.) by succession or will, as an heir
Joint tenancy - An interest in property in which two or more persons derive the same interest, title, and right of possession from the same interest
Joint tenants with right of survivor (JTROS) - A JTROS allows all children to inherit equally then the interest transfers to the surviving children upon the death of a child. The last surviving child takes 100% of the client’s interest in that parcel. See Four Unities.
Lapse - The situation resulting when a devise or bequest is made to an individual who predeceases the testator, or who for some other reason, is not entitled to receive the devise or bequest
Legacy - A gift of personal property by will. A legacy is the same thing as a bequest
Legatee - A person who receives personal property under a will
Lineal descendant - A person who is in direct line of relationship to an individual, such as child, grandchild, and on forever
Life estate - An interest in property limited, usually, by the life of the person or persons having the interest. Infrequently, a life estate is limited by the life of another person
Life tenant - A person holding a life estate in property
Non-Indian - For purposes of Indian probate, a person who is not of Indian blood or whose Indian blood is derived from an Indian tribe that is not Federally recognized
Non-Trust property - Any property that is not trust or restricted property
Per capita - A term used to indicate that a class or group of individuals take a devise or bequest according to the number of individuals, share and share alike
Per stirpes By representation - A term used to indicate that a class or group of individuals take a devise or bequest as the representative of a deceased ancestor
Personal property - In general, all property that is not real property
Presumptive heir - The person or persons who, if an individual dies today, would probably be that individual’s heir
Probate - The legal process by which wills are approved and heirs are determined
Publication - A formal oral declaration made by a testator to the attesting witnesses, when a will is signed, that the document being signed is in fact his/her last will and testament
Personal Representative - Person appointed to oversee the winding up of a decedent’s affairs.
Real property - Land, and generally, whatever is built on, affixed to, or growing in land, but not including annual crops
Remainder - The estate in property taking effect after an earlier interest in the property has expired. Probably the most common remainder interest is that associated with the expiration of a life estate
Remainderman - The person entitled to receive possession of the property when an earlier interest in the property expires. See also Contingent remainderman and Vested remainderman
Residue - That part of a testator’s estate that is left after all debts and bequeaths and devises have been discharged
Residuary clause - A clause in a will, usually the last clause, which names a person or persons to receive any part of a testator’s estate that is left after the rest of the will clauses have been carried out
Restricted status property - Property held by an individual Indian subject to restrictions against alienation or encumbrance excepts with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior
Right of representation - Distribution of property equally to each branch of the descendant’s family where there is a surviving heir in that branch such that the descendants of a deceased heir of that branch will inherit that heir’s share.
Right of Survivorship - Ownership of property by two or more people in which the survivors automatically gain ownership of a decedent’s interest
Scrivener - A person who prepares a will or other document for another person
Self-proved will - In Indian probate, a will executed with additional with additional formalities and accompanies by affidavits from the testator and attesting witnesses concerning due execution of the will
Sound mind - Having testamentary capacity
Specific bequest of devise - A bequest or devise that specifically identifies the property being passed
Surviving spouse - The living husband or wife of a decedent
Testamentary capacity - The amount of mental functioning that is recognized as legally sufficient for a person to make a will
Testamentary scheme - The plan for disposition of property made in a will
Testate - The condition of a person dying and having made a will
Tenant in common - An holder of real property, usually two or more persons with each owning an undivided share and with no right of survivorship.
Testament - The disposal of personal property
Testator/Testatrix - A person who makes a will. Properly, a man is a testator and a woman is a testatrix. It is common, to use the term “testator” to mean both man and a woman
Trust property - Property held by the United States in trust for an individual Indian
Unattested changes - Changes made to a will or codicil after execution that are not signed by the testator and attesting witnesses
Undivided interest - A right to use and possess the whole parcel of land even though an Indian has a fractional interest
Undue influence - Persuasion that deprives the person influence of his/her own free will and causes him/her to act according to the will of another person
Vested remainderman - A person whose right to receive the remainder estate is already fixed and cannot be defeated by anything happening in the future. See also Contingent remainderman and Remainderman
Will - A legal document executed with required formalities and intended to pass the writer’s property upon his/her death
Will execution - The act or process of executing a will
Will provision - A clause in a will providing for a particular matter
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