We provide specialized winterization services to safeguard your pool during the off-season, and when spring arrives, we handle the thorough opening process.
We provide specialized winterization services to safeguard your pool during the off-season, and when spring arrives, we handle the thorough opening process.
Understanding the language of estate planning is the first step toward creating an effective plan for your future. As your Wakulla County estate planning attorney, I’ve compiled this glossary to help demystify the terminology you might encounter during the planning process. While legal terms can sometimes seem intimidating, having a basic understanding of these concepts will empower you to make informed decisions about your legacy.
Administrator: A person appointed by the court to manage and distribute an estate when someone dies without a will (intestate).
Advanced Directive: A document that specifies what actions should be taken for a person’s health if they can no longer make decisions due to illness or incapacity. In Florida, this includes living wills and healthcare surrogate designations.
Ancillary Probate: A secondary probate process required when a deceased person owned property in a state other than their primary residence.
Assets: All property owned by a person, including real estate, bank accounts, investments, personal possessions, and anything else of value.
Beneficiary: A person or organization designated to receive assets or benefits from a will, trust, insurance policy, or retirement account.
Bequest: A gift of personal property made through a will.
Bond: A type of insurance that protects the beneficiaries of an estate if the executor or personal representative fails to properly perform their duties.
Bypass Trust: Also called a credit shelter trust, this arrangement allows couples to maximize estate tax exemptions. Not as commonly needed since tax law changes increased exemption amounts.
Capacity: The mental ability to understand the nature and effects of one’s actions, particularly important when creating or changing estate planning documents.
Codicil: A formal, written amendment to a previously executed will.
Community Property: A form of ownership in some states where spouses equally own all property acquired during marriage. (Note: Florida is not a community property state but recognizes tenancy by the entirety for married couples.)
Conservator: A person appointed by the court to manage the financial affairs of an incapacitated person. (In Florida, this role is typically covered under guardianship.)
Decedent: A person who has died.
Deed: A legal document that transfers ownership of real property.
Devise: A gift of real property made through a will.
Durable Power of Attorney: A legal document that allows someone (the principal) to appoint another person (the agent) to manage their financial affairs, even if the principal becomes incapacitated.
Elective Share: In Florida, the surviving spouse’s right to claim 30% of the deceased spouse’s elective estate, regardless of what the will provides.
Estate: All property and assets owned by a person at the time of their death.
Estate Tax: A federal tax on the transfer of property after death. Currently applies only to estates exceeding $12.92 million (2023 figure, subject to change).
Executor: The person named in a will to carry out its directions and distribute the estate. In Florida, this person is officially called the “personal representative.”
Fiduciary: A person who acts on behalf of another and has a legal duty to act in their best interests. Executors, trustees, and agents under powers of attorney are all fiduciaries.
Florida Homestead: Under Florida’s constitution, homestead property receives special protections against creditors and restrictions on how it can be devised in a will.
Funding a Trust: The process of transferring ownership of assets into a trust. A crucial step for trusts to function as intended.
Guardian: A person appointed by the court to care for a minor child or an incapacitated adult (the ward). Guardianship can cover the person (physical care), property (financial matters), or both.
Gift Tax: A federal tax on transfers of property during life. Currently, gifts below $17,000 per recipient per year (2023 figure) are exempt from this tax.
Grantor: The person who creates a trust, also sometimes called the settlor or trustor.
Healthcare Surrogate: In Florida, a person designated to make healthcare decisions for someone who becomes unable to make or communicate their own decisions.
Heir: A person entitled to inherit property from someone who dies without a will, based on state intestacy laws.
Holographic Will: A handwritten will, not witnessed. (Note: Florida does not recognize holographic wills as valid unless they meet all other statutory requirements.)
Incapacity: The inability to manage one’s own affairs or make informed decisions. Can be temporary or permanent.
Inheritance Tax: A state tax on property received by heirs. (Note: Florida does not have an inheritance tax.)
Intestate: Dying without a valid will. When this happens, state law determines who inherits property.
Irrevocable Trust: A trust that cannot be modified or terminated without the permission of the beneficiaries once it’s established.
Joint Tenancy with Rights of Survivorship (JTWROS): A form of property ownership where two or more people own equal shares, and when one owner dies, their share automatically transfers to the surviving owner(s) outside of probate.
Joint Will: A single will made by two or more people, typically spouses. (Note: Joint wills are not recommended in Florida and can create complications.)
Lady Bird Deed: Also called an enhanced life estate deed, this Florida-specific tool allows property to transfer automatically at death while the owner maintains complete control during their lifetime.
Legacy: A gift of money or personal property made through a will.
Life Estate: An ownership interest in property limited to the duration of a person’s life. Upon death, the property passes to the remainder beneficiaries.
Living Trust: A trust created during the grantor’s lifetime, also called an inter vivos trust. Often used to avoid probate and provide management of assets during incapacity.
Living Will: A document that states your wishes regarding life-sustaining medical treatment if you become terminally ill, end-stage, or in a persistent vegetative state.
Marital Deduction: A provision in federal estate and gift tax laws that allows an unlimited amount of assets to be transferred to a U.S. citizen spouse without incurring gift or estate taxes.
Medicaid: A federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for people with limited income and resources. Planning for Medicaid eligibility is an important consideration for many seniors.
Minor: In Florida, a person under 18 years of age.
Per Capita: A method of distributing estate shares equally among a class of beneficiaries.
Per Stirpes: A method of distributing estate shares by branch of the family, where descendants of a deceased beneficiary receive what would have been that beneficiary’s share.
Personal Representative: In Florida, the legal term for the person appointed to administer an estate, equivalent to an executor or administrator in other states.
Pour-Over Will: A will that transfers all property owned at death into an existing trust.
Power of Attorney: A legal document that gives someone the authority to act on behalf of another person in specified or all legal or financial matters.
Probate: The court-supervised process of validating a will, paying debts, and distributing a deceased person’s assets according to the will or state law.
QTIP Trust: Qualified Terminable Interest Property Trust. Used primarily in blended families to provide for a surviving spouse while ensuring that assets ultimately pass to children from a previous marriage.
Residuary Estate: The portion of the estate that remains after all specific gifts, devises, and bequests have been distributed, and all debts and expenses paid.
Revocable Trust: A trust that can be changed or terminated by the grantor during their lifetime. It becomes irrevocable when the grantor dies.
Right of Survivorship: The right of a surviving joint owner to automatically receive the deceased owner’s share of the property.
Self-Proving Will: In Florida, a will with special notarized language that allows it to be admitted to probate without witness testimony.
Special Needs Trust: A trust designed to benefit a person with disabilities while preserving their eligibility for needs-based government benefits like Medicaid and SSI.
Spendthrift Provision: Language in a trust that protects the beneficiary’s interest from their creditors and sometimes from the beneficiary’s own spending habits.
Summary Administration: A simplified probate procedure available in Florida when the value of the estate (excluding exempt homestead property) is $75,000 or less, or when the decedent has been dead for more than two years.
Tenancy by the Entirety: In Florida, a form of ownership available only to married couples, providing strong creditor protection and automatic transfer to the surviving spouse outside of probate.
Tenancy in Common: A form of ownership where two or more people own property together, but without rights of survivorship. Each owner’s share passes according to their will or intestacy laws.
Testamentary Trust: A trust created by a will that takes effect after death.
Testator/Testatrix: A person who makes and executes a will (testator for men, testatrix for women, though testator is commonly used for both).
Trust: A legal arrangement where one party (the trustee) holds and manages assets for the benefit of another (the beneficiary).
Trustee: The person or institution responsible for managing a trust according to its terms and for the benefit of the beneficiaries.
Will: A legal document that directs how a person’s property should be distributed after death and often names an executor to handle the estate and guardians for minor children.
Witness: A person who observes the signing of a legal document like a will and can testify that the document was properly executed. Florida requires two witnesses for a valid will.
This glossary is provided as an educational resource and not as legal advice. Estate planning laws change over time, and some terms may have different applications in different situations. For advice specific to your circumstances, please schedule a consultation with our office.