Leaving a Gift In Your Will Glossary

Administrator  - Appointed to administer an estate where there is no will or executor. 

Asset - A single part of someone’s estate (see below), for example, a car or a house. 

Beneficiary – A person or organisation who benefits from the will. 

Bequest - A gift made in a will. 

Chattels - Items or personal possessions which can be moved such as jewellery or car 

Codicil - A document that may change or add to a will. 

Conditional legacy - A legacy gift which only takes effect if a specific condition is met  

Deed of variation - A document that can change how an estate is divided up after someone has passed away. 

Estate - Property and assets, including money in savings accounts, stocks, shares, property, and any personal belongings. 

Executor - The personal representative who has been appointed by the will or codicil to manage the estate. 

Inheritance tax (IHT) - A tax on the value of a person's estate after they have passed away. IHT may also apply to the value of certain gifts made by an individual during their lifetime. The rules around whether an estate is subject to IHT are complex. 

Intestate / intestacy - When a person passes away without leaving a will. When this occurs, intestacy rules refer to the laws that decide who the person’s estate will pass to, as well as who can deal with the estate in the absence of a will. 

Legacies - Gift left within a will to an organisation or individual. There are different types of legacy, including pecuniary, residuary, specific and life interest gifts or legacies  

Legator - Someone who has left a legacy in their will. 

Letters of administration - The official document issued by the court empowering an executor to deal with the estate. 

Liabilities - Financial obligations which need to be settled from an estate. 

Life interest gift / trust fund - A gift given to someone for the remainder of their life, e.g. a spouse who may continue to live in the property after the original owner has passed away. After the beneficiary has passed away the gift is then passed onto a second beneficiary specified in the will, such as a charity. 

Memorandum of appropriation - This is when the beneficiaries of an estate use their power to pass ownership of an asset for example to a charity before a sale takes place (to mitigate Capital Gains Tax). 

Mirror wills - This is when two wills are almost identical, for example each person leaving everything to each other if one should pass away  (or to another agreed beneficiary if they pass away together). 

Nil rate band (NRB) - The Inheritance Tax nil rate band is the amount of your estate which can be passed on to your beneficiaries free from inheritance tax after death. 

Personal representative - The person responsible for administering the estate of the person that has passed away. 

Pecuniary - A gift of a specific amount of money, e.g. £10,000. 

Power of Attorney - A lasting power of attorney is a legal document that enables you to appoint one or more people to make decisions on your behalf. This gives you more control over what happens to you if you have an accident or an illness and cannot make your own decisions. Powers of Attorney can relate to your ‘health and welfare’ and/or ‘property and financial affairs. 

Probate - The legal process during which a will is proven in court and accepted as a valid public document, it is usually one of the first steps in the legal process of administering the estate. 

Residuary - The 'residue' of an estate is everything left over after all debts, bills and taxes have been paid and all gifts in the will have been distributed. Leaving the residue of an estate to a named beneficiary is called a 'residuary gift'. 

Specific gift - An object, such as a house, company shares, other personal belongings. 

Testator - This is the person who writes a will. 

Trust - A legal entity that allows someone to benefit from an asset without being the legal owner. 

Trustee - The people or organisations named in a will to manage any trust which has been set up. 

Will - A formal document that contains a person’s wishes regarding what happens to their estate after they’ve passed away. 

Witness to a Will - For a will to be valid, it must be: signed by the testator in the presence of 2 witnesses who are both over age 18 and signed by your two witnesses in your presence.