Glossary

Estate planning terms, in plain English.

ABA Formal Opinion 512: American Bar Association ethics opinion issued July 29, 2024 on lawyer use of generative AI. Maps six Model Rule duties onto AI practice.
accumulation trust: A trust that retains inherited IRA distributions inside the trust rather than passing them through. Taxed at compressed trust rates on retained income.
Advance directive: A document that records your wishes about end-of-life medical treatment, including life support, resuscitation, and pain management. Also called a living will in many states.
ancillary probate: A secondary probate proceeding in a state where the decedent owned real property but was not domiciled. Separate court, separate attorney, separate fees.
Beneficiary: A person or entity named to receive assets from a will, trust, or account designation. Primary beneficiaries receive first. Contingent beneficiaries receive if the primary cannot.
Beneficiary designation: A direct instruction filed with a financial institution naming who receives an account at the owner's death. Beneficiary designations override what a will says, which is why getting them correct (and updated after life changes) is one of the most important pieces of any estate plan.
Certificate of Trust: A summary document that confirms a trust exists, names the trustees, and describes their powers, without disclosing beneficiaries or distribution terms. Most financial institutions accept this in place of the full trust document when processing retitling requests.
conduit trust: A trust that passes required minimum distributions directly to the trust beneficiary, treating the beneficiary as the designated IRA beneficiary for see-through rules.
Conservatorship: A court-appointed arrangement in which a conservator manages the finances of someone found incapacitated. Some states use "guardianship" for both personal and financial matters.
deemed distribution: A retirement-account event treated as a taxable distribution by the IRS, even though no actual withdrawal occurred (for example, retitling an IRA into a trust).
Durable power of attorney: A legal document that authorizes another person to act on your behalf in financial matters even if you become incapacitated. "Durable" means it survives incapacity. Without one, your family typically has to petition a court for conservatorship.
Egelhoff v. Egelhoff: Egelhoff v. Egelhoff, 532 U.S. 141 (2001). Supreme Court held that ERISA preempts state statutes that automatically revoke ex-spouse beneficiary designations.
ERISA: Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. Federal statute governing employer-sponsored retirement and welfare benefit plans.
Estate: All assets and liabilities owned by a person at death. Includes real estate, financial accounts, personal property, business interests, and debts.
Executor: The person named in a will to manage the estate after death. Responsible for filing the will with the court, paying debts and taxes, and distributing assets to beneficiaries. Called a "personal representative" in many states.
Fiduciary duty: The legal obligation to act in the best interest of the beneficiaries or principal, with loyalty, prudence, and transparency. Applies to executors, trustees, and power of attorney agents.
Guardian: The person named in a will to raise minor children if both parents die. Without a guardian designation, a court decides who raises the children.
Healthcare power of attorney: A legal document that authorizes another person to make medical decisions on your behalf if you cannot make them yourself. Sometimes paired with a HIPAA authorization.
HIPAA authorization: A separate document authorizing healthcare providers to share your protected health information with named individuals. Important because privacy laws would otherwise block even close family members from getting medical updates.
Incapacity: The inability to manage one's own affairs due to illness, injury, cognitive decline, or disability. The trigger that activates powers of attorney and trust successor provisions.
Intestate: Dying without a valid will. Assets are distributed according to state intestacy laws, which follow a fixed formula (typically spouse and children first) that may not match what the person would have wanted.
Irrevocable trust: A trust that cannot be amended or revoked once created. A revocable living trust becomes irrevocable upon the grantor's death. Some trusts (ILITs, special needs trusts) are irrevocable from creation.
Kennedy v. DuPont Savings: Kennedy v. Plan Administrator for DuPont Savings and Investment Plan, 555 U.S. 285 (2009). Supreme Court held that ERISA plan documents control distribution regardless of divorce decrees.
Lady Bird deed: A type of deed that transfers real property at death without going through probate, while preserving the original owner's full control during their lifetime. Available only in certain states.
Letters testamentary: A court-issued document confirming the executor's authority to act on behalf of the estate. Required by every bank, insurer, and institution before they will work with the executor.
Medallion Signature Guarantee: A securities-industry signature authentication required by most brokerages for retitling transfers. Available at banks, credit unions, and broker-dealers.
Model Rule 5.3: ABA Model Rule on lawyer responsibility for nonlawyer assistance. ABA Op. 512 extended this rule to treat generative AI as a supervised nonlawyer assistant.
Model Rule 5.5: ABA Model Rule prohibiting unauthorized practice of law. Binds lawyers and is the framework for most state UPL statutes.
Payable-on-death (POD): A beneficiary designation on a bank account that transfers the account directly to the named person at death, bypassing probate. Similar to transfer-on-death (TOD) for brokerage accounts.
Pour-over will: A will designed to work in tandem with a revocable trust. Anything the grantor forgot to title into the trust during life "pours over" into the trust at death, so the trust controls all the assets.
Probate: The court-supervised process of validating a will and distributing the assets of a deceased person. It is public, slow, and expensive. The point of most estate plans is to avoid it.
QDRO: Qualified Domestic Relations Order. A court order under ERISA § 206(d) and IRC § 414(p) that divides retirement benefits between divorcing spouses.
Revocable living trust: A trust the grantor can modify or revoke during their lifetime. Used primarily to avoid probate, plan for incapacity, and control distribution timing. Becomes irrevocable on the grantor's death.
RMD: Required minimum distribution. The minimum amount a retirement account holder (or beneficiary) must withdraw each year under IRS rules.
RUFADAA: Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act. The legal framework governing fiduciary access to digital assets after death or incapacity. Adopted in all 50 states and D.C.
SECURE Act: Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019. Replaced the stretch IRA with a 10-year payout rule for most non-spouse beneficiaries.
Stepped-up basis: The adjustment of an inherited asset's cost basis to its fair market value on the date of death. This eliminates capital gains tax on any appreciation that occurred during the decedent's lifetime.
Successor trustee: The person named in a trust document to take over as trustee when the original trustee can no longer serve, due to death, incapacity, or resignation.
Sveen v. Melin: Sveen v. Melin, 584 U.S. 811 (2018). Supreme Court upheld retroactive application of state ex-spouse revocation statutes against a Contract Clause challenge.
Transfer-on-death (TOD): A beneficiary designation on a brokerage or investment account that transfers the account directly to the named person at death, bypassing probate. Similar to payable-on-death (POD) for bank accounts.
Trust amendment: A document that modifies specific provisions of an existing trust without replacing the entire document. The original trust remains in effect with the amendment attached.
Trust funding: The process of retitling assets and updating beneficiary designations so the trust actually owns or controls them. A trust is an empty vessel until it is funded. Most plans fail at this step.
Trust restatement: A complete republishing of an existing trust under a new document. Used instead of an amendment when the changes are extensive enough that a clean restated document is clearer than tracking multiple amendments.
UPC § 2-804: Uniform Probate Code section governing revocation of probate and non-probate transfers by divorce. Adopted in various forms by most U.S. states.
UPL: Unauthorized practice of law. The act of providing legal services without being a licensed attorney in the relevant jurisdiction.
UTATA: Uniform Testamentary Additions to Trusts Act. Model statute, adopted in nearly every U.S. state, that validates pour-over will provisions.