Understanding the language of Wills

Acting as an executor can be rewarding work, however if you don’t have a solid legal background, it can be a little confusing.  You can hire experts to help you, however it is important that you understand the estate documents.

Here is some of the most common legalese terms you will come across in a will:

Issue:  All persons in the line of descent, this would be a person’s children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Per stirpes:  A term used to describe a method of dividing an estate; whereas the children of a deceased parent would inherit the proportional share that the parent would have received if they were still living.  For example, let’s say the deceased had three children and only two of them are living at the time of his death.  The pre-deceased child had two children living at the time of her death.  The estate would be divided into three equal parts, one part for each living child, and the third part would be equally divided between the deceased child’s off-spring.

Per capita:  Another term to describe a method used when dividing an estate; this describes when equal shares are given to a number of people.  For example, all three children are living at the time of death; the estate would be split equally three ways.

Devise:  the disposition or sale of real or personal property through a will.

Hotchpot:  The blending of property belonging to different people in order to divide it equally among beneficiaries.  It generally involves taking into consideration funds already given to children when dividing up the property of the deceased parent to ensure each child receives an equal share.

En ventre sa mere:  Refers to a child conceived but not yet born.  For the purpose of inheritance, a child is treated as having been born if they are “en ventre sa mere” at the time of the testator’s death and are subsequently born alive.

There may be other obscure words in the will that you’re unfamiliar with, but knowing these common terms should help you make sense of most parts of the will.  As always, if you need some help or direction in the area of Estate Planning, don’t hesitate to give me a call.

Have a great weekend,

Tracey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source:  Advisor.ca 11-12-13 by staff