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 are some of the most common legal 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; where 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 were living at the time of his death. The predeceased 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 offspring.
Per capita: Another term to describe a method used when dividing an estate; this describes when equal shares are given to several 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 to divide it equally among beneficiaries. It generally takes into account any gifts already made to children prior to death and includes them when dividing up the estate after death. This will ensure the equal division of the whole estate amongst beneficiaries.
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 are 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 around Estate Planning, don’t hesitate to give us a call.
Have a great weekend,
Tracey & Paige
Source: https://www.advisor.ca/advisor-to-client/risk-management-advisor-to-client/making-sense-of-wills/
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