DEFINITIONS OF TECHNICAL TERMS
(a) Bequest, bequeath: A bequest is a gift by will of money or personal property (excluding land). To bequeath means to make such a gift.
(b) Codicil: A codocil is an amendment that changes the will in some manner. It is a separate document and must be executed with the same formalities as a will.
(c) Devise, devisee: A devise is a gift by will of land. A devisee is the person to whom land is given by a will.
(d) Descendants: Lawful blood and adopted descendants, whether children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, etc. We can define it to specifically include or exclude step-children, etc.
(e) Legacy: A term frequently used as a synonym for bequest, but technically means a gift by will of money only.
(f) Lapsed legacy or devise: When a beneficiary under a will dies before the person making the will, the gift lapses, which means that it does not pass to the deceased person or his estate. There is an exception: if the surviving descendants of the beneficiary would have been heirs of the person making the will, they will step in and take the bequest.
(g) Per stirpes: This is a Latin term which when used in a will means that if a beneficiary of a will dies before the leaving surviving children, those children will take their deceased parents’ share under a will.
(h) Residuary estate: The residuary estate is that portion of your total estate covered by a residuary clause in your will. The residuary clause of your will disposes of all of your property not disposed of earlier in your will. In other words, after you have made specific gifts, a residuary clause normally provides that you leave “all the residue” of your estate to one or more beneficiaries.
(i) Testator/Testatrix: The term for the man or woman who is making a will.