letters of administration. A formal document issued by a probate court to appoint the administrator of an estate. • Letters of administration originated in the Probate of Testaments Act of 1357 (31 Edw. 3, ch. 4), which provided that in case of intestacy the ordinary (a high-ranking ecclesiastical official within a territory) should depute the […]
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A portion of a decedent’s estate set aside by statute for a surviving spouse, regardless of any testamentary disposition or competing claims. • This allowance is superior to the claims of general creditors. In some states, it is even preferred to the expenses of administration, funeral, and last illness of the spouse. — Also termed
A public official who records probated wills, issues letters testamentary and letters of administration, and serves generally as clerk of the probate court. • The register of wills exists only in some states. [Cases: Executors and Administrators 8. C.J.S. Executors and Administrators §§ 12–13.]
publish, vb. 1. To distribute copies (of a work) to the public. 2. To communicate (defamatory words) to someone other than the person defamed. See INTENT TO PUBLISH. [Cases: Libel and Slander 23. C.J.S. Libel and Slander; Injurious Falsehood§§ 48–52.] 3. To declare (a will) to be the true expression of one’s testamentary intent. [Cases:
loco tutoris (loh-koh t[y]oo-tor-is). [Latin] Scots law. In the place of a tutor. “The Court of Session is in the practice of appointing, on application made for such appointment, a factor loco tutoris on the estates of pupils not having tutors. Such an appointment places the factor in the same position towards the pupil, both
lapse, n. 1. The termination of a right or privilege because of a failure to exercise it within some time limit or because a contingency has occurred or not occurred. 2. Wills & estates. The failure of a testamentary gift, esp. when the beneficiary dies before the testator dies. See ANTILAPSE STATUTE. Cf. ADEMPTION. [Cases:
devisavit vel non (dev-[schwa]-say-vit [or -zay-vit] vel non), n. [Law Latin “he (or she) devises or not”] Hist. An issue directed from a chancery court to a court of law to determine the validity of a will that has been contested, as by an allegation of fraud or testamentary incapacity. See VEL NON.
An inter vivos or testamentary donation to a nonprofit organization for the relief of poverty, the advancement of education, the advancement of religion, the promotion of health, governmental, or municipal purposes, and other purposes the accomplishment of which is beneficial to the community. Restatement (Second) of Trusts § 368 (1959). • When the beneficiary is
caducity (k[schwa]-d[y]oo-s[schwa]-tee), n. The lapse of a testamentary gift (the testator failed to provide a contingency for the caducity of the legacy).
jus exigendi (j[schwa]s ek-si-jen-dI). [Latin] Scots law. A creditor’s right to enforce immediate payment of a debt. Cf. JUS CREDITI. “For example, where a testator directs his testamentary trustees to pay a certain legacy, which he has unconditionally bequeathed to the legatee, six months after his (the testator’s) death, the legacy vests on the death