Reference

Legal Dictionary

Plain-English meanings for the legal words in your Will and estate plan — 99 Australian terms, no jargon.

A

Ademption: — When a specific gift in a Will fails because the asset no longer exists or is no longer owned at death.
Adequate Provision: — The level of support from an estate the law considers proper for an eligible person's maintenance, education and advancement in life.
Administrator: — A person appointed by the court to manage a deceased estate when there is no Will, or no willing or able executor to act.
Advance Care Directive: — A document recording your wishes about future medical treatment and care in case you cannot communicate them yourself.
Attestation Clause: — The clause at the end of a Will recording that the witnesses saw the testator sign it.
Attorney: — The person you appoint under a Power of Attorney to make financial or legal decisions on your behalf.

B

Beneficiary: — A person or organisation named in a Will (or trust) to receive a gift, asset or share of the estate.
Bequest: — A gift of personal property or money left to someone in a Will.
Binding Death Benefit Nomination: — A legally binding instruction telling your super fund exactly who must receive your death benefit, removing the trustee's discretion.
Bona Vacantia: — Latin for "ownerless goods" — an intestate estate that passes to the government when no eligible relatives can be found.

C

Capacity: — The legal ability to understand a decision, weigh the options and communicate a choice at the time it is made.
Caveat: — A formal notice lodged with the court that pauses a grant of probate until a dispute about the Will is resolved.
Chattels: — Movable personal possessions such as furniture, jewellery, cars, artwork and household goods — as distinct from land or money.
Codicil: — A short legal document that amends or adds to an existing Will without replacing it entirely.
Contemplation of Marriage: — A Will made in anticipation of a specific marriage, which survives that marriage instead of being revoked by it.
Contested Probate: — A court dispute over whether a Will is valid or which document should be admitted to probate.
Contesting a Will: — Disputing how an estate is distributed — either by a family provision claim for a larger share, or by challenging the Will's validity.

D

De Facto Partner: — A person living with another in a genuine domestic relationship without being married — generally treated like a spouse in estate and family provision law.
Death Benefit Dependant: — A person allowed under super law to receive your death benefit directly, including a spouse, child, or someone financially dependent on you.
Death Benefits Tax: — The tax payable on the taxable part of a super death benefit when it is paid to someone who is not a tax dependant.
Deceased Estate: — The assets and liabilities of a person who has died, held and managed by their executor or administrator until distribution is complete.
Devise: — A gift of real estate (land or a house) left to someone in a Will.
Digital Assets: — Online accounts and digital property — from photos and email to crypto and social media — dealt with after death.
Discretionary Trust: — A trust where the trustee decides how much each beneficiary receives, rather than each having a fixed entitlement.
Division 296 Tax: — An extra 15% tax on realised earnings of super balances above an indexed $3 million (and a further tier above $10 million), from 1 July 2026.

E

Eligible Person: — Someone the law allows to bring a family provision claim against an estate — typically a spouse, de facto partner, child or financial dependant.
Enduring Guardian: — A person you appoint to make lifestyle, health and personal decisions for you if you lose capacity.
Enduring Power of Attorney: — A financial Power of Attorney that continues to operate even after you lose mental capacity to make your own decisions.
Estate: — Everything a person owns and owes — the property, money and possessions that pass to others when they die or that they hold during life.
Estate Distribution: — The final stage of administration where the remaining assets are paid out to beneficiaries according to the Will or intestacy rules.
Estate Inventory: — A detailed list of everything a deceased person owned and owed, with values, prepared by the executor or administrator.
Estate Liabilities: — The debts and expenses owed by a deceased estate, which must be paid out of estate assets before beneficiaries receive anything.
Executor: — The person named in a Will to carry out its instructions, manage the estate and distribute it to beneficiaries.
Executor Renunciation: — The formal step by which a person named as executor declines the role before taking on any duties, freeing someone else to act.
Executor's Year: — The customary period of about twelve months an executor is allowed to finalise an estate before beneficiaries can demand their gifts.

F

Family Provision Claim: — A court application by an eligible person asking for a larger (or any) share of a deceased estate because the Will left them without adequate provision.
Family Trust: — A discretionary trust set up during your lifetime to hold family assets and distribute income among family members.
Funeral Wishes: — Instructions about burial, cremation or a funeral, which guide loved ones but are not legally binding.

G

General Power of Attorney: — A financial Power of Attorney that operates only while you have capacity and ends automatically if you lose it.
Grant of Probate: — The sealed court order confirming a Will's validity and the executor's legal authority to administer the estate.
Grant of Representation: — The umbrella term for a court order — probate or letters of administration — confirming who has authority to administer a deceased estate.
Guardian: — A person appointed in a Will to care for the will-maker's minor children if both parents die.
Guardianship: — The legal authority to make personal, lifestyle and health decisions for an adult who has lost capacity.

H

Heir: — A person legally entitled to inherit from someone who dies without a Will, under the intestacy rules of their state.

I

Insolvent Estate: — A deceased estate whose debts exceed its assets, so creditors cannot be paid in full and beneficiaries usually receive nothing.
Intestacy: — The situation where someone dies without a valid Will, so state law dictates who inherits and in what shares.
Intestate: — Describes a person who dies without a valid Will, so their estate passes under a fixed statutory formula instead of their own wishes.

L

Lapsed Gift: — A gift in a Will that fails because the beneficiary dies before the testator, with no substitute named.
Legacy: — A gift left to a beneficiary in a Will, most commonly a gift of money.
Letter of Wishes: — A non-binding personal note guiding executors or trustees on how to exercise their discretion.
Letters of Administration: — A court order authorising an administrator to manage a deceased estate where there is no valid Will or no available executor.
Life Interest: — A right to use or benefit from an asset for the rest of your life, after which it passes to someone else.

M

Medical Power of Attorney: — An appointment authorising someone to make medical treatment decisions for you when you cannot make them yourself.
Mirror Wills: — Two near-identical Wills, usually for a couple, each leaving everything to the other and then to the same beneficiaries.
Mutual Wills: — Wills made under a binding agreement that neither party will change their Will after the first person dies.

N

Next of Kin: — A person's closest living relatives, who are entitled to inherit and to administer the estate when there is no Will.
Non-binding Nomination: — A nomination that merely guides your super fund on who should receive your death benefit; the trustee can still decide otherwise.
Notice to Creditors: — A public notice an executor publishes inviting anyone owed money by the deceased to come forward before the estate is distributed.
Notional Estate: — Assets the deceased gave away or shifted out of their estate that a NSW court can claw back to satisfy a family provision claim.

P

Partial Intestacy: — Where a valid Will disposes of only part of an estate, so the leftover property passes under the intestacy rules.
Pecuniary Legacy: — A gift of a fixed sum of money left to a beneficiary in a Will.
Per Capita: — A way of dividing an estate equally among the surviving beneficiaries, by head rather than by family branch.
Per Stirpes: — A way of dividing an estate so a deceased beneficiary's share passes down to their own children.
Power of Attorney: — A legal document letting you appoint someone to make financial or legal decisions on your behalf while you are alive.
Principal: — The person who makes a Power of Attorney and appoints someone else to act on their behalf.
Probate: — The court process that confirms a Will is valid and authorises the executor to administer the deceased's estate.
Protective Trust: — A trust that shields a vulnerable beneficiary's inheritance by limiting their direct control over the funds.

R

Real Property: — Land and anything permanently attached to it, such as houses and buildings — the immovable assets of an estate.
Remainderman: — The person who ultimately receives an asset once a life interest in it comes to an end.
Reseal of Probate: — Recognising a grant of probate issued elsewhere so the executor can deal with assets in another jurisdiction.
Residuary Estate: — The portion of an estate that remains after all debts, taxes and specific gifts are accounted for.
Residue: — Everything left in an estate after debts, taxes, expenses and specific gifts have been paid.
Reversionary Pension: — A super pension that automatically continues to a nominated dependant when you die, rather than being paid out as a lump sum.
Revocation: — The act of cancelling a Will or part of it so it no longer has legal effect.

S

Settlor: — The person who creates a trust and provides the initial property that the trustee will hold for the beneficiaries.
Small Estate: — An estate small enough that assets can often be released without a formal grant of probate.
SMSF: — A private superannuation fund you run yourself as trustee, giving you control over investments and how death benefits are paid.
Special Disability Trust: — A government-recognised trust to fund the care and accommodation of a severely disabled beneficiary with social-security concessions.
Specific Gift: — A gift of a particular identified asset in a Will, such as a named property, car or piece of jewellery.
Statutory Legacy: — A fixed sum a surviving spouse or partner receives off the top of an intestate estate before any sharing with children.
Statutory Order: — The fixed legal ranking that decides which relatives inherit, and in what shares, when someone dies without a Will.
Statutory Will: — A Will made by order of the Supreme Court for a person who lacks the capacity to make one themselves.
Substitute Beneficiary: — A backup person named to receive a gift if the primary beneficiary dies before the testator or cannot inherit.
Superannuation Death Benefit: — The money and insurance paid from your super fund after you die, which usually sits outside your Will unless directed to your estate.
Survivorship Clause: — A Will clause requiring a beneficiary to outlive the testator by a set period (often 30 days) to inherit.

T

Tax Dependant: — A person who can receive your super death benefit tax-free under the tax law, a narrower group than super's dependant definition.
Tax-free Component: — The part of your super built from after-tax contributions, always paid out free of tax regardless of who receives the death benefit.
Taxable Component: — The part of your super made up of pre-tax contributions and earnings, which can be taxed when paid to a non-dependant after death.
Testamentary Capacity: — The mental ability required to make a valid Will: understanding what it does, your assets and who may benefit.
Testamentary Freedom: — The principle that a person can leave their property to whomever they choose in their Will — a freedom that family provision laws can override.
Testamentary Trust: — A trust created by your Will that takes effect on your death, holding assets for your beneficiaries instead of paying them outright.
Testator: — The person who makes a Will. A female will-maker is traditionally called the testatrix.
Trust: — A legal arrangement where one person holds and manages assets for the benefit of others under binding obligations.
Trust Deed: — The legal document that creates a trust and sets out its rules, including the trustee's powers and who can benefit.
Trustee: — The person or company that legally holds and manages trust assets for the beneficiaries under strict fiduciary duties.

V

Vesting Age: — The age at which a young beneficiary becomes fully entitled to receive their inheritance outright.
Vesting Date: — The date a trust must end, when its assets become absolutely payable to the beneficiaries and the trustee winds it up.

W

Will: — A legal document that sets out who inherits your assets and who manages your estate after you die.
Witness: — A person who watches the testator sign their Will and signs to confirm it, helping prove the Will is genuine.

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