Probate glossary
Every term this site uses, defined. If a word appears in a table header or a record on this site and is not here, that is a bug — the glossary is meant to be complete, not representative. Definitions, not legal advice.
Probate is the court process that settles a decedent’s estate: a personal representative is appointed, creditors are given notice to file claims, and what remains passes to the heirs or beneficiaries.
Probate
Probate is the court process that settles a decedent's estate: proving the will, if there is one, appointing someone to manage the estate, paying its debts and passing what is left to the people entitled to it.
Probate cases are heard by a probate court or a probate division of a general trial court, and each case gets its own case number. Property that passes outside probate, such as jointly owned property or property held in a trust, is not part of it.
See also: Probate court, Personal representative, Decedent
Decedent
A decedent is the person who has died and whose estate is being settled in probate.
A probate notice names the decedent, often with any other name they were known by and, in many notices, the date of death and last residence.
See also: a/k/a (also known as), Probate
a/k/a (also known as)
"a/k/a" in a probate notice introduces another name the decedent was known by, such as a maiden name or a shortened first name.
Records here keep that name beside the decedent's, since property records may be in either.
See also: Decedent
Personal representative
A personal representative is the person or institution a probate court appoints to manage a decedent's estate: gathering the property, paying valid debts and distributing what remains.
Florida and several other states use the term for both an executor named in a will and an administrator appointed without one. The personal representative is the person with authority to deal with the estate's property, usually acting through the estate's attorney.
See also: Executor, Administrator, Letters of administration, Estate attorney
Executor
An executor is a personal representative named in the decedent's will to carry out its terms.
The executor has no authority until the court confirms the appointment, usually by issuing letters testamentary.
See also: Personal representative, Letters testamentary, Testate
Administrator
An administrator is a personal representative appointed by the court when there is no will, or when the person a will names cannot or will not serve.
See also: Personal representative, Intestate, Letters of administration
Letters of administration
Letters of administration are the court's document giving a personal representative authority to act for an estate.
In some states the same document is called letters testamentary when the personal representative was named in a will. The letters are kept in the court file.
See also: Letters testamentary, Personal representative
Letters testamentary
Letters testamentary are the court's document giving an executor named in a will the authority to act for the estate.
See also: Letters of administration, Executor
Petition for administration
A petition for administration is the filing that asks a probate court to open an estate and appoint a personal representative.
It is usually filed by the person who wants to serve, through an attorney, and the court acts on it before letters are issued and a notice to creditors is published.
See also: Letters of administration, Notice of petition
Notice of petition
A notice of petition is a published notice that a petition has been filed in a probate case, so that interested people can respond before the court rules on it.
See also: Petition for administration
Notice to creditors
A notice to creditors is the notice an estate publishes, usually once a week for two consecutive weeks, telling the decedent's creditors that the estate is open and the deadline for filing claims.
It names the decedent, the court and case number, the personal representative and the estate's attorney. The claims deadline runs from its first publication. It is the notice most records here are built from.
See also: Claims period, Creditor claim, Notice of administration
Notice of administration
A notice of administration tells the beneficiaries and other people interested in an estate that administration has begun, and of the time they have to raise objections.
See also: Notice to creditors, Beneficiary
Creditor claim
A creditor claim is a formal statement, filed in the probate case, that the decedent owed the creditor money.
A claim filed after the claims period has ended is generally barred, subject to the exceptions in each state's statute.
See also: Claims period, Notice to creditors
Claims period
The claims period is the window during which creditors must file claims against an estate, counted from the first publication of the notice to creditors.
In Florida it is three months from the first publication (Fla. Stat. 733.702(1)); a creditor entitled to direct notice may have longer. The claims deadline on each record is this window applied to its first publication.
See also: Creditor claim, Notice to creditors
Summary administration
Summary administration is a shorter probate proceeding available for smaller estates, or where the decedent died long enough ago, in which the court can distribute property without the full process.
A summary administration often has no personal representative; its notice names the petitioners or the people receiving the property instead. Eligibility depends on the state's rules.
See also: Formal administration, Probate
Formal administration
Formal administration is the full probate process, in which a personal representative is appointed, notice is published to creditors, claims are paid and the estate is distributed under the court's supervision.
See also: Summary administration, Personal representative
Ancillary administration
Ancillary administration is a secondary probate case opened in another state when a decedent who lived in one state owned property, usually real estate, in another.
It runs alongside the main case in the decedent's home state and deals only with the property in the second state.
See also: Formal administration
Intestate
A person who dies intestate dies without a valid will, so the state's intestacy law decides who inherits.
An intestate estate's personal representative is appointed by the court, often from the decedent's closest relatives.
See also: Testate, Heir, Administrator
Heir
An heir is a person entitled by law to inherit from a decedent who left no will, usually a spouse, child or other close relative.
In everyday use the word also covers anyone who inherits; strictly, a person who inherits under a will is a beneficiary.
See also: Beneficiary, Intestate
Beneficiary
Devise
A devise is a gift of property made in a will; the person receiving it is a devisee.
Older wills use "devise" for gifts of real estate in particular.
See also: Beneficiary, Testate
Homestead
Homestead, in probate, is a decedent's home that state law protects in particular ways, which can limit how it may be left by will and how it may be reached by creditors.
Florida's protected homestead is one example: whether a home qualifies, who receives it and whether it can be sold to pay debts follow rules set out in the state's constitution and statutes, and are decided in the probate case. A record here does not say whether a property is homestead.
See also: Probate, Creditor claim
Will contest
Estate attorney
The estate attorney is the lawyer who represents the personal representative in the probate case and whose name and contact details usually appear at the foot of the notice.
The attorney is often the most direct professional contact for an estate. In Florida a personal representative must be represented by an attorney admitted to practice in the state unless they are the estate's only interested person (Fla. Prob. R. 5.030(a)), and the notice usually prints that attorney's bar number.
See also: Personal representative, Notice to creditors
Case number
The case number identifies one probate case in one county's court, and is what ties every printing of the same estate's notices together.
Courts print it in different formats; records here compare it without punctuation or leading zeros. It is the number to give the clerk when asking for the court file.
See also: Probate court
Probate court
The probate court is the court that hears probate cases: a separate probate court in some states, a probate division of the circuit or superior court in others.
In Florida, probate is heard by the probate division of the circuit court in each county.
See also: Case number, Probate