Legal Term Glossary
Find meaning to legal terms often used in Solicitor services.
Wills & Probate
- Executor/Executrix (masculine/feminine) – The person appointed in a will to carry out the wishes of the deceased.
- Beneficiary – A person who receives something from a will, trust, or estate.
- Legatee – A person who receives something from a will, trust or estate.
- Intestate – Dying without a valid will.
- Grant of Probate – A legal document giving an executor authority to deal with a deceased person’s estate.
- Letters of Administration – Authority given to someone to deal with an estate when there is no will.
- Letters of Administration with Will Annexed – Authority given to someone to deal with an estate where there is a Will but no Executor
- Estate – Everything owned by a person at the time of their death.
- Testator/Testatrix (masculine/feminine) – A person who has made a will
- Residuary Estate – What’s left of an estate after debts, taxes, and specific gifts are paid.
- Codicil – A legal document used to make minor changes to an existing will.
- Testamentary Capacity – The legal mental ability to make or alter a valid will.
- Settlor – A person who creates a trust by placing assets into it
- Discretionary Trust – A trust where trustees decide how and when to distribute assets to beneficiaries.
- IPDI (Immediate Post-death Interest Trust) / Life Interest Trust / Asset Protection Trust – A trust giving a named person the right to income or use of assets during their lifetime, with the capital passing to others later.
- Life Tenant – A person entitled to benefit from a trust (usually income or use of assets) during their lifetime.
- Remainderman – The person who receives the remaining trust assets after the life tenant’s interest ends.
Conveyancing (Buying & Selling Property)
- Exchange of Contracts – The point when the sale becomes legally binding.
- Completion – When ownership of the property officially changes hands.
- Title Deeds – Legal documents proving ownership of property or land.
- Freehold – Full ownership of a property and the land it stands on.
- Leasehold – Ownership of a property for a fixed term but not the land it stands on.
- Land Registry – The official body that records ownership of land and property.
- Searches – Legal checks made on a property before it’s bought.
- Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) – Tax paid when purchasing property above a certain value.
- Transfer Deed (TR1) – A legal document used to transfer ownership of property in England and Wales.
- Assent – The formal transfer of property from a deceased person’s estate to a beneficiary.
- Transferee – The person receiving ownership of property or land.
- Transferor – The person transferring ownership of property or land.
- Lessee – A person who holds the lease of a property (the tenant).
- Lessor – A person who grants a lease (the landlord).
Management Pack – A set of documents from the managing agent or freeholder detailing leasehold property management and financial information.
Tax & Estate Planning
- Inheritance Tax (IHT) – A tax on the estate of someone who has died.
- Nil Rate Band – The threshold below which no inheritance tax is paid.
- Trust – A legal arrangement where assets are held for the benefit of someone else.
- Discretionary Trust – A trust where trustees decide how to use the income or capital.
- Gift with Reservation of Benefit – A gift that’s still treated as part of your estate for tax if you continue to benefit from it.
- Lifetime Gift – A gift made during someone’s life that may impact inheritance tax.
- Residence Nil Rate Band (RNRB) – An additional inheritance tax allowance that applies when a deceased’s main residence is passed to direct descendants, such as children or grandchildren. This allowance increases the nil rate band threshold, thereby reducing the inheritance tax liability on the value of the family home.
- Downsizing Relief – A form of inheritance tax relief that allows individuals who have sold or downsized their main residence to a less valuable property or moved into care to still benefit from the Residence Nil Rate Band, provided the value of the former home is passed on to direct descendants.
- Business Property Relief (BPR) – A relief that reduces or exempts qualifying business assets from inheritance tax, encouraging the continuation of businesses by facilitating tax-efficient transfers of shares, business property, or interests in a business.
- Agricultural Property Relief (APR) – A relief that reduces the value of agricultural property for inheritance tax purposes. This relief applies to qualifying farmland and farm buildings, typically providing either 50% or 100% exemption, thereby supporting the preservation of agricultural assets within families.
Court of Protection
- Deputyship – The legal status granted when the Court of Protection appoints someone to make decisions for a person lacking mental capacity.
- Deputy – A person appointed by the Court of Protection to make decisions for someone who lacks capacity.
- Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) – A legal document allowing someone to make decisions for you if you lose mental capacity (and sometimes when you still have capacity – with your authority).
- Attorney – A person appointed under a power of attorney to act on someone else’s behalf.
- Mental Capacity – The ability to make decisions for oneself.
- Mental Capacity Act 2005 – The law governing decision-making for people who lack mental capacity in England and Wales.
- Best Interests – The standard used when making decisions on behalf of someone who lacks capacity.
- Statutory Will – A will made by the Court of Protection for someone who cannot make one themselves.
- Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) – A previous form of power of attorney (now replaced by LPA but still valid if made before 2007).
