Administrator: The person to whom letters of administration are granted by the Probate Registry.
Beneficiary: The person who benefits from the terms of the Will.
Death Certificate: a certified copy of the entry in the Death Register. For a fee, the register will be able to provide a number of certified copies.
Death Certificate verification form: this form lists all the information on the death certificate and can be submitted to the bank in place of death certificate. Solicitors cannot photocopy and certify the certificate obtained from the Death Registrar., so have to use a death certificate verification form instead.
Estate: all the property (money, land and other possessions) owned by someone when they died, the sum of a person’s assets.
Executor: a person or people named in the deceased person’s will to administer the estate and deal with the instruction in the Will.
Grant of Probate: an official document made the court which confirms that the executors named in the Will are legally entitled to administer the estate. It will only be granted when the inheritance tax on the estate has been agreed and paid.
Grant of Letters of administration: an official document issued by the Probate Registry when a person dies without making a Will or the executors named in a Will are unable or unwilling to act. The formally names the person who as right to deal with the affairs of the person who has died.
Interim Death Certificate: this is issued when there is a coroner’s report, and the cause of death still needs to be officially determined.
Intestate: the situation when a person has died without making a legal Will.
Next to Kin: it is the responsibility of the next of kin of the deceased to administer the deceased’s estate if there is no Will, the next of kin is usually the surviving spouse or children.
Personal representatives: executors or administrators.
Power of attorney: a legal process in which a person gives another person – or people, an authority to manage their affairs on his behalf.
Probate: the official process of proving that a Will is authentic and valid. A person can also apply to the probate court to deal with a deceased person’s estate when no Will exists.
Probate Registry: a part of the court system that legally appoints a person-or people to deal with the estates of a deceased person either under the terms of a valid Will or where the deceased died without making a Will.
Third party mandate: an express authority and agreement between a customer and bank which allows another person “third party” to deal with the customer’s bank account.
Will: a document signed by the deceased and properly witnessed, specifying what they wanted to happen to their estate.