testator
{{Short description|Person who makes a will}}
{{Wills, trusts, estates}}
A testator ({{IPAc-en|t|ɛ|s|'|t|eɪ|t|ɔr}}) is a person who has written and executed a last will and testament that is in effect at the time of their death.{{cite web|url=http://dictionary.law.com/default2.asp?typed=testator&type=1&submit1.x=72&submit1.y=6 |title=Law dictionary on line |publisher=Dictionary.law.com |date=2010-12-09 |access-date=2012-03-26}} It is any "person who makes a will."Gordon Brown, Administration of Wills, Trusts, and Estates, 3d ed. (2003), p. 556. {{ISBN|0-7668-5281-4}}.
Related terms
- A female testator is sometimes referred to as a testatrix ({{IPAc-en|t|ɛ|s|'|t|eɪ|t|r|ɪ|k|s}}), plural testatrices ({{IPAc-en|t|ɛ|s|t|ə|'|t|r|aɪ|s|iː|s}}), particularly in older cases.
- In Ahmadiyya Islam, a testator is referred to as a moosi,{{cite book
|title= The law of inheritance in the Republics of Syria and Lebanon
|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=T5TGAAAAMAAJ&q=Moosi
|last= Khairallah
|first= Ibrahim A.
|author-link= Ibrahim A. Khairallah
|year= 1941
|publisher= American Press
|location= Original from the University of Michigan
|pages= 228–258}} who is someone that has signed up for Wasiyyat or a will, under the plan initiated by the Promised Messiah, thus committing a portion, not less than one-tenth, of his lifetime earnings and any property to a cause.
- The adjectival form of the word is testamentary, as in:
- Testamentary capacity, or mental capacity or ability to execute a will and
- Testamentary disposition, or gift made in a will (see that article for types).
- Testamentary trust, a trust that is created in a will.
- A will is also known as a last will and testament.
- Testacy means the status of being testate, that is, having executed a will. The property of such a person goes through the probate process.
- Intestacy means the status of not having made a will, or to have died without a valid will. The estate of a person who dies intestate, undergoes administration, rather than probate.
- The attestation clause of a will is where the witnesses to a will attest to certain facts concerning the making of the will by the testator, and where they sign their names as witnesses.