Glossary of Legal Terms
Administrator - a person appointed by the court to manage the assets and liabilities of the deceased.
Asset Protection - a set of legal techniques used to protect your real and personal property from legal problems and taxes during your life and after your death.
Beneficiary – a person who has a present or future interest in an estate or trust.
Care Contract – an agreement whereby a child or other relative provides care in lieu of hiring an outside third party to provide that same care.
Conservator – a suitable person or agency appointed by the probate court to manage the financial affairs of a person determined by the court to be in need of protection. These procedures are now governed by the recently enacted Uniform Probate Code rules, requiring far more due diligence and reporting by all parties.
Estate Planning – preparation of a plan of administration and disposition of one's property before or after death, including a will, trusts, gifts, power of attorney, etc. Estate planning helps you manage and preserve your assets while you are alive so that you can control their distribution after you’re gone.
Executor – a person designated in a Will and appointed by the Probate Court to carry out the directions and requests in a Will.
Family Caregiver Agreement – see Care Contract
Fiduciary – a person or institution who manages money or property for another and who must exercise a standard of care in such management activity. A fiduciary has a duty to act primarily for the client's benefit in matters connected with the undertaking and not for the fiduciary's own personal interest.
Public Benefits – federal and state programs available for low and moderate income individuals, or the disabled.
Guardian Ad Litem - an individual (often an attorney) appointed by the court to represent the best interests of a child or incapacitated person for the purpose of a legal procedure. The guardian ad litem also must protect the incapacitated person from abuse, neglect, abandonment, or exploitation.
Guardianship - a guardian is a legal relationship created by the court (usually the Probate & Family Court) to appoint a suitable person or agency to make personal decisions (usually health care related) for a person the court determines to be incompetent (mental illness or developmental disability) or physically incapacitated. Such a person may be a minor or an adult. These procedures are now governed by the recently enacted Uniform Probate Code rules, requiring far more due diligence and reporting by all parties. Sometimes referred to as a conservatorship.
Health Care Proxy – a health care proxy allows you to appoint someone you trust, for example, a family member or close friend, to make health care decisions for you, if you lack the capacity to make health care decisions for yourself.
Heir - an individual who inherits property of a deceased person, whether by will, deed, statute, or otherwise.
HIPAA – the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and Privacy Rule ensures coverage for workers and their families when they change or lose their jobs, and provides the national standards for protecting the privacy of health information.
Inventory – an itemized list of the property and assets constituting an estate.
MassHealth (also known as Medicaid) - a public health insurance program for low and medium-income residents of Massachusetts.
MassHealth CommonHealth – a health insurance program similar to MassHealth Standard for eligible disabled adults and disabled children through age 18 who cannot get MassHealth Standard because their incomes are too high.
MassHealth Standard – a health insurance program, including long-term-care, for low-income children, parents, pregnant women, the elderly, the disabled, and certain other groups.
Medicaid (also known as MassHealth) – a joint federal and state administered program which provides health care for eligible individuals and families with low incomes and resources.
Medical Directive – a legal document that allows you to set out written wishes for your medical care, name a person to make sure those wishes are carried out, or both. Often referred to as an advanced directive or living will.
Medicare – a federal program which provides health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over, or who are eligible for Social Security or Disability Insurance benefits.
Power of Attorney – an instrument authorizing another to act on someone’s behalf in a legal, financial, and/or business matter.
Probate - the process of proving a will is valid and thereafter administering the estate of the deceased according to the terms of the will.
Probate Administration - There are two types of probate administration in Massachusetts: the first involves a probate estate where there is a will. In that case a person’s assets will pass according to the directions set forth in the will. The second form of probate is for people who die without making their wills. This form of estate administration is called "intestacy". In both cases, the probate court in Massachusetts oversees the distribution process.
Social Security – the general term that describes a number of related programs, including retirement, disability, dependents, and survivors benefits. These programs provide workers and their families with some monthly income when their normal flow of income shrinks because of retirement, disability, or death. These programs are administered by the Social Security Administration.
Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) – a federal insurance program managed by the Social Security Administration designed to provide income to people who are unable to work because of a disability.
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) – a federal income supplement program designed to help aged, blind, and disabled people, who have little or no income, which provides cash to meet basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter.
Special Needs Trusts - a specialized legal document designed to benefit an individual who has a disability.
Supplemental Needs Trusts - see Special Needs Trusts
Testamentary Trust – a trust created by the terms of a will.
Testator – a person who has a legally valid will.
Trust - a legal relationship in which one or more persons (the trustee) holds legal title to property and manages it for the benefit of one or more persons (the beneficiaries).
Trust Administration – the trustee's management of trust property according to the trust's terms and for the benefit of the beneficiaries. The duties associated with trust administration include contacting and informing beneficiaries, gathering and investing assets, paying debts, notifying creditors, filing and paying taxes, and enforcing trust provisions.
Trustee – the person or organization (such as a trust company) named in a trust agreement to protect and handle the trust’s property for the benefit of one or more beneficiaries in accordance with the terms of the trust agreement.
Veterans’ Aid & Attendance - provides benefits for veterans and surviving spouses who require the regular attendance of another person to assist in eating, bathing, toileting, dressing and undressing. It also includes individuals who are blind or a patient in a nursing home because of mental or physical incapacity. Assisted care in an assisting living facility also qualifies.
Voluntary Administration – the settling of the estate of a deceased person without the formality of a full court administration.
Will – a document in which a person specifies the method to be applied in the management and distribution of his estate after his death.