True or false. Then, change the italicized word or phrase of each false statement to make it true.

1. Under today's laws, if a surviving spouse is unhappy with the provisions of his or her spouse's will, he or she can do nothing about it.

2. Under the state statute referred to earlier, a will cannot be waived by the surviving spouse if the deceased testator or testatrix had obtained a legal separation from his or her spouse before death.

3. Years ago in England, dower was a right that a widower had if issue of the marriage were born alive, but not otherwise, to a life estate in all real property owned by his wife at any time during coverture.

4. Both dower and curtesy were exempt from the claims of the decedent's creditors.

5. A child who is omitted from a parent's will can receive nothing from the parent's estate unless the child can prove that the omission was unintentional.

6. A person can bring a lawsuit by himself or herself at any age.

7. If a person dies without a will and is survived by heirs, the property will pass to the state.

8. Today, real property vests in the decedent's heirs at the moment of death of the owner, whereas personal property passes to the administrator or administratrix to be distributed by him or her.

9. Under some state statutes, illegitimate children inherit from their father and any paternal ancestor.

Select the one that matches each definition.

Answers administrator

administrator ad litem

administrator cum testamento annexo (c.t.a.)

administrator d.b.n.

administrator d.b.n.c.t.a.

administrator de bonis non

administrator de bonis non cum testamento annexo

administrator pendente lite

administrator with the will annexed (w.w.a.)

administratrix

ancillary administrator

Court of Ordinary

executor

executor de son tort

executrix

fiduciary capacity

Orphan's Court

personal representative

Probate and Family Court

public administrator

special administrator

successor personal representatives

summary administration

Surrogate's Court

voluntary administrator

will contest

1.A man nominated in a will of a decedent to carry out the terms of the will; a personal representative of an estate.

2.A woman appointed by the court to administer the estate of an intestate decedent.

3.A person appointed by the court to complete the settlement of an estate in which a previously appointed administrator has died, has resigned, or has been removed. (Select two answers.)

4.A person who undertakes the informal administration of a small estate.

5.A woman nominated in a will of a decedent to carry out the terms of the will; a personal representative of an estate.

6.A person appointed by the court to administer a testate estate in which no executor is nominated or in which the executor has died or for some other reason does not settle the estate. (Select two answers.)

7.A person who performs the duties of an executor without authority to do so.

8.A temporary administrator appointed by the court to protect estate assets when there is a will contest.

9.A position of trust.

10.People appointed to succeed previously appointed personal representatives.

11.An administrator appointed by the court to supply a necessary party to a suit in which the estate has an interest.

12.A suit over the allowance or disallowance of a will.

13.A male appointed by the court to administer the estate of an intestate decedent.

14.A person appointed by the court to replace a previously appointed executor who has died, has resigned, or has been removed. (Select two answers.)

15.A person appointed by the court to handle the affairs of an estate, for a limited time only, to take care of urgent affairs.

16.An official who administers the estate of a person who dies intestate when no relative, heir, or other person appears who is entitled to act as administrator.

17.A person appointed by the court to handle the affairs of a decedent in a foreign state.

18.The executor or administrator of a deceased person.

19.The name given to the court that exercises the function of settling a decedent's estates. (Select five answers.)

20.An informal procedure used to settle estates that do not exceed $30,000.

Use simple, non-legal language, with the help of the glossary. Write the statute quote so that it is shorter and can be understood by a layperson without losing its meaning. A person having custody of a will, other than a register of probate, shall, within thirty days after notice of the death of the testator, deliver such will into the probate court having jurisdiction of the probate thereof, or to the executors named in the will, who shall themselves deliver it into such court within said time; and if a person neglects without reasonable cause so to deliver a will, after being duly cited for that purpose by such court, he [or she] may be committed to jail by warrant of the court until he [or she] delivers it as above provided, and shall be liable to a person who is aggrieved for the damage sustained by him [or her] by reason of such neglect.

Understanding Legal Concepts.

Indicate whether each statement is true or false. Then, change the italicized word or phrase of each false statement to make it true

1. When a trust is established, the legal title in a particular item of property is separated from the equitable or beneficial title in the same property.

2. A testamentary trust comes into existence only on the death of the testator.

3. An inter vivos trust is a trust that is created by a will.

4. In a declaration of trust, the settlor conveys away the legal title to a trustee to hold for the benefit of either the settlor or the beneficiary.

5. The advantage of a revocable living trust is that the income from the trust is not taxable to the settlor.

6. A spendthrift trust is designed to provide a fund for themaintenance of a beneficiary and, simultaneously, to secure it against his or her improvidence or incapacity.

7. For a charitable trust to be valid, the person to be benefited must be uncertain.

8. The chief objection to a sprinkling or spray trust is that it gives the trustee too much control over the distribution of the trust property.

9. A resulting trust is imposed by law to avoid the unjust enrichment of one party at the expense of the other when the legal title to the property was obtained by fraud.

10. A precatory trust is an implied trust that sometimes arises from the use of polite language by a testator in a will.