Glossary

Islamic terms

• 'Awl — Proportional reduction when the fixed shares add up to more than the whole estate.
• 'Iddah — The waiting period after a husband's death or divorce, during which a widow's status is defined.
• Asabah — Residuary heirs — those who take what remains after the fixed shares are paid.
• Ashab al-Furud — Heirs entitled to a fixed fraction of the estate under the Qur'an.
• Bayt al-Mal — The public treasury — classical recipient of an estate with no entitled heirs.
• Bequest to Non-Muslim Relatives — Leaving part of the one-third wasiyyah to relatives who do not inherit under faraid.
• Dhawu al-Arham — Relatives who are neither fixed-share heirs nor residuaries — e.g. a daughter's children, maternal uncles.
• Faraid — The fixed shares of inheritance prescribed in the Qur'an and Sunnah.
• Hadanah — Custody and physical care of a child.
• Hajb — Exclusion — where a nearer heir blocks a more distant one from inheriting.
• Hibah — A gift made during life, which takes effect immediately rather than on death.
• Janazah — The Islamic funeral — washing, shrouding, prayer and burial, normally without delay.
• Kalalah — A person who dies leaving neither parent nor child.
• Mahr — The bridal gift owed by husband to wife — an enforceable debt if unpaid at death.
• Marad al-Mawt — Death-illness — the final illness during which gifts are treated as bequests.
• Mirath — Inheritance itself — the estate passing to heirs, and the body of law governing it.
• Nafaqah — Maintenance — the obligation to financially support dependants.
• Nikah — The Islamic marriage contract.
• Obligatory Bequest — A bequest to orphaned grandchildren, required by statute in some Muslim-majority countries.
• Radd — The 'return' — redistributing a surplus back to fixed-share heirs when shares don't exhaust the estate.
• Sadaqah Jariyah — Ongoing charity whose reward continues after death.
• Tashih al-Mas'ala — Correcting the shares so every heir receives a whole number of units.
• Wakalah — Agency — authority to act on another's behalf, ending at death.
• Waqf — A perpetual charitable endowment — property held permanently, its benefit dedicated to a purpose.
• Wasi — The executor of a wasiyyah — and, in classical usage, guardian of minor children.
• Wasiyyah — A bequest — the portion of an estate a Muslim may direct freely by will, capped at one third.
• Wilayah — Guardianship over a minor's property and major affairs.

Canadian legal terms

• Affidavit of Execution — Sworn evidence from a witness that the will was properly signed.
• Beneficiary Designation — A named recipient on a registered account or insurance policy — which passes outside the will.
• Bond (Administration Bond) — Security a court may require before appointing an estate trustee.
• Clearance Certificate — CRA confirmation that a deceased person's taxes are paid, protecting the executor.
• Codicil — A signed amendment to an existing will rather than a full replacement.
• Common-Law Partner — A partner who is not legally married, whose inheritance rights vary sharply by province.
• Commorientes — The rule for deciding order of death where two people die together.
• Deemed Disposition — The tax rule treating a person as having sold everything at fair market value immediately before death.
• Dependant's Relief — A claim by someone the deceased was supporting, for adequate provision from the estate.
• Digital Assets — Online accounts, cryptocurrency and digital records forming part of an estate.
• Diligent Search — The search for a will an executor must make — and swear to — before an estate is treated as intestate.
• Escheat — Property passing to the Crown where an intestate person leaves no traceable next of kin.
• Estate — Everything a person owns at death, less what they owe.
• Estate Administration Tax — Ontario's probate tax, charged on the value of estate assets passing through probate.
• Estate Debts — What must be paid out of an estate before anyone inherits.
• Estate Trustee — Ontario's term for the executor — the person legally responsible for administering an estate.
• Executor Compensation — Payment an estate trustee may claim for the work of administering an estate.
• Executor Year — The customary year an executor has to administer an estate before beneficiaries can press for distribution.
• Final Return — The deceased's income tax return for the year of death.
• Guardian of Minor Children — The person appointed in a will to care for children under the age of majority.
• Henson Trust — A fully discretionary trust that preserves a disabled beneficiary's income support.
• Holograph Will — A will written entirely in the testator's own handwriting and signed, with no witnesses.
• Intestacy — Dying without a valid will, so provincial statute decides who inherits.
• Joint Tenancy — Co-ownership with a right of survivorship — the survivor takes the whole automatically.
• Lapse — A gift that fails because the beneficiary died before the testator.
• Minor Beneficiary — A beneficiary under the age of majority, who cannot receive property directly.
• Multiple Wills — Using a primary and a secondary will to reduce probate tax.
• Notarial Will — A will drawn and kept by a notary — the standard form in Quebec.
• Partial Intestacy — Where a will disposes of only part of an estate, and statute decides the rest.
• Passing of Accounts — The court process where an executor formally accounts to beneficiaries.
• Per Stirpes — Distribution by branch of the family, so a deceased child's share passes to their children.
• Power of Attorney — Authority given to someone to act for you while you are alive — it ends at death.
• Preferential Share — The first slice of an intestate estate reserved for a surviving married spouse.
• Presumed Revoked — The presumption that a will last known to be in the testator's possession, but not found, was destroyed deliberately.
• Probate — Court confirmation that a will is valid and that the named executor may act.
• Renunciation — Formally declining to act as executor.
• Residue — What is left in an estate after debts, taxes and specific gifts.
• Safety Deposit Box — A bank box often holding the original will — and often inaccessible at the worst moment.
• Small Estate — An estate below a provincial threshold, eligible for a simplified process.
• Small Estate Certificate — Ontario's simplified probate route for estates valued at $150,000 or less.
• Spousal Rollover — Transferring capital property to a spouse at cost, deferring tax to the survivor's death.
• Survivorship Clause — A clause requiring a beneficiary to outlive the testator by a set period.
• Suspicious Circumstances — Facts that shift the burden onto the person propounding a will to prove it valid.
• Testamentary Capacity — The mental capacity required to make a valid will.
• Testamentary Freedom — The principle that a person may leave their property to whomever they choose.
• Testamentary Trust — A trust created by a will, taking effect on death.
• Trust — An arrangement where a trustee holds property for beneficiaries.
• Undue Influence — Coercion that overbears the testator's own wishes.
• Will Registry — A database recording that a will exists and where it is kept.
• Wills Variation (BC) — A British Columbia claim allowing a spouse or child to have a will rewritten by the court.
• Witness — A person who watches the testator sign and signs in turn.