PARL 320 Midterm

Advance Directive

A written statement expressing how you want medical decisions made in the future if you cannot make them yourself.

Health Care Power of Attorney

A type of advance directive that authorizes another person to make health care decisions on your behalf.

Living Will

A type of advance directive that details your wishes regarding medical treatment in case you become incapacitated.

Do-Not-Resuscitate (DNR) Order

A type of advance directive that indicates you do not want to receive CPR or other life-saving treatment in case of cardiac arrest.

Qualifying Condition

A medical condition like terminal condition, permanent unconsciousness, or irreversible condition that allows a health care surrogate to withdraw life-sustaining treatment.

Testate

An estate that is distributed according to a valid will.

Intestate

An estate that is distributed according to state law when no valid will exists.

Testamentary Capacity

The legal ability to understand the extent of one's estate and the implications of executing a will.

Plenary Guardian

A guardian with full decision-making authority over a disabled adult's affairs.

Inheritance Tax

A state tax imposed on beneficiaries receiving assets from a deceased person's estate.

Estate Tax

A tax assessed on the value of a decedent's estate at the time of death.

Capital Gain

The increase in a capital asset's value, realized when the asset is sold.

In Terrorem Clause

A clause in a will that penalizes any beneficiary who contests the validity of the will.

Holographic Will

A will that is written entirely in the handwriting of the testator.

Posthumous Child

A child conceived before but born after the father's death.

Escheat

The process by which a decedent's property passes to the state when there are no heirs.

Per Capita Distribution

Distribution where all surviving heirs receive equal shares of an estate.

Self-Proving Will

A will that is signed before a notary public, eliminating the need for witness testimony during probate.

Beneficiary

A person entitled to receive assets under a will or other legal instrument.

Conditional Devise

A provision in a will that takes effect upon the occurrence of a specific future event.

Noncupative Will

An oral will that is valid only under exceptional circumstances.

Simultaneous Death Clause

A clause that provides distribution of assets when insufficient evidence exists that decedents died otherwise than simultaneously.

Reciprocal Wills

Mutual wills that are essentially identical and made by spouses.

Codicil

An amendment to a will.

Augmented Estate

The total value of a decedent's estate calculated when a surviving spouse claims their statutory share.

Ademption

The elimination of a bequest in a will because the property is no longer available at the testator's death.