- Advance health care directive
- A document that names a health care agent and records your treatment wishes. In Minnesota it combines what other states call a living will and a health care proxy.
- Asset protection
- Lawful planning that reduces the exposure of property to future creditors, lawsuits, or long-term-care costs, using exemptions, insurance, entities, and irrevocable trusts.
- Attorney-in-fact (agent)
- The person authorized to act for you under a power of attorney.
- Beneficiary
- A person or organization that receives property under a will, trust, insurance policy, or account designation.
- Beneficiary designation
- The form on file with a retirement plan, insurer, or bank that names who receives the account at death. It overrides the will.
- Codicil
- A formal, witnessed amendment to a will.
- Conservatorship
- A court proceeding appointing someone to manage the finances of an incapacitated adult. A durable power of attorney usually makes it unnecessary.
- Durable power of attorney
- A power of attorney that remains effective if you become incapacitated.
- Estate
- Everything a person owns or controls at death.
- Estate tax
- A tax on the value of an estate above an exemption amount. Minnesota and the federal government each impose one, with very different thresholds.
- Executor
- The traditional name for the person who administers a will. Minnesota law uses the term personal representative.
- Fiduciary
- Anyone who manages property for another and must act in that person's best interest: personal representatives, trustees, agents, and guardians.
- Funding (a trust)
- Transferring ownership of assets into a trust by deed, account retitling, or assignment. An unfunded trust controls nothing.
- Generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax
- A federal tax on transfers to grandchildren or more remote descendants that would otherwise skip a generation of estate tax.
- Gift tax
- A federal tax on lifetime transfers above the annual exclusion, sharing a single lifetime exemption with the estate tax.
- Guardian
- The person named to care for minor children if both parents die, or appointed by a court for an incapacitated adult.
- Health care proxy (health care agent)
- The person named in a health care directive to make medical decisions when you cannot.
- Heir
- A person entitled to inherit under state law when there is no will.
- Incapacity
- The inability to manage one's own affairs or make informed decisions, usually established by a physician's finding.
- Intestate
- Dying without a valid will. Minnesota's intestacy statute then decides who inherits.
- Irrevocable trust
- A trust that generally cannot be changed once created; used for estate tax reduction, life insurance, asset protection, and special needs planning.
- Living trust
- A trust created during your lifetime to hold property. See revocable trust and irrevocable trust.
- Living will
- Written instructions about life-sustaining treatment; in Minnesota, part of the health care directive.
- Personal representative
- The person appointed by the probate court to administer an estate. Also called an executor.
- Pour-over will
- A short will used with a living trust that directs any assets left outside the trust into it at death.
- Power of attorney
- A document authorizing another person to act for you in financial and legal matters.
- Probate
- The court-supervised process of proving a will, appointing a personal representative, paying debts and taxes, and distributing property.
- Revocable trust
- A living trust you can change or cancel at any time. It avoids probate but offers no tax or creditor protection.
- Self-proving affidavit
- A notarized statement signed with the will so the court can accept it without locating the witnesses.
- Settlor (grantor, trustmaker)
- The person who creates a trust.
- Spendthrift clause
- A trust provision that keeps a beneficiary's creditors from reaching trust assets before distribution.
- Successor trustee
- The person who takes over a trust when the original trustee dies, resigns, or becomes incapacitated.
- Testator
- The person making a will.
- Transfer-on-death (TOD) deed
- A Minnesota deed that passes real estate to a named beneficiary at death without probate.
- Trustee
- The person or institution that holds and manages trust property for the beneficiaries.
This guide is general information about Minnesota and federal law. It is not legal advice for your situation. Contact the office to discuss how these points apply to you.