Glossary
Action – With respect to an act of a trustee, an action includes the failure to act. See MUTC.
Administration – Includes both formal and informal testate and intestate proceedings under Article III, titled “Probate of Wills and Administration.” See MUPC 190B Section 1-201(1).
Agent – Includes an attorney-in-fact under a durable or nondurable power of attorney, an individual authorized to make decisions concerning another's health care and an individual authorized to make decisions for another under a natural death act.
Attorney-in-Fact - An Attorney-in-Fact is the individual named to step into the person executing the document’s shoes to make financial decisions on their behalf, in the event of their incapacity. The Attorney-in-Fact is named in a document known as a Durable Financial Power of Attorney.
Beneficiary (MUPC) - A beneficiary is someone who is set to receive something — like money, property, or benefits — from a trust, will, insurance policy, retirement account, or other legal arrangement. This can include:
People who currently get or will get something from a trust (even if it’s not guaranteed);
People who benefit from a charity trust;
People named to get assets like life insurance money or retirement funds when someone dies; or
People named in legal documents to receive gifts or have certain powers used for their benefit.
Beneficiary (MUTC) - A beneficiary is someone who has the right — now or in the future — to benefit from a trust, whether or not it’s guaranteed.
Child – a child includes an individual entitled to take as a child under the Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code by intestate succession from the parent whose relationship is involved. This definition excludes a person who is only a stepchild, a foster child, a grandchild, or any more remote descendant.
Descendant – A descendant of an individual means all of such individual's progeny of all generations, with the relationship of parent and child at each generation being determined by the definition of child and parent contained in this glossary.
Formal Proceedings - Probate proceedings conducted before a judge with notice to interested persons.
Informal Proceedings - Probate proceedings conducted without notice to interested persons by an officer of the court acting as a magistrate for probate of a will or appointment of a personal representative.
Incapacity Trustee - An incapacity trustee is the individual who steps into the grantor’s shoes to handle and administer the trust assets in the event of the grantor’s incapacity. This individual is typically also named as Attorney-in-Fact under the grantor’s Durable Financial Power of Attorney.
Interested Person – An interested person includes heirs, devisees, children, spouses, creditors, beneficiaries, and any others having a property right in or claims against a trust estate or the estate of a decedent, ward, or protected person. It also includes persons having priority for appointment as personal representative, and other fiduciaries representing interested persons. The meaning as it relates to particular persons may vary from time to time and shall be determined according to the particular purposes of, and matter involved in, any proceeding.
Irrevocable Trust - a trust where the settlor is not allowed to change any of the terms of the trust once it is executed. It is best understood as being “locked” in that the person who created the trust can not change the trustees, beneficiaries, or terms of the trust.
Parent – A parent includes any person entitled to take, or who would be entitled to take if the child died without a will, as a parent under the Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code by intestate succession from the child whose relationship is in question and excludes any person who is only a stepparent, foster parent, or grandparent.
Permissible Distributee - means a beneficiary who is currently eligible to receive distributions of trust income or principal, whether the distribution is mandatory or discretionary.
Personal Representative – The individual nominated in a Will and upon petitioning the Court, appointed by the said Court to manage the probate estate pursuant to the terms of a probated Will, or pursuant to the laws of intestate succession if the decedent had no Will.
Probate - The legal process to have the Probate Court appoint the Personal Representative to manage the decedent’s estate by paying their valid debts, filing their final taxes, and distributing their probate estate to the persons named in their Will.
Revocable Trust - A trust that is revocable by the settlor without the consent of the trustee, beneficiary, or a person holding an adverse interest.
Settlor - A person who creates or contributes property to a trust, oftentimes also referred to as a ‘Trustmaker’ or ‘Grantor.’ In the case of the most common type of trust, a revocable trust, the settlor typically has the authority to modify the trust’s terms during their lifetime, to remove, replace, or appoint new or additional trustees, or to change the trust’s ultimate beneficiaries.
Trust - A fiduciary relationship with respect to property, arising from a manifestation of intention to create the relationship, and subjecting the person who holds title to the property the duties to manage it for the benefit of the beneficiaries. A trust generally has three parties, a settlor, trustee, and beneficiary, and must hold at least one asset, otherwise known as the trust corpus.
Trustee - The trustee of a trust is best understood as the manager of the trust assets and administration. A trustee owes a fiduciary duty of loyalty to the beneficiaries of the trust, and therefore must always act in the trust’s best interests. For a revocable trust, the settlors are typically the initial trustees, or co-trustees, of the trust.
Testamentary Trust - A testamentary trust is part of the will, which must be filed with the court and is a public document. The original trustees of a testamentary trust are named in the will. After the will has been probated, the named trustee must file a bond (Form MPC 801) and a statement of confirmation of a testamentary trustee (Form MPC 275) with the Probate and Family Court.
Will (State of MA definition) – [a] Will includes codicil and any testamentary instrument that merely appoints an executor, revokes or revises another will, nominates a guardian, or expressly excludes or limits the right of an individual or class to succeed to property of the decedent passing by intestate succession. See 190B Section 1-201(57).