Category Archives: Terminology

A relationship in the ownership of real property, which provides that each party owns an undivided interest in the entire parcel, with all joint owners having an undivided, non-exclusive right to the property.

Trust agreement which cannot be amended or revoked.

A legal term referring to a transfer or gift made during one’s lifetime, as opposed to a testamentary transfer which is a transfer or gift made upon death. An inter vivos trust is often used synonymously with the more common term living trust. Latin for between the living.

A person who is unable by reason of any physical or mental condition to receive and evaluate information or to communicate decisions to such an extent that he is unable to provide himself with food, clothing, shelter, safety, or other care such that physical injury, illness or disease is likely to occur.

Grantor trust is a term used in the Internal Revenue Code to describe any trust over which the grantor or settlor retains the power to control or direct the trust’s income or assets. All revocable trusts are, by definition, grantor trusts. If a trust is a grantor trust, then the grantor is treated as the owner of the assets, the trust is disregarded as a separate tax entity, and all income is taxed to the grantor rather than to the trust.

The party who transfers title, easement, grant or right, such as one who establishes a trust, also called a settlor.

The gift tax is a tax on the transfer of property by one individual to another while receiving nothing, or less than full value, in return. A gift tax return must be filed whenever an individual makes a gift in excess of the annual exclusion, which is $14,000 in 2013.

A broad power of attorney document that gives the named agent power to handle all matters permitted by law on behalf of the person (called “the principal”) who executed the document.

A legal right to receive either real property or personal property at some time in the future, either upon a particular date or upon the occurrence of an event. A future interest does not include the right to present possession or enjoyment of the property.

A power of attorney that remains in effect even if the person who made the document becomes incapacitated. If a power of attorney is not specifically made durable, it automatically expires if the maker becomes incapacitated.