GLOSSARY
Plain-English Reference
Glossary of Legal Terms
A working reference of terms that come up in estate planning, probate, elder law, family law, real estate, and personal injury work — written in plain English, with statutory citations where they matter.
A
Administration Proceeding
- A Surrogate's Court proceeding opened when someone dies without a will. The court issues Letters of Administration instead of Letters Testamentary, and priority to serve follows the order set by SCPA § 1001.Probate
Administrator
- A person appointed by the Surrogate's Court to manage the estate of someone who died without a will (intestate). The administrator performs the same role as an executor under SCPA Article 10.
An Incapacitated Person (AIP)
- The term used in an Article 81 proceeding for the adult whose capacity is at issue. New York does not declare a person incapacitated in the abstract: the court decides which specific decisions the person can no longer make and limits the guardian's powers to those.Guardianship
Article 17-A Guardianship
- A New York Surrogate's Court guardianship under Article 17-A of the SCPA for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
Article 81 Guardianship
- A New York Supreme Court guardianship under Article 81 of the Mental Hygiene Law for adults who have become functionally incapacitated and need a court-appointed decision-maker.
Asset Protection
- Structuring ownership so that assets are out of reach of future creditors, judgments, and long-term-care costs. Timing decides everything: a transfer made after a claim arises is a fraudulent conveyance, and a transfer made to qualify for Medicaid starts the five-year look-back.Asset Protection · Elder Law
Assets
- Everything a person or entity owns that has value — real property, accounts, business interests, insurance, and intangibles such as intellectual property. What passes through probate is only the subset held in the decedent's sole name without a beneficiary designation.Estate Planning
Attorney (Lawyer)
- A person admitted to the bar and licensed to practice law. In New York, admission is by an Appellate Division department, and only an admitted attorney may give legal advice or appear for another person in court.
B
Beneficiary
- A person or entity named to receive property or benefits under a will, trust, life insurance policy, retirement account, or other instrument.Estate Planning · Wills & Trusts
Business Continuation Planning
- Arranging in advance what happens to a closely held business when an owner dies, becomes disabled, or leaves — usually a buy-sell agreement funded by insurance, so the surviving owners are not forced to take the decedent's family in as partners.Estate Planning · Asset Protection
C
Child Health Plus
- New York's health insurance program for children under 19 who do not qualify for Medicaid. Premiums are income-based and many families pay nothing.Elder Law
Citation
- A formal court-issued notice in a Surrogate's Court proceeding, served on interested parties so they can object or appear. Required under SCPA § 1402 for probate.Probate
Codicil
- A document that amends a prior will. Must be executed with the same formality as the original will under EPTL § 3-2.1.Estate Planning
Conservatorship
- The pre-1993 New York procedure for managing the property of an incapacitated adult. It was replaced by Article 81 guardianship, which tailors powers to the specific abilities the person has lost. The word survives in other states and in older documents.Guardianship
Corporate Officer
- A person appointed by a corporation's board to run its day-to-day affairs — president, secretary, treasurer. Officers owe fiduciary duties to the corporation and can be personally liable for unpaid wages and certain taxes.
Corporation
- A legal entity separate from its owners, formed in New York under the Business Corporation Law. Shareholders are generally not personally liable for corporate debts, which is the point of forming one.
Creditor
- A person or entity owed money. In a New York estate, creditors must present claims to the fiduciary, and SCPA § 1802 gives the fiduciary a seven-month window from the issuance of letters before distributing without personal exposure.Probate
D
Decanting
- Pouring the assets of one irrevocable trust into a new trust with better terms. New York was the first state to authorize it, and the mechanics are set out in EPTL § 10-6.6 — a way to fix a trust that can no longer be amended.Wills & Trusts
Decedent
- A deceased person whose estate is being administered.
Deed
- The instrument that transfers title to real property. In New York a deed takes effect on delivery, but recording it with the county clerk is what protects the buyer against later claims.Real Estate
Dual Eligibility
- Qualifying for both Medicare (by age or disability) and Medicaid (by income and resources). Dual eligibles get Medicare as primary coverage with Medicaid picking up premiums, cost-sharing, and the long-term care Medicare does not cover.Elder Law
Durable Power of Attorney
- A power of attorney that remains effective even if the principal becomes incapacitated. In New York, must use the statutory short form under GOL § 5-1501B.Power of Attorney
Dynasty Trust
- A trust designed to hold wealth for multiple generations without a transfer tax at each death, using the generation-skipping transfer tax exemption. New York's rule against perpetuities (EPTL § 9-1.1) limits duration, so a true multi-century dynasty trust is normally sited in another state.Wills & Trusts · Asset Protection
E
Elder Law
- The practice area covering the legal problems that arrive with age — Medicaid and long-term care planning, guardianship, elder abuse, capacity, and the estate planning that has to work around all of it.Elder Law
EPTL
- Estates, Powers and Trusts Law — the New York statute governing wills, trusts, and inheritance.
Equitable Distribution
- The division of marital property in a New York divorce under Domestic Relations Law § 236(B)(5). Not equal — equitable.Matrimonial · Family Law
Estate
- Everything a person owns at death. The probate estate (assets in the sole name, no beneficiary) and the taxable estate (which includes life insurance, retirement accounts, and jointly held property) are different sets, and confusing them is the most common planning error.Probate · Estate Planning
Estate Litigation
- Contested proceedings in Surrogate's Court — will contests, accounting objections, discovery proceedings under SCPA § 2103 to recover estate property, and disputes among fiduciaries and beneficiaries.Probate
Estate Planning
- The set of instruments that decides who receives what, who decides when you cannot, and how much of the estate reaches the family instead of the taxing authority: will, trusts, power of attorney, health care proxy, living will, and beneficiary designations working together.Estate Planning
Estate Tax
- A tax on the transfer of an estate at death, imposed separately by New York and the federal government. New York's exemption is roughly $7.35 million and is structured as a cliff — exceed 105% of it and the exemption is lost entirely.Estate Planning
Executor
- A person named in a will to manage the testator's estate after death. Appointed by the Surrogate's Court via Letters Testamentary.Probate
F
Fair Hearing
- An administrative hearing before the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance to challenge a Medicaid denial, reduction, or discontinuance. The request generally must be made within 60 days of the notice, and aid may continue while it is pending.Elder Law
Family Health Plus
- A former New York program for adults who earned too much for Medicaid but could not buy coverage. It ended in 2015 when the Affordable Care Act expansion absorbed its population; the name still appears in older material.Elder Law
Felony
- Under the New York Penal Law, a crime punishable by more than one year of imprisonment. Felonies run from class E to class A.
Fiduciary
- A person legally obligated to act in another's best interest — executors, administrators, trustees, guardians, agents under POAs.
First-Party Special Needs Trust
- A special needs trust funded with the disabled person's own money — usually a personal injury recovery or an inheritance. Authorized by 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(A): it must be created before age 65 and must repay Medicaid from what remains at death, which is what distinguishes it from a third-party trust funded by parents.Wills & Trusts · Elder Law · Personal Injury
G
Gift Tax
- A federal tax on lifetime transfers, paid by the giver and offset by the annual exclusion and the lifetime exemption. New York has no gift tax — but Tax Law § 954(a)(3) pulls gifts made within three years of death back into the New York gross estate, so a deathbed gift buys nothing. (The boilerplate term «donor's tax» describes this, not a tax on what an heir receives.)Estate Planning · Asset Protection
Grand Larceny
- Theft of property above the statutory threshold under Article 155 of the New York Penal Law. It is the charge that follows a substantial Medicaid fraud allegation.
H
Health Care Power of Attorney
- The term used in other states for the document New York calls a Health Care Proxy. A New York power of attorney covers financial matters only — it gives the agent no authority over medical decisions.Power of Attorney
Health Care Proxy
- A New York advance directive under Public Health Law Article 29-C designating an agent to make health care decisions if the principal cannot.
Home Care
- Skilled and personal care delivered in the person's own home rather than a facility. In New York it is the benefit most Medicaid planning is aimed at: community Medicaid pays for home care and, unlike nursing home coverage, is not subject to the five-year asset look-back.Elder Law
Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP)
- A federally funded, state-administered benefit that helps low-income households pay heating costs. Receiving HEAP does not affect Medicaid eligibility.Elder Law
HRA (Human Resources Administration)
- New York City's social services agency. It administers Medicaid and public assistance in the five boroughs and investigates recipient-side fraud; provider fraud is handled by the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.Elder Law
I
Individual Retirement Account (IRA)
- A tax-advantaged retirement account that passes by beneficiary designation, not by will. Since the SECURE Act, most non-spouse beneficiaries must empty an inherited IRA within ten years, which changes who should be named and whether a trust belongs in the chain.Estate Planning
Inter Vivos Trust
- A trust created during the settlor's lifetime (as opposed to a testamentary trust created by a will).Wills & Trusts
Intestate
- Dying without a will. Intestate succession is governed by EPTL § 4-1.1.Probate · Estate Planning
Irrevocable Trust
- A trust that the settlor cannot modify, amend, or revoke after creation. Used for Medicaid asset protection and tax planning.Wills & Trusts · Asset Protection
K
Kinship Hearing
- A Surrogate's Court proceeding under SCPA § 2225 to determine who the legal distributees of an intestate estate are.
L
Last Will and Testament
- The instrument that directs distribution at death, names an executor, and appoints guardians for minor children. In New York it must be signed at the end and witnessed by two people under EPTL § 3-2.1; a will controls only probate assets and cannot override a beneficiary designation.Estate Planning · Probate
Letters Testamentary
- The court-issued document authorizing an executor to act on behalf of an estate.Probate
Liability
- A debt or obligation. In estate administration, liabilities are paid before beneficiaries receive anything, and a fiduciary who distributes first can be personally answerable for the shortfall.
Lien
- A claim against property securing a debt — a mortgage, a judgment, a tax lien, or a Medicaid lien. A lien has to be satisfied before clean title passes, which is why it surfaces at closing rather than earlier.Real Estate · Asset Protection
Life Insurance
- A contract paying a death benefit to a named beneficiary outside probate. The proceeds are still part of the taxable estate if the decedent owned the policy — the reason an irrevocable life insurance trust exists.Estate Planning · Wills & Trusts
Limited Liability Company (LLC)
- A New York entity combining a corporation's limited liability with partnership taxation. Formation carries a publication requirement under LLC Law § 206 that catches out-of-state filers, and single-member LLCs remain a common holding vehicle for rental property.Real Estate · Asset Protection
Liquidity
- Cash, or assets convertible to cash quickly. An estate can be wealthy and illiquid at the same time: New York estate tax is due nine months after death, and a family holding real estate and a business may have to sell something to pay it.Estate Planning
Litigant
- A party to a lawsuit — in Surrogate's Court, typically a petitioner, a respondent, or an objectant.
Living Will
- A written statement of an individual's end-of-life medical preferences.
Look-Back Period
- The 60-month period before a Medicaid application during which transfers of assets are scrutinized and can trigger a penalty period.Elder Law · Asset Protection
M
Managed Long-Term Care (MLTC)
- A New York plan model for people who need community-based long-term care for more than 120 days. Enrollment is generally required to receive Medicaid home care, and the plan, not the county, authorizes the hours.Elder Law
MAPT (Medicaid Asset Protection Trust)
- An irrevocable trust used to shield assets from Medicaid spend-down, subject to the 60-month look-back.Asset Protection · Elder Law · Wills & Trusts
Medicaid
- The joint federal-state program covering medical care for people with limited income and resources. In New York it is the only realistic payer for extended nursing home and home care, which is why eligibility planning is a legal specialty rather than a form-filling exercise.Elder Law
Medicaid Fraud
- Obtaining Medicaid benefits or payments through misrepresentation — undisclosed assets and unreported transfers on the recipient side, billing for services not rendered on the provider side. Penalties run from repayment and disqualification to felony prosecution.Elder Law
Medicaid Planning
- Lawful arrangement of assets and income to qualify for Medicaid while preserving what the law allows a family to keep — trusts, spousal transfers, promissory notes, and pooled income trusts, timed against the five-year look-back for institutional care.Elder Law · Asset Protection
N
Nursing Home Planning
- Preparing for institutional care before it is needed: choosing the facility, understanding what Medicare covers (a short rehabilitation stay, not custodial care), and positioning assets so the five-year look-back has already run when the application is filed.Elder Law
P
Per Stirpes
- A method of distributing property where descendants of a deceased beneficiary take their parent's share, by representation.
Pooled Income Trust
- A type of supplemental needs trust managed by a nonprofit, used by Medicaid recipients to shelter excess income.Elder Law · Wills & Trusts
Pour-Over Will
- A will that "pours" any remaining probate assets into a revocable trust at death.Estate Planning · Wills & Trusts
Probate
- The court-supervised process of proving a will's validity and administering the estate.Probate
R
Residuary Estate
- The portion of the estate remaining after specific bequests, debts, and expenses are paid.
Revocable Living Trust
- A trust the settlor can modify or revoke during life. Common probate-avoidance tool.Wills & Trusts · Estate Planning
S
SCPA
- Surrogate's Court Procedure Act — the New York statute governing Surrogate's Court practice.
Self-Proving Affidavit
- An affidavit attached to a will under SCPA § 1406 that allows admission to probate without calling the attesting witnesses.Estate Planning · Probate
Senior Citizen
- In practice, a person aged 65 or older — the threshold that governs Medicare eligibility, New York's senior citizen real property tax exemption, and enhanced STAR.Elder Law
Settlor (Grantor, Trustor)
- The person who creates a trust.Wills & Trusts
Shareholder
- An owner of stock in a corporation. Shares are estate assets that pass by will or trust, and in a closely held company a shareholders' agreement usually restricts who may inherit them.Estate Planning
Sound Mind (Testamentary Capacity)
- The standard a testator must meet when signing a will: understanding the nature and extent of the property, knowing who the natural objects of one's bounty are, and grasping that the document distributes the estate. Capacity is judged at the moment of signing, which is why a diagnosis alone does not invalidate a will.Estate Planning · Probate
Special Needs Trust
- A trust designed to provide for a person with disabilities without disqualifying them from means-tested government benefits like SSI and Medicaid.Wills & Trusts
Spousal Right of Election
- A New York surviving spouse's right under EPTL § 5-1.1-A to elect against the will and take a statutory share of the estate.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
- The federal food benefit, administered in New York through local social services districts. SNAP receipt does not disqualify a person from Medicaid.Elder Law
Surrogate's Court
- The New York court that handles probate, estate administration, guardianship under Article 17-A, and adoption.
T
Tax Planning
- Structuring ownership, gifts, and entities to reduce income, gift, and estate tax lawfully. In New York the sharpest lever is the estate tax cliff: planning that keeps a taxable estate just under the threshold can be worth more than years of investment return.Estate Planning · Asset Protection
Tenancy by the Entirety
- A form of ownership available only to married couples for real property in New York. Each spouse owns the whole, neither can convey alone, the survivor takes automatically, and a creditor of one spouse alone generally cannot reach it.Real Estate · Asset Protection
Tenants in Common
- Co-ownership where each owner holds a distinct share that passes to that owner's estate rather than to the surviving co-owners. New York presumes a tenancy in common unless the deed says otherwise, which is why the wording of a deed matters years later.Real Estate · Probate
Testator
- A person who makes a will.
Trust
- A legal arrangement where a trustee holds and manages property for the benefit of beneficiaries.Wills & Trusts
Trustee
- The person or entity that manages a trust on behalf of the beneficiaries.
U
Undue Influence
- A common ground for will contests under SCPA § 1408. Requires proof of motive, opportunity, and actual exercise of influence that overcame the testator's free will.Probate
Unearned Income
- Income not from work — rent, interest, dividends, pensions, Social Security. Medicaid counts it differently from earned income, and it drives the monthly budget in a community Medicaid case.Elder Law
W
Will Contest
- A proceeding in Surrogate's Court to challenge the validity of a will. Common grounds include lack of due execution, lack of capacity, undue influence, and fraud.Probate
Question About a Specific Term?
The glossary is intentionally short. For application of a term to your specific situation — what an equitable distribution looks like in YOUR divorce, or whether a MAPT fits YOUR family — book a free consultation.