Frequently Used Terms

Administration of an Estate: Also known as “probate,” this is the management and distribution of a decedent's property, which includes the collection of assets, payment of expenses, debts and taxes, and distribution to the heirs or legatees.

Administrative Probate: A proceeding that is initiated by an interested person in which the Register of Wills appoints a personal representative and either probates a decedent’s Last Will and Testament or determines the decedent died intestate.

Ancillary Probate: A proceeding that is initiated to dispose of real property located in Maryland that was owned by an out-of-state decedent. The fiduciary of this proceeding is known as a “foreign personal representative.”

Child (or Children): A natural or adopted child of the decedent. This does not include a stepchild, foster child, grandchild, or more distantly related descendant.

Claimant: An individual or entity who has filed a claim against a decedent's estate.

Collateral Heir: An heir who is not of the direct bloodline of the decedent but is related through a collateral bloodline. This includes descendants of parents of a decedent, such as siblings, nieces, and nephews, and descendants of grandparents, including aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Decedent: A deceased person.

Descendant: An individual who is in the direct bloodline of an ancestor, including children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren. This is also known as a “lineal descendant.”

Domicile: The place where a person has made their permanent principal home. This includes the place a person intends to return to when away. This does not include a place that a person has resided temporarily or for end-of-life care.

Election Against the Will: The right provided by Maryland law of a spouse to elect against their deceased spouse’s will that allows them to receive a statutory share, even if it is more than the will provided.

Encumbrance: A lien or claim attached to property, such as a mortgage on real property or a lien on a motor vehicle.

Estate: The property or assets of a decedent.

Family Allowance: An allowance in addition to property passing under the will or by the laws of intestacy. A surviving spouse, registered domestic partner, and each unmarried child of the decedent, who was not eighteen years at the time of the death of the decedent, are entitled to receive a family allowance.

Fiduciary: A person or institution that manages and administers money and other assets of another. A fiduciary includes a personal representative, administrator, guardian, trustee, or custodian.

Gross Estate: The property in an estate before the deduction of liens, debts, expenses, and taxes.

Heir: An individual who is entitled to inherit from a decedent based on the laws of intestacy (when a decedent has died without a will). A decedent’s heirs are determined by whether the decedent was married or in a registered domestic partnership and the nearest blood relatives who survived them. The Register of Wills may assist you in determining a decedent’s heirs.

Interested Person: This includes the personal representative(s) of an estate, the legatees, the heirs at law, and any court-appointed guardian(s) for minors who are legatees or heirs.

Inheritance Tax: A tax imposed on certain persons for the privilege of receiving probate or non-probate property from a decedent. Whether the tax is imposed is based on the relationship of the recipient to a decedent and the tax rate is determined by the date of death of a decedent.

Intestate: A decedent who has died without a will. This means a decedent whose estate will be distributed based on Maryland’s laws of intestacy.

Issue: The lineal descendants of the decedent, including children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc.

Joint Tenancy: A type of ownership in which personal or real property is held jointly by two or more persons in undivided (equal) shares with the right of survivorship. When a joint tenant dies, their share passes automatically by operation of law or by contract to the survivor(s). This includes, for example, real property held by two spouses as tenants by the entireties and bank accounts jointly held by two or more persons.

Judicial Probate: A proceeding that is initiated by an interested person in which an orphans' court, as opposed to the Register of Wills, considers the appointment of a personal representative and either the probate of a decedent’s Last Will and Testament or the determination that the decedent died intestate. This occurs in situations where administrative probate is not possible, such as when the validity of a will is questioned, a will is damaged, when more than one qualified person applies for appointment as personal representative, or when a decedent dies intestate and an individual with lower priority for appointment than an heir applies for appointment as personal representative.

Legatee: An individual or entity entitled to inherit under the terms of a decedent’s Last Will and Testament.

Letter of Administration: A document issued by the Register of Wills that gives a personal representative the authority to act on behalf of a decedent.

Limited Order: An order which allows an individual to obtain information from a financial institution in search of assets of a decedent, or which allows the Register of Wills to search a safe deposit box in search of a Last Will and Testament of a decedent.

Modified Administration: A streamlined version of administrative probate available when the residuary legatees and heirs in an estate consist of no one other than the personal representative and non-taxable recipients of property. In lieu of a formal Inventory and Account, the personal representative is required to file a Final Report within 10 months, with up to two 90-day extensions, from the date of appointment.

Net Probate Estate: The property remaining in an estate after the deduction of liens, debts, expenses, and taxes.

Non-Probate Asset: Property that passes outside the probate estate, including, but not limited to, jointly held assets, life estate or remainder interests in a trust or deed, trusts in which the decedent had an interest, payable on death or transfer on death (P.O.D. or T.O.D.) assets, and pensions, benefit plans, investment accounts, and life insurance policies with named beneficiaries.

Personal Representative: Also referred to as an “executor,” “executrix,” or “administrator,” this is a person appointed to administer an estate.

Petition for Probate: The document required to initiate a probate proceeding.

Probate Asset: Property owned solely by the decedent, titled in only the decedent’s name, owned by the decedent as a tenant in common, or an asset in the decedent’s name with no named beneficiary.

Registered Domestic Partner: An individual who has filed a declaration of domestic partnership with a Register of Wills, has been issued a certification of domestic partnership by the Register of Wills, and whose partnership had not been terminated prior to the death of the decedent. A surviving registered domestic partner has the same priority as a surviving spouse to serve as personal representative, to inherit in intestacy, and to receive a family allowance. A surviving registered domestic partner is also exempt from the inheritance tax.

Regular Estate: The type of estate opened if the probate assets in Maryland have a value in excess of $50,000 (or $100,000 if the spouse is the sole legatee or heir). To establish the value of an estate, include only assets held in the name of a decedent alone and/or an interest held as tenants in common. The value is the fair market value less any debts of record secured by the property as of the date of death, to the extent that insurance benefits are not payable to the lien holder or secured party for the secured debt.

Small Estate: The type of estate opened if the probate assets in Maryland have a value of $50,000 or less (or $100,000 if the spouse is the sole legatee or heir). To establish the value of an estate, include only assets held in the name of a decedent alone and/or an interest held as tenants in common. The value is the fair market value less any debts of record secured by the property as of the date of death, to the extent that insurance benefits are not payable to the lien holder or secured party for the secured debt.

Special Administrator: An individual or individuals appointed by a court when it is necessary to protect and manage property prior to the appointment of a personal representative. A special administrator has limited powers and may only sell assets or expend estate funds with permission of a court.

Tenants by the Entireties: A type of ownership that is created only between two spouses in which they hold title to a whole property together, with the right of survivorship.

Tenants in Common: Aa type of ownership where two or more persons each holds a divisible interest in a property with no right of survivorship. Upon the death of an owner, their interest becomes a probate asset and will pass to their heirs under the laws of intestacy, or in accordance with the terms of the will.

Testate: A decedent who has died with a will.

Testator: Individual who makes a will.

Trust: An entity established by an individual (the “settlor”) to hold assets for the benefit of certain persons or entities (“beneficiaries”) that is managed by a named fiduciary (the “trustee”). Assets titled in the name of a trust or trustee are non-probate assets.

Will of No Estate: The type of estate opened if a decedent dies with a will but with no probate assets.