{{Short description|Person who makes a will}} {{Wills, trusts, estates}} A '''testator''' ({{IPAc-en|t|ɛ|s|'|t|eɪ|t|ɔr}}) is a person who has written and executed a last will and testament that is in effect at the time of their death.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dictionary.law.com/default2.asp?typed=testator&type=1&submit1.x=72&submit1.y=6 |title=Law dictionary on line |publisher=Dictionary.law.com |date=2010-12-09 |access-date=2012-03-26}}</ref> It is any "person who makes a will."<ref name="Gordon">Gordon Brown, ''Administration of Wills, Trusts, and Estates'', 3d ed. (2003), p. 556. {{ISBN|0-7668-5281-4}}.</ref>
==Related terms== * A female testator is sometimes referred to as a '''testatrix''' ({{IPAc-en|t|ɛ|s|'|t|eɪ|t|r|ɪ|k|s}}), plural '''testatrices''' ({{IPAc-en|t|ɛ|s|t|ə|'|t|r|aɪ|s|iː|s}}), particularly in older cases.<ref name=Gordon /> *In Ahmadiyya Islam, a testator is referred to as a '''moosi''',<ref Name="Khairallah">{{cite book |title= The law of inheritance in the Republics of Syria and Lebanon |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=T5TGAAAAMAAJ&q=Moosi |last= Khairallah |first= Ibrahim A. |author-link= Ibrahim A. Khairallah |year= 1941 |publisher= American Press |location= Original from the University of Michigan |pages= 228–258}}</ref> who is someone that has signed up for Wasiyyat or a will, under the plan initiated by the Promised Messiah, thus committing a portion, not less than one-tenth, of his lifetime earnings and any property to a cause.
* The adjectival form of the word is '''testamentary''', as in: # Testamentary capacity, or mental capacity or ability to execute a will and # Testamentary disposition, or gift made in a will (see that article for types). # Testamentary trust, a trust that is created in a will. * A will is also known as a '''last will and testament'''. * '''Testacy''' means the status of being '''testate''', that is, having executed a will. The property of such a person goes through the probate process. * '''Intestacy''' means the status of ''not'' having made a will, or to have died ''without'' a valid will. The estate of a person who dies '''intestate''', undergoes administration, rather than probate. * The attestation clause of a will is where the witnesses to a will attest to certain facts concerning the making of the will by the testator, and where they sign their names as witnesses.
==See also== *Witnessing of a testator's will ==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Wills and trusts
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