Glossary
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Advance Directives - Written instructions that state, in advance, how you want medical decisions to be made if you cannot speak or decide for yourself.
Agent and Attorney-in-Fact - You give authority to another person (an agent and attorney-in-fact) to act for you (the principal) in a Power of Attorney.
Asset- An item of real or personal property owned by an individual or entity.
Beneficiary- Anyone named to receive any money or property, such as from a trust, will, life insurance policy or other accounts.
Conservator- Person who has been appointed by the court to manage the financial affairs of a protected person.
C.P.R. (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) Directives - Written instructions to health personnel that you do not want to be resuscitated in the event you stop breathing or your heart stops beating.
Declaration as to Medical or Surgical Treatment or Living Will - Your written directions to your doctor to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining procedures that artificially prolong life when you are terminally ill.
Durable Power of Attorney - A Power of Attorney that is valid even if the principal becomes incapacitated.
Estate- All personal, financial, insurance and real property owned by an individual.
Fully Funded Living Trust- All of the settlor’s assets are placed in a living trust.
Guardian - The person who has the court-ordered responsibility of caring for and supervising an incapacitated person.
Heirs- Persons who, because of their relationship with the decedent, are entitled to receive decedent’s property if decedent dies without a will (intestate)
Intestate Succession- The process, set forth by Colorado law, which distributes a decedent’s property if said property is not disposed of through a will.
Irrevocable Trust- A trust which cannot be changed after it is signed.
Living Trust- A type of trust in which one party, the Settlor, during his/her lifetime, creates a trust for him/herself and/or for others. Property may be transferred into the trust during the settlor’s lifetime or upon his/her death. Once property is transferred into the trust, it is under the control of the trustee and distributed according to the terms of the trust.
Medical Durable Power of Attorney - You, the principal, give legal authority in this document to an agent to make your health care decisions if you cannot act for yourself.
Mental Commitment - A court proceeding to determine if a person is in danger and needs to be placed in the custody of the Mental Health Division for treatment and care.
POD- Payable on Death Account- A bank account that, upon the account holder’s death, distributes money to the person or persons named by the account holder.
Payee(s)- Person(s) designated to receive the money from a POD account after the account holder’s death.
Personal Representative- Person you designate to handle your affairs after our death. He/she is nominated by you in your will, or is chosen by the court if you die without a will (intestate).
Pour-over will- A will which provides that all of your property administered in probate is distributed into a living trust.
Power of Attorney for Health Care - See Medical Durable Power of Attorney.
Probate- The legal process by which your property is collected and distributed according to your will or by the laws of intestate succession.
Principal - You are the principal in a Power of Attorney when you authorize someone else to act as your agent for you and your benefit.
Proxy Decision-Maker - An individual, picked by family members and friends of an incapacitated patient, to make medical treatment decisions when the patient does not have an agent under a Medical Durable Power of Attorney. If there is mutual agreement on who shall act, a hearing to appoint a guardian may be avoided.
Revocable Trust- A trust that can be amended or changed by the settlor of the trust.
Testamentary Trust- A type of trust that is set up in your will and only takes effect after your death.
Trust- An arrangement in which one person (the trustee) holds property for the benefit and use of another (the beneficiary).
Trustee- The person who manages ad distributes the property held in a trust.
Will- A signed, written legal document that describes how you want your estate to be distributed after you die.
For other definitions, you may consider either of the following on-line legal dictionaries for quick reference: