The term is often described as having originated in Renaissance Italy, where there allegedly existed the tradition of smashing a banker's bench if he defaulted on payment

In the English common law, the party who entrusts the property is known as the "settlor," the party to whom it is entrusted is known as the "trustee," the party for whose benefit the property is entrusted is known as the "beneficiary,"[1] and the entrusted property is known as the "corpus" or "trust property

This means, for example, that if a principal authorizes someone to sell the principal's house or other real property, and the law requires a contract for the sale of real property to be in writing (which is required under the Statute of Frauds in most U

Assets left to any other heir, including the decedent's children, may be taxed if that portion of the estate has a value in excess of the lifetime gift, estate, and generation-skipping transfer tax exemption amount

About Federal Judges Federal judges work to ensure equal justice under the law

The probated will then becomes a legal instrument that may be enforced by the executor in the law courts if necessary

A filing is required if the gross estate of the decedent, increased by the decedent’s adjusted taxable gifts and specific gift tax exemption, is valued at more than the filing threshold for the year of the decedent’s death, as shown in the table below