Terms Used In California Codes > Probate Code > Division 11 > Part 7 - CONTRACTS REGARDING TESTAMENTARY OR INTESTATE SUCCESSION

• Action: includes a civil action and a criminal action. See California Evidence Code 105
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Declarant: is a person who makes a statement. See California Evidence Code 135
• Devise: when used as a noun, means a disposition of real or personal property by will, and, when used as a verb, means to dispose of real or personal property by will. See California Probate Code 32
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• director: refer to the Department of General Services and the Director of General Services, respectively, unless the context otherwise requires. See California Government Code 14602
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Hearsay: Statements by a witness who did not see or hear the incident in question but heard about it from someone else. Hearsay is usually not admissible as evidence in court.
• Instrument: means a will, a document establishing or modifying a trust, a deed, or any other writing that designates a beneficiary or makes a donative transfer of property. See California Probate Code 45
• Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
• Person: means an individual, corporation, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, or other entity. See California Probate Code 56
• Statement: means (a) oral or written verbal expression or (b) nonverbal conduct of a person intended by him as a substitute for oral or written verbal expression. See California Evidence Code 225
• Will: includes codicil and any testamentary instrument which merely appoints an executor or revokes or revises another will. See California Probate Code 88