Estate Planning has its own vocabulary. To help you speak the language, we've created a glossary of the more commonly used words and phrases. This glossary is comprised of 26 individual pages, one for each letter of the alphabet. To find a particular word or phrase that starts with the letter "K" - simply scroll down the list below. If your word or phrase starts with another letter, please use the alphabet index below.
Kinship
The term "kinship" refers to the state of being related by common ancestry. The estate of a person who dies without a valid will (i.e., "intestate") is often distributed under state intestacy laws to those people who have a kinship with the decedent; i.e., are related by common ancestry. See also "degrees of kinship." For a description of each state's intestacy laws, click here.
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