Legatee

Wills, trusts and estates
Part of the common law series
Wills
Legal history of wills Joint wills and mutual wills Will contract Codicil Holographic will Oral will Sections Attestation clause Residuary clause Incorporation by reference Contest Testamentary capacity Undue influence Insane delusion Fraud No-contest clause Property disposition Lapse and anti-lapse Ademption Abatement Satisfaction of legacies Acts of independent significance Elective share Pretermitted heir Wills and conflict of laws
Trusts
Express Resulting Constructive Common types Bare Discretionary Accumulation and maintenance Interest in possession Charitable Purpose Incentive Other types Protective Spendthrift Life insurance Remainder Life interest Reversionary interest Testamentary Honorary Asset-protection Special needs (Supplemental needs) Governing doctrines Pour-over will Cy-près doctrine Hague Convention (conflict law) Application in civil law Dishonest assistance
Estate administration
Intestacy Testator Probate Power of appointment Simultaneous death Slayer rule Laughing heir Advancement Disclaimer of interest Inheritance tax
Related topics
Advance directive (Living will) Forced heirship Totten trust
Other common law areas
Contract Tort Property Criminal law Evidence

A legatee, in the law of wills, is any individual or organization bequeathed any portion of a testator's estate.

Usage

Depending upon local custom, legatees may be called "devisees". Traditionally, "legatees" took personal property under will and "devisees" took land under will. Brooker v. Brooker (Tex. Civ.App., 76 S.W.2d 180, 183) asserts that "devisee" may refer to "those who take under will without any distinction between realty and personalty ... though commonly it refers to one who takes personal property" under a will.

See also

• Beneficiary

References

• Black's Law Dictionary 6th edition (West Publishing, St. Paul, MN: 1997), 453, 897.