letters testamentary
- noun
- /ˈlɛtərz ˌtɛstəˈmɛnˌtɛri/
- Specialized
:
carta testamentaria
- The court issued letters testamentary after confirming the validity of the will.
Examples
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Without letters testamentary, she was unable to fulfill her father's last wishes legally.
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She received her letters testamentary last week.
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The executor presented the letters testamentary to the bank to access the deceased's accounts.
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The court issued letters testamentary to John.
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To settle the estate, the executor received letters testamentary from the probate court.
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She presented the letters testamentary to access the deceased's bank account.
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After obtaining letters testamentary, he began the process of distributing the assets as outlined in the will.
Synonyms
1
9.5
Court paper that lets someone manage a dead person's money and property when no one is named
A court paper that confirms a dead person's wishes and lets named people manage their money and things
Surface Forms
Morphology
The adjective 'testamentary' (relating to a will) combined with 'letters' (documents) would lead a learner who knows both words to infer a general meaning of documents relating to a will. However, the precise legal sense — a specific probate court document authorizing an executor — is specialized and not fully predictable from everyday senses of 'letters', so the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Letters testamentary comes from an old court practice of giving official letters (written papers) about a person's testamentary role. These papers were literally a court note saying someone may carry out a dead person's 'will', so today the phrase means the legal papers that let an executor act.