Probate

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /ˈpɹəʊbeɪt/

Definitions

1. The process by which a court recognizes a will as valid involves assessing the testamentary intent of the deceased individual and overseeing the distribution of their estate accordingly
2. The procedure in which a court officially approves a deceased person's will and manages their assets and debts
3. A judicial operation confirming the authenticity of a testament and supervising the allocation of the decedent's property

Etymology: Probate comes from Latin "probatus", the past participle of "probare", meaning "to test, examine, or judge." The same root gave English "prove" and "probe," and the idea running through all three is of putting something to the test to find out whether it is genuine. A will was once thought of as needing exactly that kind of examination before its instructions could be carried out. The word reached Middle English with this sense of formal proof, and over time it narrowed to a specific legal meaning: the official confirmation by a court that a will is valid. Once a court has examined the document and approved it, the executor has the authority to distribute the deceased person's property. The legal sense of "proving" a will still carries the original idea of testing its authenticity.

Synonyms: validate, authorize, certify