Legatee

What Does Legatee Mean?

A legatee is an individual or entity designated to receive assets after a person’s death. These assets are allocated to the legatee through a will.

In the context of insurance, life insurance policies are often placed into trusts, in which case the trust itself becomes the legatee.

Insuranceopedia Explains Legatee

Although both legatees and heirs receive assets after someone’s death, they differ in key ways. Heirs are typically blood relatives of the decedent, such as children or grandchildren. Legatees, however, do not need to be related by blood.

When a trust is designated as the legatee, the assets are passed to its beneficiaries according to the trust’s terms. Establishing a trust to pass assets to a legatee can help reduce certain taxes and ensure that the assets are distributed as intended.