(a)  When used in this code, unless otherwise defined or required by the context, the following words and phrases shall be construed as follows:

(i)  "Administrator" means any person appointed by the court to administer an intestate estate;

(ii)  "Bequeath" includes the word "devise" when used as a verb;

(iii)  "Bequest" includes the word "devise" when used as a noun;

(iv)  "Charges" include costs of administration, funeral expenses, cost of monument and federal and state estate taxes;

(v)  "Child" includes an adopted child but does not include a grandchild or other more remote descendent;

(vi)  "Clerk" means clerk of the district court in the county in which the matter is pending and includes the term clerk of the probate court;

(vii)  "Conservator" means a person appointed by the court to have the custody and control of the property of a ward under the provisions of this code;

(viii)  "Costs of administration" include court costs, fiduciary's fees, attorney fees, all appraisers' fees, premiums on corporate surety bonds, cost of continuation of abstracts of title, recording fees, transfer fees, agents' fees allowed by order of court, and all other fees and expenses allowed by order of court in connection with the administration of the estate;

(ix)  "Debts" include liabilities of the decedent which survive, whether arising in contract, tort or otherwise;

(x)  "Devise" when used as a noun, means the testamentary disposition of property, both real and personal;

(xi)  "Devise" when used as a verb, means to dispose of property, both real and personal, by a will;

(xii)  "Devisee" includes legatee;

(xiii)  "Distributee" means a person entitled to any property of the decedent under his will or under the statutes of intestate succession;

(xiv)  "Estate" means the real and personal property of a decedent, a ward or a trust, as from time to time changed in form by sale, reinvestment or otherwise, and augmented by any accretions, additions or substitutions, or diminished by any decreases and distributions therefrom;

(xv)  "Executor" means any person appointed by the court to administer the estate of a testate decedent;

(xvi)  "Fiduciary" means a personal representative, executor, administrator, guardian, conservator or trustee;

(xvii)  "Full age" means the state of legal majority having attained the age of eighteen (18) years;

(xviii)  "Guardian" means the person appointed by the court to have custody of the person of the ward under the provisions of this code;

(xix)  "Guardian of the property" means "conservator" and may be used at the election of the person appointed by the court to have the custody and care of the property of a ward;

(xx)  "Heir" means any person except the surviving spouse, who is entitled to property of a decedent under the statutes of intestate succession;

(xxi)  "Incompetent" includes any person who has been adjudicated by a court to be incapable of managing his property, or caring for his own person, or both;

(xxii)  "Issue" for the purposes of intestate succession, includes all lawful lineal descendents of a person, whether natural or adopted, except those who are the lineal descendents of his living descendents;

(xxiii)  "Legacy" means a testamentary disposition of personal property;

(xxiv)  "Legatee" means a person entitled to personal property under a will;

(xxv)  "Letters" include letters testamentary, letters of administration, letters of guardianship, letters of conservatorship and letters of trusteeship;

(xxvi)  "Minor" means a person who has not attained the age of eighteen (18) years;

(xxvii)  "Person" includes natural persons and corporations;

(xxviii)  "Personal representative" includes executor and administrator;

(xxix)  "Property" includes both real and personal property;

(xxx)  "Surviving spouse" means the surviving wife or husband, as the case may be;

(xxxi)  "Temporary administrator" means any person appointed by the court to care for an estate pending the probating of a proposed will, or to handle any special matters designated by the court;

(xxxii)  "Trustee" means any person appointed as trustee by the instrument creating the trust, or any person appointed by the court to administer the trust;

(xxxiii)  "Trusts" include only testamentary trusts; express trusts where jurisdiction is specifically conferred on the court by the trust instrument; express trusts where the jurisdiction of the court is invoked by the trustee, beneficiary or any interested party; and trusts which are established by a judgment or a decree of court which results in administration of the trust by the court;

(xxxiv)  "Will" includes a codicil, a testamentary instrument that merely appoints an executor, or a testamentary instrument that merely revokes or revives another will.

(a)  Any person may disclaim any interest in property which without a disclaimer he would receive by gift, bequest, devise, inheritance, beneficiary designation, the exercise of a power of appointment or would pass by right of survivorship.

(b)  Except to the extent a fiduciary's right to disclaim is expressly restricted or limited by another statute of this state or by the instrument creating the fiduciary relationship, a fiduciary may disclaim any interest in property which without a disclaimer he would receive by gift, bequest, devise, inheritance, beneficiary designation, the exercise of a power of appointment or would pass by right of survivorship, whether acting in a personal or representative capacity. A fiduciary acting under a power of attorney shall have the right to disclaim an interest in property if expressly authorized to disclaim the interest under the terms of the instrument creating the power of attorney.

(a)  As used in Article 4:

(i)  "Any interest in property" includes, but is not limited to an undivided portion of an interest and a power with respect to property;

(ii)  "Disclaimer" means an irrevocable and unqualified refusal by a person to accept an interest in property;

(iii)  "Fiduciary" means a personal representative, trustee, agent acting under a power of attorney or other person authorized to act as a fiduciary with respect to the property of another person.

(a)  To qualify as a disclaimer:

(i)  There shall be a written irrevocable and unqualified refusal by the disclaimant to accept an interest in property; and

(ii)  The writing shall be received by the transferor of the interest, his legal representative or the holder of the legal title to the property to which the interest relates within nine (9) months after the later of:

(A)  The day on which the transfer creating the interest in the person is made; or

(B)  The day on which the person attains age twenty-one (21); and

(iii)  The disclaimant has not accepted the interest or any of its benefits; and

(iv)  As a result of a refusal under this subsection, the interest passes without any direction on the part of the person making the disclaimer and passes either:

(A)  To the spouse of the decedent; or

(B)  To a person other than the person making the disclaimer.

(b)  A written transfer of the transferor's entire interest in the property shall be treated as a qualified disclaimer if the written transfer:

(i)  Meets requirements similar to the requirements of paragraphs (a)(ii) and (iii) of this section; and

(ii)  Is to a person who would have received the property if the transferor had made a qualified disclaimer within the meaning of subsection (a) of this section.

(c)  Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the disclaimant from benefits as an income beneficiary of any trust established by the transferor's will.

(a)  Unless otherwise expressly provided in the deed of gift or will:

(i)  The interest disclaimed reverts to the transferor if he is living on the date of disclaimer; or

(ii)  The interest disclaimed passes under the residuary clause of transferor's will if he died prior to the disclaimer. If the disclaimant is a residuary beneficiary under the will the interest disclaimed passes as though the disclaimant did not survive the transferor.

(b)  If the transferor died intestate prior to the disclaimer, the interest disclaimed passes under the laws of descent and distribution as though the disclaimant did not survive the transferor.

(c)  If the interest disclaimed would have passed by right of survivorship, the interest shall pass as though the disclaimant was not a survivor.