testator

American  

[tes-tey-ter, te-stey-ter] / ˈtɛs teɪ tər, tɛˈsteɪ tər /

noun

Law.

1. a person who makes a will.

2. a person who has died leaving a valid will.

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testator British  

/ tɛˈsteɪtrɪks, tɛˈsteɪtə /

noun

1. a person who makes a will, esp one who dies testate

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Etymology

Origin of testator

1275–1325; < Latin testātor; see testate, -tor; replacing Middle English testatour < Anglo-French

Explanation

When you make your last will and testament, you are the testator, and if the will is written and witnessed according to the law of the land, your estate will be divided in the way you, the testator, requested. The noun testator comes from the Latin verb testari, meaning “make a will,” “be witness,” or “declare.” Perhaps your aunt, as testator of her will, indicated that she wanted you to inherit her collection of garden statuettes to keep her daughter from “smashing them to bits and heaving them in the dump.”

Example Sentences

The Testator, one Ralph Neville, was the son of a distinguished judge.

From Time Magazine Archive

The Edictal Law would therefore enforce the dispositions of a Testator, when, instead of being symbolised through the forms of mancipation, they were simply evidenced by the seals of seven witnesses.

From Ancient Law Its Connection to the History of Early Society by Maine, Henry Sumner, Sir

He then following the analogy of testamentary legacies and legatees describes those heirs as "entering on possession of that eternal inheritance" "by the death of the Testator."

From The Destiny of the Soul A Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life by Alger, William Rounseville

There was no blood-relationship between her and the Testator.

From The Will of Samuel Appleton with remarks by one of the executors by Appleton, Samuel

It was a mode of declaring who was to have the chieftainship, in succession to the Testator.

From Ancient Law Its Connection to the History of Early Society by Maine, Henry Sumner, Sir