What are Legatees?

Legatees are persons designated to receive a gift, after the giver’s death, in the provisions of the giver’s Will.  A decedent’s legatees may or may not be the same persons as a decedent’s heirs, who are those persons who take a decedent’s property by operation of the intestacy statute when a person dies without a Will or when a person’s Will is invalid or when a decedent’s legatees have all predeceased him or her.