Cestui Que Vie

“Cestui Que Vie" is French, like Brie cheese and a superior attitude about wine. It means “he who lives” and refers to a beneficiary of a trust. Despite the "he" part of the translation, the term isn’t as sexist as it sounds though...it can refer to a woman too.

Originally passed in England, the Cestui Que Vie Act of 1666 outlined how property, usually land, would be passed down to beneficiaries (without doing any additional research, we're going to guess that that law had some sexist parts...just a guess). There were two circumstances to trigger property transfer: if the owner died, or if they had left and there had been no evidence that they were alive for seven years. (Remember, this was a time with ships routinely sinking at sea, and people were still living in the dark ages before cellphones.)

The whole matter was of heightened concern back then because peopled died so often (they still had the Black Plague) that there was a chance of leaving land unclaimed. Some things have changed since 1666 (better coffee, more movies), but some pieces of the act are still around, mostly dictating that the person setting up the trust can’t do it in a way they hide money from debtors after they die.

Interestingly, conspiracy theorists now consider this act a ploy from the government to steal your property from you if you aren’t there to claim it. If it really is a plot, clearly the government has some really long-term planning skills.