Which term means to give up or disclaim the right to receive from the estate, or to serve as the personal representative?

• A. Renunciation
• B. Renounce
• C. Escheat
• D. Dower

Answer: (B)

Renounce describes the act of voluntarily giving up a right. In probate and estate practice, a person may renounce a bequest or decline to serve as executor or administrator. This verb captures both parts of the question—the right to receive from the estate and the role of personal representative. The noun form renunciation exists, but the prompt asks for the term that means to give up, which is renounce. Escheat refers to property reverting to the state when there are no heirs, and dower is a widow’s life interest in her deceased husband’s estate, neither of which describe voluntarily relinquishing rights or declining to act as the personal representative.