What does devisor mean?
A devisor is a person who disposes of real property — typically land or houses — by means of a will. The word belongs chiefly to the vocabulary of law: probate courts, estate planning, and legal scholarship. When someone drafts a will that transfers real estate to a beneficiary, they act as the devisor, while the person who receives the property is known as the devisee. The term derives from the verb "to devise," which itself traces back to the Latin dividere, meaning to divide — fitting, since a will effectively divides an estate among heirs. Although devisor is uncommon in ordinary conversation, it is precise and well established in legal usage, where it distinguishes the maker of a testamentary gift from related figures such as the testator (maker of a will generally) and the donor of gifts made during life. Writers should take care not to confuse it with deviser, which refers to an inventor or planner.
nounA person who disposes of real property by means of a will; the maker of a testamentary gift of land or other real estate.
- A person who makes a devise of real property by will; the testator of a will disposing of real estate.
"Under the terms of the will, the devisor left the family farm to her eldest daughter."
"The court upheld the devisor's clear intention to leave the house to her niece."
"As devisor of the estate, he had full authority to distribute the land among his heirs."
The plural is regular. It typically appears when referring to multiple makers of wills, such as in comparative studies of testators across jurisdictions.
"Early statutes imposed different obligations on devisors depending on the size of their estates."
Swap one letter and you change everything: a devisor gives away land in a will, while a deviser dreams up the plan — and only one of them needs a lawyer.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of devisor
Devisor comes from the verb "devise," which entered English in the Middle Ages from Old French deviser, ultimately derived from the Latin dividere, meaning "to divide or apportion." In legal English, "to devise" came to mean specifically the distribution of real property by will, and devisor was formed with the agent suffix -or to denote the person making such a disposition. It shares this Latin root with words such as divide, division, dividend, and individual, as well as with its sibling term devisee.
Related word forms
How devisor is actually used
"Devisor" is a formal legal term used almost exclusively in the context of wills, probate, and property law. In everyday English it is rare, and outside legal writing "deviser" (someone who creates or plans something) is far more common — the two are frequently confused. Its counterpart, the recipient of the property, is the "devisee."
Easily confused with devisor
A deviser is someone who invents, plans, or originates something (a scheme, plan, or contrivance), whereas a devisor specifically leaves real property to others through a will.
A divisor is the number by which another number is divided in arithmetic, while a devisor is a person who bequeaths real property by will.