de cuius

The Latin term de cuius often appears in texts dealing with inheritance law (Derecho de sucesiones) and is an abbreviation of the expression de cuius hereditate agitur meaning “the one whose estate is at issue.” Thus, like causante (and often difunto, fallecido or finado) de cuius denotes la persona que causa o produce una herencia. In this context de cuius (as well as causante and the other terms mentioned above) may be rendered in English simply as “the deceased” or “the decedent.”