Cum testamento annexo

[Latin, With the will annexed.] A phrase that describes an administrator named by a probate or surrogate court to settle and distribute an estate according to the terms of a will in which the testator, its maker, has failed to name an executor, or in which the one named refuses to act or is legally incapable of acting.

The term is often applied to the administration conducted by such a person.

---

CUM TESTAMENTO ANNEXO. With the testament or will annexed. It often happens that the deceased, although he makes a will, appoints no executor, or else the appointment fails; in either of which events he is said to die quasi intestatus. 2 Inst. 397. The appointment of an executor fails, 1st. When the person appointed refuses to act. 2d. When the person appointed dies before the testator, or before he has proved the will, or when, from any other legal cause, he is incapable of acting. 3d. When the executor dies intestate, (and in some places, as in Pennsylvania, whether he die testate or intestate,) after having proved the will, but before he has administered all the personal estate of the deceased. In all these cases, as well as when no executor has been appointed, administration, with the will annexed, must be granted by the proper officer. In the case where the goods are, not all administered before the death of the executor, the administration is also called an administration de bonis non.
     2. The office of such an an administrator differs little from that of an executor. Vide Com. Dig. Administration; Will. Ex. p. 1, b. 5, c. 3, s. 1; 2 Bl. Com. 504-5; 11 Vin. Ab. 78; Toll. 92 Gord. Law of Deced. 98.