At whose bequest?

Hello, everyone!

I found "legar" for bequest...but in this case...I'm not sure.

A witness is testifying:

-"Yes, I signed the death certificate."
-"At whose bequest?"

-"Lily Denkova. She handled the paperwork".

Could it be "a solicitud de quién"?...but then it would be "request", wouldn't it?

Thanks in advance.

In response to your question, I believe the word "bequest" is improperly used. I believe you intend to use the word "request" instead. "Bequest" is a legal term specific to probate and estate planning. A bequest is personal property that one leaves to his heirs when he dies.

The word "legar" relects that sense of bequest. La Real Academia Española defines "legar" as "dicho de una persona: dejar a otra alguna manda en su testamento o codicilio." In English, a "legatee" is someone who receives personal property (a bequest) or real property (a devise) when someone else dies. The word "legacy" in this context refers generally to the property someone inherits but does not distinguish between a bequest or a devise.

I hope that background on the terminology adequately answers your question 👁 Smile :)

This is almost definitely a mistake and should be "behest".

¿A instancia de quién?

syd

Thanks, elreynolds04. I agree with you, it should be "request"...but you know T.V. shows, they do whatever they like, hehe. I'll translate it accordingly. Thanks for the enlightenment 👁 Smile :)

Syd, I had not seen your response. Thanks. New word for me. So it would be...a instancias de quién? a solicitud de quién? both choices are good, right?

Probably the person who transcripted the t.v. script got it wrong.

Sorry for this delayed response. I don't check this e-mail account very often.

I'm inclined to agree with Syd - with one caveat: at least in the U.S., behest is quite uncommon. As far as I know, the only practical difference between request and behest is the level of formality. I wouldn't swear to that though 👁 Smile :)
Assuming that to be true, however, you might want to make the translation based on which phrase is more common in Spanish.

'behest' is also uncommon and this is probably how the mistake was made. The speaker knows that the 'correct' word starts with "be" and sounds pretty much like "...est" and that it also means pretty much "request"....so it must be....."bequest" (wrong answer).

syd