Black's Law Dictionary defines "Friend" as "one favorably disposed" to a person, "varying in degree from greatest intimacy to acquaintance more or less casual." "Next friend" is "One acting for benifit of infant, married woman, or other person non sui juris, without being regularly appointed guardian." In court (in England), a 'next friend' or 'prochien ami' is not a party to an action, but one admitted to the court, appearing on behalf of the minor he represents. That is, 'friend' or 'next friend' can sometimes be a legal representative, or an unofficial guardian. See examples of "Next friend" in legal actions in The Legal Observer, Digest, and Journal of Jurisprudence, here: http://books.google.com/books?id=8P8uAAAAIAAJ& In wills, sometimes an informally designated overseer --intended by the testator to unofficially assist the heirs --is called a 'friend', but not always. This friend could be any kind of relative, or not related at all. When seeing a description of someone as 'friend' in a will, we have to understand that the testators were usually not lawyers, and not using legal terminology. But testators often called someone a friend in the will simply because they were a friend to whom they wanted to leave some memento. Again, this friend could be any kind of relative, or not related at all. Liz J