Changes in Beneficiaries and Property After Will's Execution

Question 1

A gift lapses if

Answer 1

the beneficiary predeceases the testator.

Question 2

anti-lapse statutes

Answer 2

Operate to save the gift if the predeceasing beneficiary was in a specified degree of relationship to the testator (e.g., descendant of the testator, grandparent, or descendant of the testator’s grandparents) and left descendants who survived the testator. These descendants take by substitution.

Question 3

If a will makes a gift to a class, only the class members who _______________________ take a share of the gift, unless the will provides otherwise or the anti-lapse statute’s requirements are met.

Answer 3

survive the testator

Question 4

specific devise or legacy

Answer 4

a gift of a particular item of property distinct from all other objects in the testator’s estate (e.g., “my three-carat diamond ring”)

Question 5

general legacy

Answer 5

a gift of a general economic benefit (often a dollar amount) payable out of the general assets of the estate without requiring any particular source of payment (e.g., “I bequeath $5000 to Ann”)
-A gift of “100 shares of XYZ stock” or “100 acres of property in Smith County” can also be general legacies if the testator never owned those items and intended the executor to purchase them for the beneficiary.

Question 6

demonstrative legacy

Answer 6

a gift of a general amount that is to be paid from a particular source or fund (e.g., I bequeath $5000 to Ann to be paid from the proceeds of the sale of my XYZ stock)
-treated as a specific legacy to the extent the source of payment is available and a general legacy to the extent of any shortfall of that source of payment

Question 7

residuary estate

Answer 7

consists of the balance of the testator’s property after paying (i) debts, expenses, and taxes; and (ii) specific, general, and demonstrative gifts

Question 8

ademption

Answer 8

the failure of a gift because the property is no longer in the testator’s estate at the time of her death

Question 9

Ademption applies to only

Answer 9

specific devises and bequests.

Question 10

partial ademption

Answer 10

beneficiary takes the remaining portion

Question 11

accessions

Answer 11

increase to property after execution of will

Question 12

Most states permit inheritance from a nonmarital child’s father if

Answer 12

paternity is established.

Question 13

In most states, paternity can be established if

Answer 13

the father married the mother after the child’s birth; the man was adjudicated to be the father in a paternity suit; or after the man’s death, he is proved in the probate proceedings (usually by clear and convincing evidence) to have been the child’s father.