Wills Tricky

Question 1

Can a codicil republish an invalidly executed will?

Answer 1

No. Only valid wills can be republished through a later codicil.

Question 2

What is the effect of a slayer statute?

Answer 2

A person that has killed the testator cannot inherit from the testator. They are treated as predeceasing the testator.

Question 3

Divorce revoks _______.

Answer 3

Majority of states: Gifts to former spouses alone are revoked. Minority and under the UPC: specific bequests to the relatives of former spouses are also revoked.

Question 4

Describe how an anti-lapse statute works:

Answer 4

An anti lapse statute prevents a gift to a beneficiary within a certain degree of relationship to the testator from failing due to lapse.

Question 5

What kinds of relationships are generally required for anti-lapse statutes?

Answer 5

Blood relations: decendants, parents, parents decendants.

The UPC version applies to a predeceasing beneficiary who is the testator’s (i) stepchild, (ii) grandparent, (iii) or a descendant of the testator’s grandparents.

Only in a minority of states does the anti-lapse statute apply to spouses.

Question 6

What is abatement?

Answer 6

The process of reducing gifts.