Devise Lapses on Predecease
Leo Lynch's will left equipment to his brother. The brother died before Leo. The gift failed for lack of a surviving beneficiary at the testator's death.
Also known as: lapse · lapse doctrine · anti-lapse · anti-lapse doctrine · anti-lapse statute · anti lapse doctrine
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A pair of rules governing the failure of a testamentary gift when the beneficiary predeceases the testator and the statutory mechanism that substitutes the beneficiary's descendants as takers.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Leo Lynch's will left equipment to his brother. The brother died before Leo. The gift failed for lack of a surviving beneficiary at the testator's death.
Logan Lane's will granted a parcel to Liberty Trust. Liberty Trust dissolved before Logan's death. The devise lapsed because the intended beneficiary no longer existed when the will took effect.
Leonard Lowe's will devised property to the trustee of a revocable trust he had created. Lowe later revoked the trust before his death. The devise failed because the trust no longer existed at the time of death.
Luis Lopez's will left chemicals to his colleague. The colleague died months before Luis. The extended interval confirmed the beneficiary's death before the testator, causing the gift to lapse.
Lance Lee's will left tools to his brother with an express direction that the gift would pass under the residuary clause if the brother failed to survive. The brother predeceased but left a surviving son. The will's language created an alternative disposition that prevented the son's substitution under the statute.
Lucia Lopez's will left a hazardous site to her sister. The sister predeceased Lucia but left surviving children. The anti-lapse statute substituted the sister's descendants as takers of the devise.
The gift fails unless an anti-lapse statute creates a substitute gift in favor of the beneficiary's surviving descendants.
Supporting sources
An express alternative devise in the will overrides the statutory substitute gift and directs the property according to the will's terms.
Supporting sources
No. The statute creates the substitute gift for qualifying descendants without imposing the original beneficiary's professional or other requirements on them.
Supporting sources
…real estate, bank accounts, and other earmarked funds, typically provides as a condition precedent to the escheat an appropriate lapse of time and the provision of adequate notice to make sure that the property may fairly be treated as abandoned.[^maj-13] Similarly, interpleader proceedings in District Court provide…