Also known as: legabilis · legable · legare · legatarius · legatary · legatee · legator · legatory · legatum · legacies · bequest · devise
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A gift by will of personal property, typically money. The term sometimes extends in modern usage to any testamentary disposition of personalty, in contrast to a devise of real property.
Lila Lin held a house in tenancy by the entirety with her husband. While divorce proceedings were pending she executed a will leaving her interest in the house as a legacy to her niece. Upon Lila's death the husband survived and took full title by operation of law, so the legacy failed.
Laura Lewis executed a will containing a legacy of her investment accounts to the trustee of a revocable trust she had created years earlier. The trust instrument was identified in the will and remained in existence at her death. The legacy funded the trust without creating a new testamentary trust.
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Luna Lang owned valuable jewelry. Her will left the jewelry as a legacy to her daughter. Upon Luna's death the daughter received title to the jewelry directly under the will without any deed from the estate.
Liam Larson left a legacy of 'my lot on Oak Street' to a friend. He owned no lot on Oak Street but did own a nearby lot on Elm Street that matched the description in every other respect. The court admitted extrinsic evidence showing his intent and upheld the legacy as passing the Elm Street lot.
Lola Langley left a legacy of $50,000 to her nephew in her will. Two years before her death she gave him $30,000 and signed a writing stating the gift was in partial satisfaction of the legacy. At her death the nephew received only the remaining $20,000 under the will.
Lucy Liu left a legacy of her art collection to a friend. The collection was subject to a security interest securing a loan. Under modern rules the friend received the collection subject to the lien and had no right to have the debt paid from the residue of the estate.
A legacy is a testamentary gift of personal property while a devise transfers real property. Modern statutes and usage sometimes treat the terms interchangeably for any gift under a will.
Supporting sources
Yes. Under the Uniform Probate Code a will may validly devise or bequeath property to the trustee of a trust identified in the will even if the trust is revocable or later amended.
The gift is treated as satisfaction of the legacy only if the will provides for deduction, the testator declares the gift is in satisfaction in a contemporaneous writing, or the legatee acknowledges the same in writing.
No. Modern law rejects exoneration. The legatee takes the property subject to any existing lien unless the will expressly directs payment from the estate.
…in rem action of the second type. See n. 17, supra . [^maj-30]: Cf. Smit, The Enduring Utility of In Rem Rules: A Lasting Legacy of Pennoyer v. Neff , 43 Brooklyn L. Rev. 600 (1977). We do not suggest that jurisdictional doctrines other than those discussed in text, such as the particularized rules governing…