Will-Defer to beneficiary's will for distribution?

[JWilly]

In my will can I specify my beneficiary's desired distribution in the case of her dying before me. IE , though she pre-deceased me, her portion can go to whom she specified as residuals in her own will?

 

[quincy]

In my will can I specify my beneficiary's desired distribution in the case of her dying before me. IE , though she pre-deceased me, her portion can go to whom she specified as residuals in her own will?

What is the name of your state?

Yes, you can specify who should be a beneficiary or beneficiaries in your own will in the event your first-named beneficiary or beneficiaries should pre-decease you.

 

[JWilly]

Thank you. Florida. I have two, if one dies i want her portion to go to her heirs of record in her will, not the other beneficiary. I can not assume knowing her wishes within her will.

 

[quincy]

Thank you. Florida. I have two, if one dies i want her portion to go to her heirs of record in her will, not the other beneficiary. I can not assume knowing her wishes within her will.

Thank you for providing your state name.

You can sit down with an attorney in your area who can help you draft your will to cover your after-death distribution wishes. Hopefully you and all of your designated beneficiaries will enjoy many many more years of life.

 

[adjusterjack]

Thank you. Florida. I have two, if one dies i want her portion to go to her heirs of record in her will, not the other beneficiary. I can not assume knowing her wishes within her will.

If one dies while you are still alive it would be more prudent for you to write a new will, rather than rely on an outdated one.

 

[Zigner]

Don't rely on someone else's will, just name them as alternate beneficiaries. The attorney you (should) meet with can guide you.

 

[zddoodah]

In my will can I specify my beneficiary's desired distribution in the case of her dying before me. IE , though she pre-deceased me, her portion can go to whom she specified as residuals in her own will?

If you designate a beneficiary who predeceases you, unless your will says otherwise, that predeceased beneficiary's share will pass to his/her estate. It's not necessary to state this expressly in your will. However, I agree with both of the following:

If one dies while you are still alive it would be more prudent for you to write a new will, rather than rely on an outdated one.

The attorney you (should) meet with can guide you.

 

[quincy]

If you designate a beneficiary who predeceases you, unless your will says otherwise, that predeceased beneficiary's share will pass to his/her estate. It's not necessary to state this expressly in your will. …

The reason it might be necessary to designate by name alternate beneficiaries is to specifically leave out anyone who the beneficiary does not want as an alternate beneficiary.

This can be discussed with the attorney JWilly sees.

 

[Taxing Matters]

If you designate a beneficiary who predeceases you, unless your will says otherwise, that predeceased beneficiary's share will pass to his/her estate.

I disagree with that as written. Read literally, your statement would mean that if John made a gift to his friend Jeff in his will and Jeff dies before John does that Jeff's share would go to Jeff's estate for distribution and get distributed as Jeff's will directs. But that's not what happens. Under common law the gift would lapse and fall to the residue of John's estate, not Jeff's. The residue goes either to the person specified in John's will to get the residue in the will or passes to John's family under the state's intestate succession statute. Either way, it's very, very unlikely that Jeff's intended beneficiaries are are going to get what Jeff was going to recieve.

If Jeff were a relative instead of a friend the gift would would typically go to the descendants of Jeff's estate, meaning intestate succession rules would determine who gets Jeff's estate, not Jeff's will. That works out a bit better than if John was a friend as at least Jeff's share is going to be distributed to his successors and not John's. But Jeff may not have wanted his share to go under intestate succession law. So if John's goal was to leave it to Jeff or to those Jeff wanted to inherit his stuff, that goal is likely to be frustrated unless Jeff himself would have been satisfied with that outcome (e.g. Jeff didn't have a will and his entire estate is distributed by intestate succession).

The above assumes that John is not in Louisiana, which (as is often the case) does things differently than all the others as it's law is based on the principles of French civil law, not English common law. If Louisiana is where John's estate is probated, John would definitely want to see a Louisiana estate planning attorney.

We don't even know what state the OP is in. Even in common law states, the anti-lapse statutes vary so the exact outcome depends very much on which state the probate will take place. All that reinforces for me that the OP really needs to see an estate planning attorney in his/her state because it's impossible to say what will provisions would achieve the OPs goal that would work in every state. A trust is one good way to help avoid those kinds of problems, something that the OP may wish to discuss with the estate planner.

I suspect that you really meant to say that the predeceased beneficiary's share would pass to the OP's estate residue (as I'm pretty sure you are well aware of what I wrote above), which is true so long as the beneficiary was not a relative to which the probate state's anti-lapse statute would apply (and assuming the OP is not in Louisiana). Still, that is not likely to meet what the OP says is the goal here.

 

[quincy]

JWilly lives in Florida.

 

[Taxing Matters]

JWilly lives in Florida.

That's helpful. It at least rules out having to consider any weirdness of Louisiana law.

Florida's anti-lapse rule for wills is found in Florida Statute § 732.603. It works basically as I described them generally above. The gift to the predeceased relative does not lapse but instead goes to the beneficiary's descendants. If the deceased is not related within the scope of the Florida statute or has no descendants, his/her gift from the will falls to the donor's (John in my example) estate residue. Either way, if the predeceased beneficiary (Jeff) had a will, the share of the estate he/she would have received isn't going to end up where that beneficiary would want it to go.

 

[quincy]

That's helpful. It at least rules out having to consider any weirdness of Louisiana law.

Florida's anti-lapse rule for wills is found in Florida Statute § 732.603. It works basically as I described them generally above. The gift to the predeceased relative does not lapse but instead goes to the beneficiary's descendants. If the deceased is not related within the scope of the Florida statute or has no descendants, his/her gift from the will falls to the donor's (John in my example) estate residue. Either way, if the predeceased beneficiary (Jeff) had a will, the share of the estate he/she would have received isn't going to end up where that beneficiary would want it to go.

Anything that rules out Louisiana, and to a lesser degree California, is helpful. Haha.