Lapse
At common law, lapse occurs when the beneficiary or the devisee under the will predeceases the testator, invalidating the gift. The gift would instead revert to the residuary estate or be granted under the law of intestate succession.
If the deceased beneficiary was intended to inherit part or all of the residuary estate, then that portion of the estate would pass by intestate succession, as though the testator had left no will. This rule is referred to as the doctrine of no residue of a residue, because the portion of the residuary estate that did not itself pass under the will could not be considered part of the residuary estate at all.
Under section 2-604(b) of the uniform probate code, "if the residue is devised to two or more persons, the share of a residuary devisee that fails for any reason passes to the other residuary devisee, or to other residuary devisees in proportion to the interest of each in the remaining part of the residue." Simply put, if there are two parties in the remainder and one has not survived, the entirety of the remainder goes to the surviving residuary devisee or divisees.
In jurisdictions which have adopted the Uniform Simultaneous Death Act, or the 1991 version of the Uniform Probate Code (but not the previous Uniform Probate Code), any devisee who dies within 120 hours after the testator is legally considered to have died before the testator. In such jurisdictions, only a devisee who survives more than 120 hours after the testator is considered to have met this "statutory survival test."
Read more about this topic: Lapse And Anti-lapse
Famous quotes containing the word lapse:
“The longest day must have its close—the gloomiest night will wear on to a morning. An eternal, inexorable lapse of moments is ever hurrying the day of the evil to an eternal night, and the night of the just to an eternal day.”
—Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896)
“There is something even in the lapse of time by which time recovers itself.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“When words fail us or, quite the opposite, when they rush from our mouths faster than we would like, we can console ourselves that if no single moment is going to define our relationship with a child, neither can a single lapse of good judgment or patience destroy it.”
—Cathy Rindner Tempelsman (20th century)