Taxation & Estate Planning

Definition - Per Stirpes

By Christopher L. Miller

If you have a Last Will prepared, you will probably wonder what per stirpes means. The term is from Latin and means literally per branch. What it means is that each branch of a Decedent’s family takes an equal share, regardless of the number of family members in each branch. This term simply tells us attorneys how to divide up an interest in your estate in case the person you named as a beneficiary died before you, leaving surviving children.

The term is best defined by an example. Suppose that (more…)

Full post as published by Res Publicae - The New York Estates Blog on July 20, 2009 (boomark / email).