Often when people talk about wills, or if you see one, you’ll notice that the term ‘per stirpes’ or ‘per capita’ are used. But what do Per Stirpes And Per Capita mean? And how do they affect how a will is distributed? We’ll find out below.
Per Stirpes And Per Capita
There’s a variety of different ways in which a will can be distributed. Most often, the estate of a deceased person is left to the family, but the ways in which this can happen differ. Per Stirpes And Per Capita methods of distribution are normally activated when a beneficiary of the estate has predeceased the will maker. It’s important when this happens to have a clear method of distribution in your will.
Per stirpes
Per stirpes means ‘by the root’ and means that an estate is to be distributed equally, and then divided among descendants, and further divided as necessary. For example, a person who dies and leaves their assets to be distributed per stirpes would leave fifty percent to each child, but if one of the children predeceased the will maker, then it would go to their children. With per stirpes, a will is divided according to the number of children the predeceased beneficiary has. Arguably, this method can result in unfairness as the children of a beneficiary may receive a share, where the children of the beneficiary who is still alive don’t. If a predeceased beneficiary has no descendants, then their share goes back into the asset pool and to the surviving beneficiaries. Per stirpes is a method used more often than per capita as it provides clear instructions for the average family situation and keeps things within a direct line of descendants.
Per capita
If a will is to be distributed per capita, it means that an estate will account for all survivors of a family line. Going back to our previous example, if a person leaves their estate to be distributed per capita, it means that even if one of their descendants has predeceased them, the shares allocated to all children and grandchildren would be equal (for example, they would each receive 1/8). Distribution has the potential to get complicated and even tense between beneficiaries where descendants from different lines are all allocated the same amount.
Making sure your wishes are clear
When making a will, it’s worth considering what should happen to your estate if your spouse or children predecease you. Would you want it to go to your children’s children and be divided amongst them? Or would you want it to be equally distributed to all beneficiaries, no matter where they stand in the inheritance line? Many people opt for per stirpes to account for this, but every circumstance is different. When making a will, it’s important to have the terms of distribution reviewed by a lawyer because if anything is unclear, this may lead to your will being challenged or the will even being deemed invalid.
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