Estate law.....what if a child dies before the parents?

Question

If there is a "lost" will that is found and the parents did not make an allowance for having a child die before them as to how the estate would be divided upon thier death......(ie 3 children 1 dies before the parents) then is the estate still divided into 3 or is it divided into the 2 remaining children?

Answer 1

The key is how the will is written. You could end up with a wide variety of results depending on the terms used.

If the phrase 'Per Stirpes' is used, the estate will get divided based on the immediate children. If they pre-deceased the will and left children, the children would split their parent's share.

Divided evenly between my surviving descendants would mean that every living decendant, kids and grandkids would all get an even share.

Each state has probate laws that specify how things are divided if there is no will. If the will is silent on certain things, these are the rules that will be used to determine the split.

Answer 2

It depends on what the will says.

If in the Will there were no provisions for passing down an inheritance to the heirs of any of the children than the estate will probably be divided between the surviving siblings.

A wife and a child do not have an automatic right to an inheritance from the husbands/fathers parents.

Ideally the surviving siblings would share the wealth with the child of their deceased brother/sister. That doesn't mean that they are legally obligated to do so though.

Answer 3

it is divided between the 2 remaining children or if the dead child had a wife of heir, then that child's money is passed to his wife or child