It is always important to think about the impact of your estate if any of your beneficiaries that you already named, died before you or are unable or unwilling to receive the vested interest. It is even wise to think of these things, even if the beneficiaries are quite a lot younger than you. In usual practice, if a beneficiary dies before you and is actually not a descendant of yours, the gift you have given to them will lapse. If you want the gift to go to his or her spouse or child in the event of his or her death before yours, you should state this in your Will clearly and precisely. However if a son or daughter of yours is going to inherit something of yours under your Will but dies before you have died and has left children, the gift which was meant to go to your children will then go automatically to their children, therefore your grandchildren, unless you have made a special provision in your Will stating otherwise.
If there is a cash legacy (a gift of money) made to a beneficiary in your Will, such as £100 to my daughter Alice Hall, or even a specific bequest (item of property or personal possession), such as my grand piano to my uncle Thomas Cook, there will be no problem. However, if these named beneficiaries die without having obtained their cash legacy or specific bequest, then the gift will revert back to the estate and become part of the residue of the estate, which will go towards the amount of the estate that the beneficiary who is receiving the residue of the estate will receive in the event of your death.
If the main beneficiary who is meant to be receiving the residue of the estate of the testator dies before the testator and is not the testators direct descendant, then that part of the residue of the testators estate will be left indisposed of. This is called partial intestacy. This is where the lapsed share is then dealt with under the intestacy rules. It is therefore advisable to name any alternative beneficiaries in your Will in case the main beneficiary cannot receive the vested interest and is the only residuary beneficiary named in the Will.
However, in the event that the beneficiary to the residue of your estate dies after you, but before the bequest is actually paid to him or her, the beneficiary's estate will still receive that bequest and therefore it will not revert back to the testator's estate and then distributed to other beneficiaries.
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