Definition – Per Stirpes
July 20, 2009
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 a person (lets call him T) dies, having had three children during his lifetime. Let’s call the children A, B, & C. Now, suppose that A and B died before T, and A left two children (A1 and A2), and B left three children (B1, B2 and B3) So, what does everybody get under a per stirpes distribution?
Under per stirpes distribution, C takes one third, A1 and A2 take one sixth each, and B1, B2, and B3 take one ninth each. The defining feature of per stirpes distribution is that even though A1, A2, B1, B2, and B3 are all of the same degree of relationship to T, the children of B each get less than the children of A. This is because the two children of A share one third, but the three children of B also share one third. Some might think this isn’t fair. Others would disagree. Depending on your perspective, this situation can be easily dealt with.
Come back next time where I will show you how to make the distribution to the children of A and B equal. In the process, you will learn your next term: by representation.