per stirpes
By family branches
Per stirpes is a legal term for distributing an inheritance by family branch rather than by individual.
If a beneficiary dies before the person whose estate is being divided, that beneficiary's share passes to their descendants: The estate was divided per stirpes, so when my uncle died before grandma, his children split his portion.
Contrast with per capita, where shares go only to living beneficiaries.
- willFaculty of deliberate choice
- last willPosthumous asset instructions
- probateWill validation proceedings
- intestateHaving made no will
- predeceasedDied before someone else
estate planning · lineage · descendant · family line · blood relatives · trust · testamentary · branch · kinship · progeny · codicil · heirship · ancestor · representation · beneficiary · residuary · legal heirs · executor
- inheritanceinheritance, inheritances, heir, heirs, heiress
- intestacyintestacy, surviving spouse, descent, per capita, next of kin
- probateexecutor, probate court, probate, beneficiary, executors
- giftsgift, gifts, present, presents, gift boxes
- willstestator, last will, testament, codicil, bequest