Houston Estate Planning and Elder Law Attorney Blog
As part of your estate planning process, you choose beneficiaries to inherit different parts (or the totality) of your estate. What happens, though, if a beneficiary dies before you do? Today’s blog covers several different possible outcomes that your loved ones could expect in this scenario.
To start, if one of your known beneficiaries passes away, you should contact your estate planning attorney as soon as possible to update your will. You should generally update your estate plan every 3-5 years or after a major life event. The death of a beneficiary qualifies as one of these major life events.
If you are not able to amend your estate plan in time, though, there are several possible outcomes for your assets. The first possibility occurs when you have named both a primary beneficiary and a contingent (or secondary) beneficiary in your estate plan. In this scenario, if your primary beneficiary dies, the contingent beneficiary will stand to inherit.
If you have not named a contingent beneficiary, the gift becomes part of your “residuary estate,” i.e. a part of your estate not designated for a person in your will. Fortunately, Texas las a law in place called an anti-lapse law. This means that the part of your estate that fell into this residuary estate goes to the deceased beneficiary’s heirs. So, if the deceased beneficiary had a spouse, children, or grandchildren, the gift will go to them.
If you have instead structured your estate plan to gift assets to a group of people, such as your children or grandchildren, if one of those heirs dies then the assets simply go to the remaining members of the group. If there are no members of the group remaining, the gift will fall into the residuary estate.
Every estate plan is different, and everyone’s wishes for their estate are different. If you have recently had a beneficiary pass away, we recommend that you speak with an experienced Houston estate planning attorney that can help you figure out how to structure your plan for the benefit of you and your family. By staying in close contact with your attorney, you can be ready for whatever life events might come your way.
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At McCulloch & Miller, our team of Houston estate planning attorneys helps you prepare for probate in the most efficient and thorough way possible. We have three decades of experience in the field, and we are proud to offer both high quality legal services and peace of mind for our client community. If you don’t yet have a group of attorneys in your corner to help you navigate all things estate planning, know that you can turn to us.
For a consultation with a Houston estate planning attorney from our team, give us a call today at (713) 333-8900. You can also fill out our online form to tell us about your circumstances and have an attorney reach back out to you as soon as possible. We cover probate, estate planning, elder law, trust administration, special needs planning, and more.