Does anti-lapse apply to trusts in California?

An anti-lapse statute helps. During a trust administration, many potential complications can arise. However, in California, the anti-lapse statute may apply.

What happens if a trust lapses?

When a trust ends and there is still property contained within the trust, it is up to the trustee and beneficiary to work out how the trust is handled. Usually the property would be distributed based on the trustee’s and beneficiary’s interpretation of a fair distribution of the property to other beneficiaries.

What does lapse mean in a trust?

At common law, lapse occurs when the beneficiary or the devisee under the will predeceases the testator, invalidating the gift. The gift would instead revert to the residuary estate or be granted under the law of intestate succession.

What happens to a lapsed gift?

Lapsed gift means a gift in which a person in whose favor a will was created dies before the death of a testator. Lapsed gift is an extinguished gift. If a gift lapses it falls into the residue of the estate and will be distributed according to the residuary clause of the will.

Does California have an anti-lapse statute?

California Law Disfavors Intestacy App. California Probate Code section 21110, known as the anti-lapse statute, allows gifts to pass to heirs of the named recipient if the recipient is a blood relative of the transferor.

Does a trust dissolve automatically?

Unlike a will, most trusts go into effect immediately upon signing. A will only becomes executable upon the signer’s death, but the average trust (also known as a living trust) becomes an active legal document once all of the proper elements are met.

Does a trust ever end?

A trust can remain open for up to 21 years after the death of anyone living at the time the trust is created, but most trusts end when the trustor dies and the assets are distributed immediately.

What is the anti-lapse law?

An anti-lapse statute is a rule of construction in trusts and estates law. If a testator devises a gift to a person in his will and the devisee predeceases the testator, the anti-lapse statute will allow the gift to pass on to the devisee’s descendants rather than force the gift to pass through intestacy.

What does lapse mean in legal terms?

termination
Lapse is the termination of a right, interest, duty or obligation as a result of the passage of time, or failure of a condition, or a change in circumstance. Lapse because of the passage of time.

Is there an anti lapse statute for trusts?

There is no equivalent provision for trusts. Simply put, the significance of the lack of an anti-lapse statute for trusts is that there is the possibility of a lapse in a trust when the equivalent bequest in a will would not lapse.

Can a will be used as an anti lapse gift?

While these doctrines apply mostly to gifts under wills, a few states have passed statutes applying the anti-lapse statutes to will substitutes, such as trusts and payable-on-death contracts, such as life insurance or IRA’s.

When does an anti lapse statute Save the bequest?

Most common-law jurisdictions have enacted an anti-lapse statute to address this situation. The anti-lapse statute “saves” the bequest if it has been made to parties specified in the statute, usually members of the testator’s immediate family, if they had issue that survived the testator.

Can a beneficiary inherit from an anti lapse statute?

If the anti-lapse statute does indeed apply, then the issue of the deceased beneficiary will inherit whatever was willed to the beneficiary.