Per Stirpes Vs Per Capita

1. Per Stirpes Vs Per Capita-Defined Per stirpesis Latin word, meaning” root, class or representation. Class in estate planning is the class of beneficiaries. It is a legal term specifying, if a beneficiary dies in between the will is made and the testator deceased, under such condition the beneficiary’s estate will not be benefited from the will. If the beneficiary dies before the testator, the benefit will be lapsed though there are exceptions for these rules. Per stirpes distribution follow an aeon approach. If the designated beneficiary precedes you in death, then the benefit passes on to their children with equal part of share. Spouses do not exist in this category. The distribution per stirpes represents that all the beneficiaries will receive equal amount of share in the assets. In per stirpes, one doesn’t have to worry about the distribution if any of your descendants pass away. The assets will be distributed equally among the beneficiaries. Per stirpes is preferred in estate planning rather than per capita as it covers all your situations in your family making your brain very clear toward your attorney.

2. Example- Per Stirpes Vs Per Capita If we consider a father has three children and two children precede you in death, one child will get 1/3 of the assets and the 2/9 one third of the assets will be distributed to the children of the deceased child as shown above. All the beneficiaries should be well designated in the will. Make a list of all the designated beneficiaries in your account and keep this list with the Will. If a copy of the last designated beneficiary list gets lost, write the primary beneficiaries, contingent beneficiary and the date of beneficiary last updated. Per capita is also a Latin word meaning total head count. In per capita distribution all the members of the group will receive an equal amount of asset share. According to per capita distribution a Will or Trust includes all the children, descendants or any individual name.

3. The total assets will be distributed equally among all the beneficiaries including your child or other listed in the estate planning trust. Example - Per capita If we consider a father has three children. Child B has two children and Child C has no children and child D has one child. If two children precede you in death. child C will get 1/3 of the assets and the children of B i.e. B1 and B2 will get 1/6 of the assets and child of D will get 1/3 of the assets will be distributed as shown above