CONTINGENT REMAINDER BENEFICIARIES

"Remainder (or residuary) bequest" is the disposition in a will of all that remains after payment of debts of the estate, administrative expenses of the estate, charitable bequests, disposition of personal effects, and other specific bequests. In layman's terms, it is what is leftover after the completion of all other outflows from the estate directed by the will. The name for beneficiaries who receive all or part of the remainder of the estate is "remainder beneficiaries". In the MedLawPlus.com® last will form, the remainder bequest (and naming of remainder beneficiaries) is found in Article V.

"Contingent remainder beneficiaries" are those beneficiaries who take should your first named remainder beneficiary predecease you. It is not necessary to name contingent remainder beneficiaries (in fact most wills, in my experience, do not). This would especially be the case when the remainder beneficiaries are of a relatively young age. That said, some users wish to cover all eventualities. The MedLawPlus.com® last will questionnaire (which is used to create the form from our template) has 3 options for the naming of contingent remainder beneficiaries. Option 1 (question 19) gives the remainder to your spouse and, should he/she not survive you, then to your children in equal shares. Option 2 (question 19) gives the remainder to your spouse and, should he/she not survive you, then to a contingent remainder beneficiary other than your children. Option 3 is to name specific remainder beneficiaries (selection 4 or 5 to question 20), fill in the desired remainder beneficiaries in response to question 21, and check the contingent remainder box at the bottom of question 21. After you submit the questionnaire (and check the box), the system should then take you back to the questionnaire with spaces now appearing in Question 21 to name contingent remainder beneficiaries.

If you wish to know the definition of the words "per stirpes" in relation to a remainder bequest, please click here.