Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Maryland
Anti-lapse inheritance
Tom is married to Sally. Ruth is mother of Sally. Tom died 3/99 left estate to Sally. Sally died
10/99 left estate to Ruth. Ruth died 2005 left estate to Tom. In Tom's will clause says if Sally predeceases me 1/2 estate goes to
Mary and John, 1/4 to Ed and 1/4 to Carol. No other heirs or relatives of any of the 3. Does estate pass from Tom to Sally's estate or to Mary and John , Ed and Carol? If it passes to Sally's estate it goes to charity because Ruth is deceased. Thank you for your time.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Anti-lapse inheritance
First, let me backtrack a little. The MD anti-lapse statutes would kick in and the estate would pass to Tom, then Sally, then back to Ruth. It would just not kick back to Tom again. You would have an inoperative legacy and the estate would go to Ruth's heirs as if she died intestate to be distributed as specified in Estates & Trusts �3-101, �3-104. You would start looking at further removed members of the family, and eventually the Bd. of Ed. per �3-105. Same outcome, though.
Of course all of this is dependant on the exact language in the wills of Ruth, Tom, and Sally, which need to be examined closely.
Similar cases include:
Segal v. Himelfarb, 136 Md. App.539 (2001)
Simpson v. Piscano, 288 Md. 560 (1980)
Thanks for interesting question!
Re: Anti-lapse inheritance
Since Tom has six years before Ruth, Ruth's estate would not pass to Tom - absent any other language in Ruth's will, it would pass according to the state's intestate provisions.
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