Advancements

Wills is a commonly tested essay subject on the UBE. It doesn't show up on every exam but it shows up more often than not. And the concept of "advancements" has shown up multiple times over the years. Thankfully, it's not too difficult. 

Not all Wills questions deal with wills; heirs can also inherit through intestate succession. Property will pass by intestate succession when (1): a decedent dies without having made a will; (2): a decedent's will is denied probate; or (3): a decedent's will does not dispose of all of his/her property either because a gift has failed or because the will contains no residuary clause. 

An advancement is a lifetime gift to an heir with the intent that the gift be applied against the share the heir inherits from the donor's estate. It's important not to presume that a lifetime gift is an advancement; that was true under the common law but is not true under the Uniform Probate Code. Under the Uniform Probate Code, a lifetime gift is presumptively not an advancement unless shown to be intended as such. Specifically, a gift is intended as an advancement only if it is declared as such in a contemporaneous writing by the donor or acknowledged as such in a writing by the heir.

Let's assume then that the elements above are satisfied and that a lifetime gift is deemed an advancement. Here's how the math works:

If found to be an advancement, the gift's value when given is added back into the estate for purposes of calculating intestate shares. After calculating shares, it is then subtracted from the recipient's share. 

An an example, let's assume that a donor ("D") has three children, A, B, & C. During D's lifetime, D advances $50,000 to A. All elements of a valid advancement are satisfied. D dies with an intestate estate of $250,000 with A, B, and C as his only heirs. 

The first step is to take the advancement of $50,000 and add it back into the estate. Once added back, the estate would consist of $250,000 + $50,000 = $300,000. Then calculate how much each heir would have received had there been no advancement. Here, each heir would have received 1/3 of that $300,000 or $100,000 each. But A has already received 50,000, so you should deduct that from A's $100,000 share.

As such, A will now receive $50,000, B will receive $100,000, and C will receive $100,000.