Per Stirpes Distribution

 What does "per stirpes" even mean if it shows up in a Wills essay?

Essentially, the term explains at which level the estate of a decedent should be divided for purposes of inheritance (or intestate distribution). Assume the decedent has 4 children, A, B, C, D. And that C predeceases the decedent. Each child of the decedent has 2 children. Under a policy of per stirpes, the first step is to divide the estate by 4 since there are 4 children. A, B, and D will then get their 1/4th share. C also gets a 1/4th share (this is the key, give the deceased child the share), though because C is dead that 1/4th share passes to C's 2 children and each gets a (1/4)(1/2) share or a 1/8th share). So, the end result would be that A, B, and D get 1/4th, and the 2 children of C get 1/8. One way to check your work (as high school math teachers always used to say) is to add up all the shares. They should sum to 1 if you've calculated correctly. 1/4 + 1/4 + 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/8 = 8/8 = 1 A way to understand per stirpes is to understand how this would contrast if a different policy of distribution applied (and there are a variety of policies that could apply on a bar exam). It could have been true that C's 2 children share equally with the living children of the decedent. In that case, the calculation would merely be to divide the estate by 5 so that each gets 1/5. C's 2 children would like this since 1/5 > 1/8. The living children of the decedents not so much, since 1/5 < 1/4.