Making A Survivorship Clause
Life doesn’t always run along straight lines, and neither does death. Unexpected things can happen, such as a beneficiary named in your will dying shortly after you. The property you left to this person in your will is then gifted to their beneficiaries. If the deceased beneficiary has no will, then the property you left them is distributed under the law of intestacy.
Word of warning though, any property that belonged to you will be now whisked away to the farthest reaches of your now deceased beneficiary’s family and friends. If your beneficiary dies without a valid will, they will die intestate and if they have no surviving relations then the Government will take the lot.
You may be comfortable with this scenario playing itself out: After all, you can’t take it with you. But if you’ve gone through the trouble of writing a will in the first place, just a little tweaking ensures that you keep a tight rein on your property. By including a survivorship clause in your will, you can specify how long a beneficiary must survive after your death in order to inherit. If your beneficiary doesn’t survive you for long enough, they don’t inherit and the gift is added to the residual estate.
You can name an alternative beneficiary who inherits your gift if the original beneficiary doesn’t meet the conditions of the clause.
Wording a survivorship clause
Working a survivorship clause into your will is straightforward. Just write:
“Any person who does not survive me by 28 days will be treated as having died before me.”
Although you can insert the survivorship clause anywhere in your will, the best place for it is the part where you grant your executors the powers to deal with your estate. Certainly place the survivorship clause before the part outlining your gifts.
A survivorship period usually lasts 28 to 30 days. You can choose a longer period, but bear in mind that a long survivorship period may hold up the process of distributing the estate.
Remember, that if a beneficiary dies before the survivorship period has elapsed and without an alternative beneficiary in place, then they don’t inherit and the property is automatically transferred into the estate residue (what’s left after all beneficiaries have been paid and liabilities have been met).
A survivorship period of 28 days also applies under the law of intestacy. If the would-be beneficiary dies before the survivorship period elapses, then whoever is next in order of priority scoops the inheritance.