Doctrine of "lapse" on inheritance.

UrbanFox

Not a request for advice just clarification of a concept.

I understand that a bequest to a beneficiary dies or lapses if the beneficiary dies before the testator. Is that correct ?

If yes, what is the reason behind the rule and what is it's origin ?

I have been told that S.91 of the Succession Act 1965 covers this ? Is that correct or does S.91 merely direct what is to happen in the event of a failed bequest ?

LINK https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1965/act/27/section/91/enacted/en/html#sec91

Yes if the testator has not left a gift over and merely says I leave x to my niece Sharon and Sharon then predeceases the testator and the will is not changed the gift lapses and goes back to the estate

I don't know the reason but I imagine it would be difficult to be second guessing the intentions of two dead people and what they hoped would happen.

Peregrinus

The assumption is that if you leave a bequest to X your intention is to benefit X. If X is already dead you cannot benefit them. Therefore the bequest lapses.

If the bequest did not lapse, then it would become part of X's estate, X's estate would have to be reopened (which would be a pain for X's executor, who thought he was done with all this) and X's executor would have to identify the person entitled who, depending on what X's will said and what X's personal and family circumstances were, might or might not be X's spouse or children. Your bequest would end up benefitting whoever gets the residue of X's estate; at the time you write your will (when X is still alive) you cannot know who this will be; why would we presume that that was your intention?

So, it makes more sense for the rule to be that you say what happens to your bequest if X has already died. If you say nothing, then the bequest lapses and the property concerned becomes part of the residue of your estate and goes to your residuary beneficiaries, not X's.