Per Stirpes, Explained

Per stirpes is Latin for "by branch." On a beneficiary form or in a will, it means that if a beneficiary dies before you, their share passes down to their own children instead of going to your other beneficiaries.

Those two words move real money. The same $900,000 estate splits three different ways depending on whether the document says per stirpes, per capita, or nothing. This guide runs one family through all three systems, then covers the checkbox on retirement and life insurance forms, and what each state does when the paperwork doesn't choose.

Per stirpes only matters when someone you named dies before you. If every beneficiary outlives you, it changes nothing: everyone takes the share you gave them.

When a beneficiary does die first, per stirpes keeps their share in their branch of the family. Their children split it. If one of those children is also dead, that child's own children take that piece. The share keeps passing down the same line.^[2]

You'll meet the term in three places: wills ("to my descendants, per stirpes"), trusts, and the beneficiary designations on 401(k)s, IRAs, life insurance, and payable-on-death accounts. Some forms offer a per stirpes checkbox. Some make you write it in. At least one big one refuses it entirely, which is covered below.

Marta dies with $900,000 and a will that leaves everything to her descendants, per stirpes. She had three children. David survives her. Lena died two years before her, leaving two kids, Priya and Noah. Sam died last year, leaving one daughter, Grace.

Per stirpes divides the estate at the children's generation: one share for each child who's alive, one share for each child who died leaving descendants.^[2]

• David, living child: $300,000.
• Lena's branch: $300,000, split by Priya and Noah, $150,000 each.
• Sam's branch: $300,000, all of it to Grace.

Look at the grandchildren. Grace takes $300,000 while Priya and Noah take $150,000 each. Three grandchildren, same generation, and one gets double. That's per stirpes working as designed: it treats branches equally, and Grace has her branch to herself.

Per capita is Latin for "by head." Each person in the group takes an equal portion in their own right.^[11] If Marta's will had said "to my descendants, per capita," her four living descendants would split the money evenly: David, Priya, Noah, and Grace get $225,000 each. David's share drops by $75,000 because the grandchildren now count beside him.

The third system is per capita at each generation, the default in the Uniform Probate Code. It starts like per stirpes, with one share per branch at the children's level, so David takes his $300,000. Then it combines the dead children's shares, $600,000 here, and splits them equally among the grandchildren: $200,000 each for Priya, Noah, and Grace.^[1]

The design goal is equal treatment of equally related people. Every grandchild who inherits gets the same amount. The Uniform Probate Code adopted the system in 1990, citing a survey of 761 estate-planning clients in which 71.1 percent preferred that result and 19.1 percent preferred per stirpes.^[1] Maine, a UPC state, defines both terms the same way for wills and trusts.^[2]

Same family, three answers:

• Per stirpes: David $300,000. Priya $150,000. Noah $150,000. Grace $300,000.
• Per capita at each generation: David $300,000. Priya, Noah, and Grace $200,000 each.
• Pure per capita: David, Priya, Noah, and Grace $225,000 each.

States split per stirpes itself into two versions, and the difference shows up when a whole generation is gone.

Change the facts: all three of Marta's children die before her, and David leaves one daughter, Ava. Strict per stirpes still divides the estate at the children's generation. Ava and Grace take $300,000 each. Priya and Noah take $150,000 each. Four grandchildren, unequal shares, set by how many siblings their parents had.

Modern per stirpes moves that first division down to the nearest generation with a living member. With every child dead, the estate divides at the grandchildren's level and all four take $225,000. California's default rule works this way when a document names descendants without picking a method.^[6][7]

But when a California will or trust uses the actual words "per stirpes," a different statute applies and the division starts at the children's generation even if no child is alive.^[8] In California, adding the words changes the outcome.

Retirement accounts and life insurance skip your will completely. The plan administrator pays whoever the form names, and courts hold them to it. In Kennedy v. Plan Administrator (2009), William Kennedy named his wife Liv as the beneficiary of his DuPont savings plan. They divorced, and the decree said she gave up her claim.

He never updated the form. The Supreme Court held the administrator "did its statutory ERISA duty by paying the benefits to Liv in conformity with the plan documents."^[14] The form beat the divorce decree.

That's why the per stirpes election on these forms matters more than the language in your will. Say your 401(k) holds $300,000 and names your three children equally, and two of them die before you. If the form has no per stirpes election and the plan's default pays surviving beneficiaries, your one living child takes the full $300,000 and your dead children's kids get nothing.

With per stirpes on the form, each branch keeps its $100,000. The plan document sets which default applies, so ask the administrator directly.^[13]

Two more rules for retirement money. Federal law puts your spouse first: in most defined contribution plans, benefits automatically go to your surviving spouse, and naming anyone else requires the spouse's signed waiver, witnessed by a notary or plan representative.^[12] And some programs refuse per stirpes entirely. FEGLI, the federal employees' life insurance program, rejects per stirpes designations. OPM tells federal workers to name each beneficiary directly and handle branch logic in a will instead.^[15]

Life insurance follows the same principle: the insurer pays the beneficiary named in the policy. Our guide to what happens to life insurance when you die covers the claim itself.

No method named, or no will at all? A default takes over, and the defaults disagree with each other.

The Uniform Probate Code: per capita at each generation. When an intestate estate passes "by representation" under the UPC, surviving members of the nearest generation take their shares, and the remaining shares are combined and divided equally at the next level down.^[1] States that enacted the UPC, Maine among them, carry this in their intestacy statutes.^[3]

Florida: per stirpes, in both directions. Descent without a will "shall be per stirpes, whether to descendants or to collateral heirs,"^[4] and devises to descendants in a will default to per stirpes unless the will says otherwise.^[5] Details are in our Florida guide.

California: modern per stirpes. A will or trust that names descendants without picking a method divides at the nearest generation with a living member.^[6][7] Writing "per stirpes" switches the division to the children's generation.^[8] The California guide covers the state's intestacy order.

New York: per capita at each generation, under a different name. For instruments executed on or after September 1, 1992, a gift to "issue" defaults to "by representation,"^[9] which New York defines with the same combine-and-divide mechanics.^[10] See the New York guide.

With no will at all, your state's full intestacy formula also controls who the heirs are in the first place. How intestacy works explains the system, and the state guides carry each state's order.

• Pull every beneficiary form you have. 401(k), IRA, life insurance, payable-on-death accounts. For each one, answer a single question: what happens to a beneficiary's share if they die before I do?
• If you want a branch protected, say so on the form. Check the per stirpes box where one exists, or name contingent beneficiaries person by person where it doesn't.
• Make the will and the forms agree. The forms win on the assets they cover, so a per stirpes will can't repair a beneficiary form that says something else.
• Update after every death, birth, marriage, and divorce. Kennedy's ex-wife collected because the form was never updated.
• Get advice for blended families and big estates. A licensed estate attorney can match the words to what you actually want. Our complete will guide covers what the document itself needs.

Per stirpes keeps a dead beneficiary's share in that person's branch. Per capita spreads shares equally by head. Per capita at each generation gives every member of a generation the same amount. All three are defensible. The failure is picking none of them and letting a default you've never read decide, because that default depends on your state and your form.

This article is education. It isn't legal advice. Distribution rules vary by state. For your family, talk to a licensed estate attorney.