Ademption by satisfaction

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Ademption by satisfaction" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. You may improve this article, discuss the issue on the talk page, or create a new article, as appropriate. (October 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

It has been suggested that this article be merged into Ademption. (Discuss) Proposed since March 2025.

Wills, trusts and estates
Part of the common law series
Wills
Legal history of wills Joint wills and mutual wills Will contract Codicil Holographic will Oral will Attestation clause Residuary clause Incorporation by reference Contest Testamentary capacity Undue influence Insane delusion Fraud No-contest clause Lapse and anti-lapse Ademption Abatement Satisfaction of legacies Acts of independent significance Elective share Pretermitted heir
Trusts
Express Resulting Constructive Bare Discretionary Accumulation and maintenance Interest in possession Charitable Purpose Incentive Protective Spendthrift Life insurance Testamentary Honorary Asset-protection Special needs Supplemental needs Governing doctrines Pour-over will Cy-près doctrine Hague Convention (conflict law) Application in civil law Dishonest assistance
Estate administration
Estate planning Intestacy Testator Probate Power of appointment Simultaneous death Slayer rule Laughing heir Advancement Disclaimer of interest Inheritance tax
Related topics
Advance directive (Living will) Blind trust Forced heirship Totten trust
v t e

Ademption by satisfaction, also known as satisfaction of legacies, is a

In the United States, state law determines which lifetime gifts are treated as gifts in satisfaction of a bequest. Under the Uniform Probate Code, § 2-609, a lifetime gift is treated as satisfaction of a legacy only if (i) the will provides for deduction of the gift, (ii) the testator indicated in a contemporaneous writing that the lifetime gift was intended to satisfy a legacy in the will, or (iii) the gift recipient acknowledged in writing that the gift was intended to satisfy a legacy in the will.^[3][2][4] Courts may presume that gifts of money from a parent to a child after the execution of the parent's will are gifts in satisfaction of the child's legacy under the will, even without a written indication of intent to satisfy the provision under the will.^[2] Courts are reluctant to apply the doctrine to certain kinds of legacies, for example, devises of specific real estate or bequests of personal property. These specific legacies are viewed by courts as unique and not able to be replaced with a lifetime gift of money or other property.^[2]

When the probate court determines that the doctrine applies to a lifetime gift made to a will beneficiary, the amount beneficiary's gift under the will is reduced by the amount the beneficiary has already received. For example, if the will bequeaths $5,000 to a beneficiary, but the beneficiary received a lifetime gift of $4,000 from testator that was intended to partially satisfy the gift under the will, the beneficiary will receive only $1,000 under the will. If the will provides that the beneficiary receives a percentage of the testator's estate, the court may engage in a hotchpot calculation to determine the amount, if any, that the beneficiary should receive under the will.^[2] If the value of the lifetime gift received is greater than the beneficiary's calculated share under the will, the beneficiary receives nothing under the will, but does not return any of the lifetime gifts.

• intestate
  succession