In your estate plan, properly designating beneficiaries is equally important as choosing your beneficiaries. As inferred in the article Considerations for Choosing Your Beneficiaries, choosing additional beneficiaries to designate as alternate beneficiaries in the event a primary beneficiary predeceases you would help in avoiding unintended consequences. However, there are two additional beneficiary designations available to consider in such a situation: per stirpes and per capita. The use of per stirpes or per capita requires careful consideration because the beneficiary designations are more general in usage. Designating Beneficiaries Using Per Stirpes Typically, when designating beneficiaries using per stirpes, you are dividing property …show more content…
In this example, Julie has her share reduced to one third because of the per capita designation, which seems unfair. Since most people planning their estates prefer a fair distribution among beneficiaries, per stirpes is the more popular designation. Moreover, although an easier designation, misusing per capita can also result in unintended consequences. Using Per Stirpes and Per Capita The designations of per stirpes and per capita are general in nature and leave a lot to interpretation if not used correctly. Therefore, unless you have a large beneficiary pool, most common estates should avoid using these two designations. Instead, list specific beneficiaries such as alternate beneficiaries or residuary beneficiaries. Estate planning is difficult and there is no reason to make it more difficult. So, keep your beneficiary pool to a precious few and specifically list each beneficiary. In the end, nothing will be left to interpretation and your property will transfer