Also known as: antilapse statute · anti-lapse statute · anti-lapse statutes · anti-lapse laws
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A statutory rule of construction providing that a devise to a protected relative who predeceases the testator passes instead to the devisee's surviving descendants.
Calvin left his farm equipment to the children of his two sisters. Liam, one of those children, died days before Calvin and left two teenage children. The antilapse statute treats Liam as a protected class member whose share passes by representation to his surviving children rather than lapsing into the residue.
Leo devised his rental properties equally to his brothers' children. Quinn, one niece, died a week before Leo and left two children. The antilapse statute counts Quinn as a class member and creates a substitute gift so her two children take her one-third share by representation while the surviving class members take their shares directly.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
No. The statute leaves the survival requirement intact and instead creates a statutory substitute gift to the predeceased devisee's descendants when the devisee falls within the protected class.
Supporting sources
Most statutes protect devises to grandparents and descendants of grandparents and sometimes stepchildren, but they exclude the testator's spouse.
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Yes. Modern statutes treat an individual who would have taken under a class gift had the individual survived the testator as a class member for purposes of creating a substitute gift to that member's descendants.
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The antilapse statute yields to a contrary intention expressed in the will. An express alternative devise that routes the gift to the residue or another taker upon the devisee's failure to survive displaces the statutory substitute gift.
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…Co. v. Treadwell , 312 Mass. 214, 218 (1942). Meserve v. Haak , 191 Mass. 220, 223 (1906). See G. L. c. 191, § 22 (1986 ed.) (antilapse statute). This last stated principle becomes important in deciding whether Jennifer, the child of the deceased grandson, takes her deceased father’s share in the trust income or whether the…