Electoral Allocation Dispute
Blake Butler and his siblings inherit land from their late parent. When the estate is distributed, Blake's children receive the share their parent would have taken. The allocation follows the representation rule.
Also known as: representation · per stirpes · right of representation
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A method of allocating shares in an intestate estate among descendants of a predeceased heir by which those descendants step into the shoes of the predeceased heir.
Blake Butler and his siblings inherit land from their late parent. When the estate is distributed, Blake's children receive the share their parent would have taken. The allocation follows the representation rule.
Brian Bailey dies intestate survived by a child who predeceased him. That child's descendants receive the share by representation. The distribution occurs.
Bruce Baldwin's estate passes to his grandchildren after their parent predeceased him. The grandchildren take by representation. The outcome holds.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Benjamin Brooks dies leaving descendants of a predeceased child. Those descendants receive equal shares by representation. The distribution proceeds.
Bianca Blanco's estate is distributed to her surviving descendants. A child who predeceased her is represented by that child's own children, who take by representation. The shares are unaffected.
Brianna Burke dies survived by a spouse and two children, one of whom predeceased her leaving two grandchildren. The grandchildren receive their parent's share by representation under the applicable statute.
By representation allows descendants of a predeceased heir to step into that heir's place and take the share the heir would have received. A per capita distribution instead divides the estate equally among all living members of the same generation without regard to whether an ancestor predeceased the decedent.
Supporting sources
The disclaiming heir is treated as having predeceased the decedent. The disclaimant's descendants then take that share by representation rather than allowing the disclaimer to redirect the property solely to other living heirs at the same generational level.
Supporting sources
The phrase is most commonly used in intestate succession statutes such as UPC § 2-103(c). It can also appear in will or trust instruments that direct distribution to descendants by representation, in which case the same generational stepping-up rule governs.
Supporting sources
The number of shares equals the number of surviving heirs in the nearest generation plus the number of deceased heirs in that generation who left surviving descendants. Each surviving heir takes one share and the descendants of each deceased heir divide that heir's share equally.
Supporting sources
…patrician, highly unrepresentative panel of nine is to violate a principle even more fundamental than no taxation without representation: no social transformation without representation. II But what really astounds is the hubris reflected in today’s judicial Putsch. The five Justices who compose today’s majority are…