Will Anti-Lapse and Substitute Gifts in Connecticut
At a glance
| Instruments and gifts covered | Will devise or bequest; separate Trust Code covers express testamentary and inter vivos trusts (§§ 45a-441, 45a-499b(a)). |
|---|---|
| Which devisees qualify | Devisee or legatee must be testator’s child, stepchild, grandchild, brother or sister (§ 45a-441). |
| Death or failure trigger | Named beneficiary dies before testator; § 45a-441 does not distinguish death before will execution. |
| Descendant survival period | Issue of deceased beneficiary take; § 45a-441 states no fixed hour or day period. |
| Who takes and how | Deceased beneficiary’s issue take the devised or bequeathed estate (§ 45a-441). |
| Class gifts | Section 45a-441 speaks of a devisee or legatee without a separate class-gift test; apply its named conditions to the gift. |
| Failed gift and residue | Failed specific real-property devise under post-1947 will enters residue absent another provision, subject to substitution (§ 45a-442). |
| Contrary intent and survival words | A will provision for the beneficiary’s death contingency displaces statutory substitution (§ 45a-441). |
| Alternative gifts and appointments | Will’s provision for the contingency governs before § 45a-441 substitution. |
| Trust and nonprobate reach | Express testamentary and inter vivos trusts fall under separate Trust Code scope (§ 45a-499b(a)). |
Requirements one by one
Who qualifies and what passes
Under § 45a-441, the deceased devisee or legatee must be the testator's child, stepchild, grandchild, brother or sister. If that person dies before the testator and the will made no provision for that event, the person's issue take the devised or bequeathed estate. The statute states the substitute recipients as “the issue of such devisee or legatee”; it does not add an hour count or a share formula.
Failed specific real-property devises
Under § 45a-442, a specific devise of real property in a will executed after October 1, 1947, can pass into the residue if it fails and the will has no provision for that contingency. This fallback is subject to the § 45a-441 substitute-gift rule. Its text is limited to that gift type and execution-date condition.
Trust boundary
The separate § 45a-499b(a) puts express testamentary and inter vivos trusts within the Trust Code's scope. A gift under a trust therefore needs examination under the trust's own terms and governing trust provisions before assigning a substitute recipient.
What trips people up
Section 45a-441 lists specific relationships; being a relative in general is not the stated test. It also makes the will's provision for the beneficiary's death contingency decisive. These are separate questions from whether the deceased person left issue.
Common questions
Does a stepchild qualify? Yes. Section 45a-441 names a stepchild of the testator explicitly.
Does every failed gift automatically pass to the residue? Section 45a-442 expressly addresses a failed specific real-property devise under a will executed after October 1, 1947, and makes that fallback subject to the substitute-gift rule and any will provision for the contingency.
Statutes and sources
- Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 45a-441, 45a-442 and 45a-499b(a). The source fields above contain verbatim official excerpts, chapter URLs and access dates.
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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