Will Anti-Lapse and Substitute Gifts in Oklahoma
At a glance
| Instruments and gifts covered | Estate devised or bequeathed by will to child or other relation (84 O.S. § 142). |
|---|---|
| Which devisees qualify | Named devisee or legatee must be testator’s child or other relation (84 O.S. § 142). |
| Death or failure trigger | Beneficiary dies before testator; separate § 178 preserves surviving remaindermen of a limited interest (84 O.S. §§ 142, 178). |
| Descendant survival period | Deceased beneficiary must leave lineal descendants; § 142 states no fixed hour or day period. |
| Who takes and how | Lineal descendants take the estate as the named beneficiary would have (84 O.S. § 142). |
| Class gifts | Class includes those meeting its description at death, or before postponed possession (84 O.S. § 171). |
| Failed gift and residue | Ineffectively devised realty or bequeathed personalty passes under the corresponding residue clause (84 O.S. §§ 166–167, 177). |
| Contrary intent and survival words | Testamentary intention to substitute another can govern a predeceased beneficiary’s gift (84 O.S. § 177). |
| Alternative gifts and appointments | An intended substitute named by the will can receive a predeceased beneficiary’s gift (84 O.S. § 177). |
| Trust and nonprobate reach | Section 142 addresses an estate given by will; quoted will provisions do not determine a separate trust or nonprobate gift. |
Requirements one by one
The deceased beneficiary and substitute descendants
Under 84 O.S. § 142, the named devisee or legatee must be the testator's child or other relation, and must die before the testator leaving lineal descendants. Those descendants take the devised or bequeathed estate in the same manner the named person would have taken it. The section states no fixed hour or day survival period and does not give a separate mathematical allocation among multiple descendants.
Class and remainder interests
Under § 171, a class counts those who meet its description at the testator's death; when possession is postponed, it also includes those who come within the description before that later time. That timing is distinct from the named-relative substitution in § 142.
Under § 178, remaindermen who survive the testator retain their interests even if the holder of an earlier limited interest died before the testator. For example, the death of a life-interest recipient does not itself eliminate a named remainder beneficiary who survives.
Other failed gifts
Under § 177, a testamentary disposition to a beneficiary who dies during the testator's life fails unless an intention appears to substitute another, subject to its stated exception. For property not otherwise effectively given by the will, § 166 includes real property under a residuary devise and § 167 includes personal property under a residuary bequest.
What trips people up
The class description in § 171 is tested at the testator's death or a later possession date, while § 142 concerns a predeceased named relative who left lineal descendants. Read the actual gift form before treating a deceased class member as a named devisee.
Common questions
Does this cover an unrelated friend? Section 142 uses “child or other relation of the testator.” Its substitute gift is tied to that relationship and the named person's lineal descendants.
What if a life-interest recipient dies first? Section 178 says that death does not defeat the interest of a remainderman who survives the testator.
Statutes and sources
- 84 O.S. §§ 142, 166–167, 171, 177–178. The source fields above contain verbatim official excerpts, URLs and access dates.
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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