When creating an estate plan, the main decision is how your assets will be distributed after you pass away. Understanding “per stirpes” and “per capita” distribution is key to that decision.
The terms “per stirpes” and “per capita” become important when your descendants include children and grandchildren. In a Will, these terms are often written as “I leave my [fill in the blank] to my descendants, per stirpes (or per capita).”
Michael Monteforte, Jr. is the founding attorney of Monteforte Law, P.C., an estate planning and elder law firm in Woburn, Massachusetts. He was admitted to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts in January 2002 and to federal practice in the U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, in March 2006. He has practiced estate planning and elder law in Massachusetts for over twenty years.
