What is a residuary estate?
Your residuary estate — "the residue" — is everything you own that remains after debts, funeral costs, taxes and administration expenses have been paid, and after any specific items and fixed cash gifts have been distributed. The residuary clause in your will says who gets it.
Why is the residue clause the most important in most wills?
- It catches what you forgot — the account you never mentioned, the premium bonds in a drawer.
- It catches what you acquire later — a house bought after the will was written, an inheritance of your own.
- It catches gifts that fail — if a beneficiary dies before you without a substitute, their gift falls into the residue.
What happens if a will has no residue clause?
If a will gifts specific things but never disposes of the residue, the leftovers are distributed under the intestacy rules— as if you had died with no will for that portion. A carefully written will can end up handing the largest slice of the estate to the law's default list of relatives. It is one of the most common, and most expensive, drafting mistakes.
How do you divide the residue of an estate?
Shares of the residue are expressed as percentages or fractions, and they must add up to the whole: "50% to my wife, 50% to my children equally". Name substitutes for each residuary beneficiary, so a lapsed share re-divides the way you want rather than falling into intestacy. You can make your will in about 15 minutes with SwiftWill — the residuary clause, percentages and substitutes are built into the interview.