What is a residuary estate?
The residuary estate is what remains after your executors have paid debts, funeral and administration expenses and any inheritance tax, and handed over any specific items and cash gifts. For many people, the home, savings and investments all form part of it unless they are given away separately. Assets that pass outside the will, such as a home owned as joint tenants, are not part of it (GOV.UK: joint property ownership).
Why does the residue clause matter so much?
- It catches what you forget, such as an account you did not mention.
- It catches what you acquire later, such as a house bought or an inheritance received after the will was made.
- It catches gifts that fail, such as a specific gift to someone who dies before you with no backup.
That is why the residue is usually where most of an estate ends up. The annotated sample will shows a residue clause with a backup beneficiary.
What happens if a will has no residue clause?
Whatever the will does not give away passes under the intestacy rules, as if you had no will for that part (Administration of Estates Act 1925, section 49). This is called a partial intestacy. A carefully written list of gifts can end up sending the largest part of the estate to relatives chosen by law.
What happens if a residuary beneficiary dies before you?
Their share fails unless the will deals with it. A lapsed share of the residue does not automatically pass to the other residuary beneficiaries: unless the will names a backup, or says the other beneficiaries share it, it can pass under the intestacy rules as a partial intestacy.
There is one statutory exception. If the share was left to your child or grandchild, and they die before you leaving children of their own, those children take the share unless the will says otherwise (Wills Act 1837, section 33). Name a backup for every residuary beneficiary rather than relying on this.
How do you divide the residue?
Express each share as a percentage or fraction, for example "50% to my partner and 50% to be divided equally between my children". Check that:
- the shares add up to 100%;
- each share has a backup if that person dies first;
- there is a final fallback, such as a charity, if every named beneficiary dies before you.
Cash gifts are paid before the residue, so a large cash gift reduces what the residuary beneficiaries receive. See what is a beneficiary and how to make a will. SwiftWill's interview requires the residue shares to total 100% and lets you name a backup for each share. If there is more than one residuary beneficiary and no backup is named, its residue clause passes a lapsed share to the surviving residuary beneficiaries.
Sources
- Administration of Estates Act 1925, section 49 (partial intestacy)
- Wills Act 1837, section 33
- GOV.UK: Joint property ownership
Sources checked 24 September 2026.