Advancement

What it means

A parent who gives one child $30,000 during life and then dies without a will has either made a gift or made an early payment of that child's inheritance. Which of the two it was decides whether the remaining children are made equal before the estate is divided. An advancement is the second reading.

Older law assumed a substantial lifetime gift to a child was an advancement unless something said otherwise. Modern statutes reverse that: in most states a lifetime gift counts against the inheritance only if the person who died said so in writing at the time, or the person who received it acknowledged it in writing.

Where it does count, the gift is added back to the estate on paper, the whole is divided, and the recipient's share is reduced by what they already had. If the gift was larger than the share, the recipient generally keeps it and takes nothing more — they do not repay the difference.

Why it matters

It is one of the few places where a family's shared memory of who got what actually has legal weight, and the writing requirement usually means it does not.

It is also the argument that most often surfaces during an intestate estate: one sibling remembers a deposit for a house, another remembers a gift, and the statute decides between them on the strength of a document rather than on the recollection.

When you are likely to meet it

• When somebody dies without a will and one heir received significantly more during life.
• When a will refers to gifts already made and directs how they are to be treated.
• When an executor is asked to adjust shares for something that happened years earlier.

How this varies by state

Whether a lifetime gift is presumed to be an advancement, and what writing is needed to make it one, is set by state law.

Related terms

• AbatementThe order in which gifts in a will are reduced when the estate cannot pay for everything.
• AdemptionWhat happens when a will leaves a specific item that no longer exists at death: the gift usually simply fails.
• Carryover basisWhen property is given away during life, the recipient generally takes over the giver's own basis in it, rather than a fresh valuation.
• Estate accountingA statement of everything that came into the estate and everything that went out, presented before the estate can be closed.
• HeirSomeone entitled to inherit under state law when there is no will — not simply a relative.
• IntestateDying without a valid will, so the estate passes by the state's own rules rather than by anybody's wishes.
• Promissory noteThe written promise to repay a loan, on stated terms. What turns a family understanding into a loan anybody can act on.
• Residuary estateWhatever is left after specific gifts, debts, taxes and expenses have been dealt with. Most wills give it away in a single clause.

Sahvelo guidance that uses this

• When there is no will