Devise
A gift made by will — historically of land, and in modern statutes of anything.
What it means
Three words describe a gift made by a will, and the distinctions between them are older than they are useful. A devise was traditionally a gift of real property, a bequest a gift of personal property, and a legacy a gift of money.
Modern statutes have largely collapsed the difference. The Uniform Probate Code uses devise for a gift of any kind of property, and calls the recipient a devisee. Many state codes follow it; some keep the older vocabulary; wills written by lawyers often use all three in the same document out of habit.
What still matters is not which word was used but what class the gift falls into — specific, general, or residuary — because that decides what happens when the estate cannot pay for everything, and what happens when the specific thing named no longer exists.
Why it matters
A reader trying to work out what a will actually gives them meets all three words and reasonably assumes they mean different things.
The distinction that does carry consequences — specific, general, residuary — is invisible in the vocabulary, and it is the one that decides who bears the cost of the estate's debts.
When you are likely to meet it
- When reading a will and finding the same kind of gift described three different ways.
- When a court document calls a beneficiary a devisee.
- When an estate cannot satisfy everything the will promises.
Devise, bequest, legacy
Three words for a gift by will. The old distinctions, and what actually decides the outcome.
| What is being compared | Devise | Bequest | Legacy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Traditionally meant | A gift of real property | A gift of personal property | A gift of money |
| Under the Uniform Probate Code | A gift of any property | Not used as a separate term | Not used as a separate term |
| The recipient is called | A devisee | A legatee or beneficiary | A legatee or beneficiary |
| Changes the outcome? | No | No | No |
| What does change the outcome | Whether the gift is specific, general or residuary | Whether the gift is specific, general or residuary | Whether the gift is specific, general or residuary |
If a will uses one of these words and you are trying to work out where you stand, the useful question is which class the gift falls into, not which of the three words was chosen.
How this varies by state
Which vocabulary a state's probate code uses varies. What the words do does not.