What is Meant by the Term per capita?
If a Will provision or statute calls for property to be distributed “per capita at each generation, the property is divided into as many equal shares as there are: • surviving descendants in the generation nearest to the designated ancestor which contains one or more surviving descendants, and • deceased descendants in the same generation who left surviving descendants, if any. Each surviving descendant in the nearest generation is allocated one share. The remaining shares, if any, are combined and then divided in the same manner among the surviving descendants of the deceased descendants as if: • the surviving descendants who were allocated a share and • their surviving descendants had predeceased the distribution date.
