What is the Residue of the Estate?
The residue of the estate is all of your property that is not used to pay your debts or given as a specific gift. For example, if you own a house, household items such as furniture and jewelry, a car and a savings account, and you give your car to your son, and your jewelry to your daughter, your house, all other household items, and your savings account will be the residue of your estate. If you give the residue to your spouse, your spouse will get your house, your household items (less the jewelry) and your savings account. Remember, your executor has to pay debts before the residue of your estate is distributed. So if you had $25,000.00 in savings and $10,000.00 in debt, your executor would have to pay the $10,000.00 debt before distributing the residue. Debts are usually payable out of the residue first, and if there is not enough money from the residue, then specific gifts are used to pay debts.
