Per stirpes

Per stirpes (; "by roots" or "by stock") is a legal term from Latin, used in the law of inheritance and estates. An estate of a decedent is distributed per stirpes if each branch of the family is to receive an equal share of an estate in accordance with their deceased ancestor's share. When an heir in the first generation of a branch predeceased the decedent, the share that would have been given to that heir would be distributed among that heir's issue in equal shares.

Historically, per stirpes distribution occurred at the level of the generation closest to the deceased person, whether or not there were surviving heirs within that generation. That could result in an uneven distribution of an inheritance. For example, if two first cousins represent the first generation, one having three children and the other having one child, and they are deceased at the time of the distribution, the children of the first cousin would each receive one sixth of the inheritance (one third of their deceased parent's half) while the child of the other cousin would receive half. The modern approach looks instead to the first generation with surviving heirs, which would mean that all four surviving children would each receive one quarter of the inheritance, a per capita distribution. The historic rule, where members of the same generation may inherit different amounts, is now often described as strict per stirpes, or the old English approach.

Examples

Example 1A: The testator A, specifies in their will that their estate is to be divided among their descendants in equal shares per stirpes. A has three children: B, C, and D. B is already dead, but has left two children (grandchildren of A), B1 and B2.