Per Stirpes vs Per Capita: How Inheritance Distribution Actually Works

Per stirpes vs per capita in plain English

Per stirpes is Latin for "by the roots." Per capita is Latin for "by the head." Both are ways of describing what happens to an inheritance when one of your intended heirs dies before you do. The choice between them can shift hundreds of thousands of dollars between branches of a family. Most people pick the wrong one, or pick neither, because no one ever explains what the words mean.

Per stirpes says: if my child predeceases me, my child's share passes down to their descendants (my grandchildren). The branch of the family tree keeps the share that would have gone to the parent.

Per capita says: if my child predeceases me, my child's share gets divided among my surviving children. The grandchildren get nothing because they are not in the same generation as the surviving heirs.

That single distinction is the entire concept. The rest of this article is just walking through what it looks like in practice, so you can decide which one matches what you actually want.

Three scenarios, three children, one predeceased parent

Imagine you have three children: Alex, Brooke, and Carlos. Carlos has two children of his own (your grandchildren), Dani and Eli. Your will leaves "my estate divided equally among my children." You die. Your estate is $900,000. So far so good: $300,000 to Alex, $300,000 to Brooke, $300,000 to Carlos.

Now change one variable: Carlos predeceases you. He died last year. Dani and Eli are still alive. What happens to that $300,000?

Scenario A: Per stirpes

Carlos's $300,000 share passes to his descendants. Dani gets $150,000. Eli gets $150,000. Alex still gets $300,000. Brooke still gets $300,000. The branch of the family Carlos started keeps its full share, just split between his two kids instead of going to him.

Final distribution: Alex $300,000, Brooke $300,000, Dani $150,000, Eli $150,000.

Scenario B: Per capita (at each generation, surviving heirs only)

Carlos's share collapses upward. Alex and Brooke now split the entire $900,000 because they are the only surviving children. Dani and Eli get nothing because they are not at the same generational level as the surviving heirs.

Final distribution: Alex $450,000, Brooke $450,000, Dani $0, Eli $0.

Scenario C: Per capita with representation (a hybrid)

Some states use a hybrid called "per capita with representation," and the Uniform Probate Code Section 2-106 has its own modified version. Under per capita with representation, the estate divides at the first generation with a living member, and predeceased shares pass down to descendants at that level. With one child predeceased and two living, the result usually mirrors per stirpes: Alex $300,000, Brooke $300,000, Dani $150,000, Eli $150,000. Where it diverges from per stirpes is more complicated multi-generational scenarios, which we will cover in a moment.

Why this matters more in blended families

The math gets dramatic when one branch of the family has a lot of grandkids and another has none. Imagine you have two kids: Alex (no children) and Brooke (four children). You leave your $1,000,000 estate "to my children, per stirpes." Both kids survive you. They each get $500,000. Standard.

Now imagine Brooke predeceases you. Per stirpes: Alex gets $500,000 and Brooke's four kids each get $125,000. Per capita: Alex gets the full $1,000,000 and Brooke's kids get nothing.

Same will, same family, same death. The only difference is the two Latin words you chose between when you signed the document. If Brooke's branch of the family is the one you spent every Christmas with, and Alex is the one who has been distant for two decades, the per capita result is exactly the opposite of what you would have wanted.

The deeper case: multiple generations

Per stirpes and per capita with representation start to diverge once you involve great-grandchildren. Imagine you have three children, two of whom predeceased you. Each predeceased child had two surviving children of their own (so you have four grandchildren and one surviving child).

Per stirpes: each branch of the family gets one-third. The surviving child gets one-third. Each pair of grandchildren splits a one-third share, so each grandchild gets one-sixth. The grandchildren on each branch only get what their parent would have gotten.

Per capita at each generation (the UPC default in Section 2-106): the estate is divided at the first generation with living members. The surviving child takes their full share (one-third), but the remaining two-thirds is then pooled and divided equally among all four grandchildren, so each grandchild gets one-sixth as well. In this specific scenario, the math comes out the same.

The math diverges when one branch has more children than the other. Per stirpes treats branches equally regardless of how many descendants each branch has. Per capita at each generation treats descendants equally within each generation, which can mean a branch with three kids gets more total than a branch with one kid.

Neither is "more fair" in the abstract. They are answers to two different questions: do you want to treat branches equally, or do you want to treat individual descendants equally? You have to pick one.

State default rules vary widely

If you do not specify per stirpes or per capita in your will, your state's default rule kicks in. Those defaults are inconsistent. Some states default to strict per stirpes. Others use per capita with representation. The Uniform Probate Code, adopted in some form by 18 states, defaults to per capita at each generation. The original UPC default, adopted in older states, was strict per stirpes.

The practical implication: never rely on the default. Always specify in writing. The phrase "I leave my estate to my descendants per stirpes" or "I leave my estate to my descendants per capita at each generation" is the kind of clause every will needs to contain explicitly. If your current will does not, that is a reason to revisit it. Our guide to how to write a will walks through the language to use.

Per stirpes language on beneficiary designations too

The per stirpes versus per capita question shows up not just in your will but on every beneficiary designation form: 401(k), IRA, life insurance, brokerage TOD account. Most custodians default to per capita at the primary level, which means if you name your three kids as primary beneficiaries and one predeceases you, the surviving two split the entire account. The grandchildren of the predeceased child get nothing.

Some custodians (Vanguard, Fidelity, Schwab on most accounts) let you check a per stirpes box on the form. Many smaller brokerages and most 401(k) plan administrators do not, which means you have to either upload a custom designation or accept the per capita default. This is one of the most underdiscussed traps in retirement account planning. The will and the beneficiary forms have to agree on this question, and they often do not.

The decision framework

For most people with kids and grandkids, the right answer is per stirpes (or per capita with representation, depending on state). The reasoning is straightforward: if your child predeceases you, you almost certainly want their kids to inherit what their parent would have gotten. That is what per stirpes does.

The exception: blended families where you specifically want to treat all your living children equally and have no relationship with the grandchildren of a deceased child. In that case, strict per capita does what you want. But this is the minority case. Most people who pick per capita are doing so by accident, because their state defaults to it or because their custodian's form did.

If you have no descendants and you are leaving your estate to siblings, the analysis is the same one generation up. Per stirpes means your nieces and nephews inherit if their parent (your sibling) predeceased you. Per capita means the surviving siblings split everything and the nieces and nephews get nothing.

What happens if you don't write a will at all

If you die without a will, intestate succession laws decide who inherits. Those laws have their own per stirpes or per capita rules, varying state by state. The Uniform Probate Code default for intestate succession is per capita at each generation. Older state codes default to strict per stirpes. Either way, the decision is made for you, and it might not be what you would have chosen.

If you want a sense of how badly intestate succession can diverge from what families expect, our piece on what happens when you die without a will walks through the typical surprises.

DocSats prompts you explicitly on the per stirpes versus per capita question when you draft your will, with worked examples for your specific family configuration so you can see the actual dollar split before you commit. The document gets encrypted on your device (we cannot read it, ever) and a tamper-proof hash anchored to the Bitcoin blockchain so the version on file is provably the current one. When you update your beneficiary designations, the same dashboard checks they match the language in your will, which is the coordination piece almost every estate plan misses.