A. If a devisee fails to survive the testator and is a grandparent, a descendant of a grandparent or a stepchild of either the testator or the donor of a power of appointment exercised by the testator’s will, the following apply:

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Terms Used In Arizona Laws 14-2603

  • Application: means a written request to the registrar for an order of informal probate or appointment under chapter 3, article 3 of this title. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
  • Child: includes a person who is entitled to take as a child under this title by intestate succession from the parent whose relationship is involved. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
  • Descendant: means all of the decedent's descendants of all generations, with the relationship of parent and child at each generation. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
  • Devise: To gift property by will.
  • Devise: when used as a noun, means a testamentary disposition of real or personal property and, when used as a verb, means to dispose of real or personal property by will. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
  • Devisee: means a person designated in a will to receive a devise. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
  • Donee: The recipient of a gift.
  • Donor: The person who makes a gift.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
  • including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
  • Person: means an individual or an organization. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
  • Property: includes both real and personal property. See Arizona Laws 1-215
  • Survive: means that a person has neither predeceased an event, including the death of another person, nor is deemed to have predeceased an event under section 14-2104 or 14-2702. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
  • Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
  • Testator: includes a person of either sex. See Arizona Laws 14-1201
  • Will: includes a codicil and any testamentary instrument that merely appoints an executor, revokes or revises another will, nominates a guardian or expressly excludes or limits the right of an individual or class to succeed to property of the decedent passing by intestate succession. See Arizona Laws 14-1201

1. Except as provided in paragraph 3 of this subsection, if the devise is not in the form of a class gift and the deceased devisee leaves surviving descendants, a substitute gift is created in the devisee’s surviving descendants and they take, by representation, the property to which the devisee would have been entitled if the devisee had survived the testator.

2. Except as provided in paragraph 3 of this subsection, if the devise is in the form of a class gift, other than a devise to issue, descendants, heirs of the body, heirs, next of kin, relatives or family or a class described by similar language, a substitute gift is created in the surviving descendants of the deceased devisee. The property to which the devisees would have been entitled if all of them had survived the testator passes to the surviving devisees and the surviving descendants of the deceased devisees. Each surviving devisee takes the share to which that person would have been entitled if the deceased devisees had survived the testator. Each deceased devisee’s surviving descendants who are substituted for the deceased devisee take by representation the share to which the deceased devisee would have been entitled if the deceased devisee had survived the testator. For the purposes of this paragraph, "deceased devisee" means a class member who failed to survive the testator and left one or more surviving descendants.

3. If the will creates an alternative devise with respect to a devise for which a substitute gift is created by paragraph 1 or 2 of this subsection, the substitute gift is superseded by the alternative devise, whether or not an expressly designated devisee of the alternative devise is entitled to take under the will.

B. Unless the language that creates a power of appointment expressly prohibits the substitution of the appointee’s descendants for the appointee, a surviving descendant of a deceased appointee can be substituted for the appointee, whether or not the descendant is an object of the power of appointment.

C. For the purposes of section 14-2601, words of survivorship, such as in a devise to an individual "if he survives me", or in a devise to "my surviving children", are, in the absence of clear and convincing evidence to the contrary, a sufficient indication of an intent contrary to the application of this section.

D. For the purposes of this section:

1. "Alternative devise" means a devise that is expressly created by the will and under the terms of the will can take effect instead of another devise on the happening of one or more events, including the survival of the testator or the failure to survive the testator, whether an event is expressed in condition-precedent, condition-subsequent or any other form. A residuary clause may constitute an alternative devise with respect to a nonresiduary devise, whether or not the will specifically provides that, on lapse or failure, the nonresiduary devise or nonresiduary devises in general pass under the residuary clause.

2. "Class member" includes a person who fails to survive the testator but who would have taken under a devise in the form of a class gift if that person had survived the testator.

3. "Devise" includes an alternative devise, a devise in the form of a class gift and an exercise of a power of appointment.

4. "Devisee" includes:

(a) A class member if the devise is in the form of a class gift.

(b) A person or class member who was deceased at the time the testator executed the will as well as a person or class member who was then living but who failed to survive the testator.

(c) An appointee under a power of appointment exercised by the testator’s will.

5. "Stepchild" means a child of the surviving, deceased or former spouse of the testator or of the donor of a power of appointment and not of the testator or donor.

6. "Surviving devisee" or "surviving descendant" means a devisee or a descendant who neither predeceased the testator nor is deemed to have predeceased the testator under section 14-2702.

7. "Testator" includes the donee of a power of appointment if the power is exercised in the testator’s will.