Estate Planning Flashcards
7 cards from real CIA practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Estate Planning flashcards as text
Real property held as joint tenants with right of survivorship passes at the first owner's death in which way?
Answer: Automatically to the surviving joint tenant, outside probate
Survivorship rights pass the decedent's interest directly to the surviving tenant, overriding the will and avoiding probate.
A will leaves property to descendants 'per stirpes.' One of the testator's two children died earlier, leaving two grandchildren. How is the estate divided?
Answer: The living child gets 1/2 and each grandchild gets 1/4
Per stirpes divides the estate by family branch, so the deceased child's half passes equally to that child's descendants.
What law decides who inherits when a person dies without a valid will?
Answer: The state's intestate succession statutes
Intestacy is governed by the law of the decedent's domicile state (and of the state where real property sits), which sets a statutory order of heirs.
In states that recognize them, what makes a holographic will valid?
Answer: Its material provisions are in the testator's handwriting and the testator signs it
Holographic wills are handwritten and signed by the testator, and they usually do not need witnesses where they are allowed.
What is the main function of a pour-over will?
Answer: To transfer any assets left outside the living trust into that trust at death
A pour-over will catches assets not titled in the revocable trust and directs them into the trust, though those assets still go through probate.
When does a durable financial power of attorney end?
Answer: At the principal's death
A durable power survives incapacity, but every power of attorney ends at the principal's death, when the executor takes over.
A decedent's will leaves everything to a spouse, but the IRA beneficiary form names the decedent's sister. Who receives the IRA?
Answer: The sister, because the beneficiary designation controls
Retirement accounts pass by contract under the beneficiary designation, which overrides contrary will provisions (subject to any ERISA spousal rights for qualified plans).