# Anti-Lapse Statute: Definition and How It Works in California

> California's anti-lapse statute saves a gift to a predeceased beneficiary's descendants when the beneficiary was a close relative of the will's maker.

Source: https://ridleylawoffices.com/estate-planning-glossary-california/anti-lapse-statute/

By Eric Ridley, attorney, Ridley Law. Updated September 2026.

California’s **anti-lapse statute** saves a gift to a predeceased beneficiary’s descendants when the beneficiary was a close relative of the person who made the will or trust, instead of letting the gift lapse.

## How it works in California

Without this rule, a gift to someone who dies before the person who made the will or trust simply fails, and the property falls back into the residue or passes by intestacy. Prob. Code, § 21110 changes that outcome for a specific group: kindred of the person who made the document, or kindred of that person’s spouse, current, surviving, or former. If a beneficiary in that group dies first and leaves descendants, the gift passes to those descendants by right of representation instead of lapsing.

The statute doesn’t reach everyone. A gift to a spouse who dies first isn’t saved by anti-lapse, and neither is a gift to a friend, a business partner, or anyone else outside the defined relationship. Those gifts still lapse under the general rule unless the document itself names a backup beneficiary.

## Why it matters

For example, a trust leaves a specific bequest to a sibling, and the sibling dies before the settlor, survived by two adult children. Anti-lapse steps in and divides that gift between the sibling’s children rather than letting it fall into the residue meant for someone else entirely.

## Common mistakes

People assume any predeceased beneficiary’s share automatically goes to that person’s children; it only does if the beneficiary fits the statute’s relationship categories. Drafters also sometimes forget that a spouse’s gift isn’t protected by anti-lapse, so a will or trust that wants a deceased spouse’s share to pass to stepchildren or others has to say so directly instead of relying on this default.

## Related terms

- [Ademption](https://ridleylawoffices.com/estate-planning-glossary-california/ademption/): a different reason a gift can fail, the property itself disappearing rather than the beneficiary dying first.
- [Elective Share](https://ridleylawoffices.com/estate-planning-glossary-california/elective-share/): a surviving spouse’s claim some states allow against the estate; California has no elective share.
- [Lapse (Lapsed Gift)](https://ridleylawoffices.com/estate-planning-glossary-california/lapse/): the general rule anti-lapse is an exception to.

Part of the [California estate planning glossary](https://ridleylawoffices.com/estate-planning-glossary-california/).