Beneficiaries, explained: specific gifts, residue and backups
The three-layer structure of every will — specific gifts, the residue split, and what happens when a beneficiary dies first. Get the layers right and the will works.
Every will distributes in the same three layers, in the same order. Understanding them is most of understanding wills.
Layer 1: specific gifts
Named things to named people: the cottage to your brother, the watch to your niece, $10,000 to a friend. Specific gifts come out first, before any percentages are calculated.
Two behaviours to know:
Ademption. If you no longer own the thing at death — you sold the cottage — the gift simply fails. The disappointed beneficiary does not get its value in cash; they get nothing (unless your will says otherwise). Keep specific gifts to items you will keep.
Debt follows some assets. A gifted house typically carries its mortgage with it unless your will directs the estate to pay it off. Say which you intend.
Layer 2: the residue
Everything else — usually the great bulk of the estate — after debts, taxes, expenses and specific gifts. You divide it by percentages, not amounts: “60% to my spouse, 20% to each child” survives your estate growing or shrinking; “$200,000 to my spouse” does not.
The percentages must total exactly 100. Our questionnaire refuses to continue until they do — you would be surprised how many homemade wills add to 90 or 110, and both are litigation.
Layer 3: contingency — the layer people forget
Wills operate years or decades after signing. Beneficiaries die first. For every gift and every share, the question is: then what?
Standard options, all supported in our questionnaire:
- To their children (per stirpes — the share flows down the family line)
- To the surviving residue beneficiaries in proportion
- To a named alternate
Who you can and cannot leave things to
Anyone: family, friends, charities, godchildren. Two limits matter. First, dependants you fail to provide for — spouses and dependent children — can claim against the estate in all three provinces, and in British Columbia WESA s 60 goes further: a spouse or adult child can ask the court to vary a will that fails to make adequate provision for them. Second, gifts to your will’s witnesses are void — never let a beneficiary witness.
The mistake bigger than all of these
Your will only controls what passes through your estate. Registered accounts and life insurance with named beneficiaries bypass it entirely. That interaction is its own article, and it is the first thing to check.
- Succession Law Reform Act, RSO 1990, c S.26, Part I
- Wills, Estates and Succession Act, SBC 2009, c 13, Part 4
Checked against source on August 4, 2026. Legislation changes — if you are relying on a figure here for a decision, verify it against the statute. This is general information, not legal advice about your situation.