AFTER-BORN CHILD
A child born after a will has been executed by either parent or after the time in which a class gift made according to a trust arrangement expires.
The existence of an after-born child has significant
legal ramifications upon gifts made
under wills and trusts. Under the law of wills,
the birth of an after-born child after the parent
makes a will does not revoke it but has the effect
of modifying its provisions. Generally, the afterborn
child must be given the share of the parent’s
estate that the child would have been
entitled to if the parent had died without leaving
a will, according to the law of DESCENT AND
DISTRIBUTION. The beneficiaries of the will
must contribute a proportionate share of what
they inherited to make up the after-born child’s
share.
Under the law of trusts, a gift to a class is one
in which the creator of the trust, the settlor,
directs that the principal of the trust should be
distributed to a specifically designated group of
persons, such as to grandchildren, who are alive
at a certain time, such as at the settlor’s death.
Any child born after this time would not be entitled
to a proportionate share of the trust principal
unless conceived before the settlor died. An
after-born child born eleven months after the
settlor’s death, therefore, would not share in the
principal, since the class had closed nine months
after the settlor’s death.
