A bequest is a gift of personal property — money, financial assets, or movable belongings like jewelry, vehicles, or heirlooms — left to a person or organization through a last will and testament. If you are asking what a bequest means, the short answer is that it is the mechanism a will uses to say who gets what after you die.
The word carries some legal history, and the type of bequest you make controls how the gift is identified, where it comes from, and what happens if the estate runs short. The pieces below cover the forms a bequest can take, how it differs from related terms, when a bequest can fail, and the tax rules a beneficiary should know about.
The Main Types of Bequests
Not every bequest works the same way. Wills generally use one of five forms, and the choice matters when the estate is settled.
A specific bequest is a gift of a clearly identified item — a particular car, a named piece of jewelry, a specific painting. No one should be able to confuse which item you mean or who should receive it.1Cornell Law Institute. Specific Bequest
A general bequest is a gift stated as a dollar amount, such as “$10,000 to my grandson,” paid out of the estate’s overall assets rather than any single account.2Justia. Reading a Will Under the Law – Section: Gifts of Property
A demonstrative bequest is a hybrid. It names both a dollar amount and a specific source, like “$5,000 from my savings account at First National Bank.” If that account does not hold enough, the executor may pay the shortfall from other estate assets, depending on the will.
A residuary bequest is a gift of whatever remains after the executor pays debts, taxes, and specific gifts. The residuary portion is often the largest share of an estate, and it keeps property from going unassigned.
A conditional bequest takes effect only if the beneficiary meets a stated requirement, such as reaching a certain age or finishing a degree. The condition can be almost anything, but a court will strike it down if it violates public policy — a requirement that a beneficiary divorce their spouse, for example, would not hold up.3Cornell Law Institute. Conditional Bequest
Bequest, Devise, and Legacy
Under traditional common law, “bequest” referred only to gifts of personal property — movable items like cash, furniture, stocks, and heirlooms. “Devise” referred to gifts of real property, meaning land or a house. “Legacy” was often used interchangeably with bequest. In everyday speech, people use all three as synonyms.
Many states have adopted portions of the Uniform Probate Code, which uses “devise” as a single term covering gifts of both real and personal property. In those states, the old distinction has little practical weight. Some probate courts still treat the terms separately, so precise wording in a will reduces the chance of confusion later.
When a Bequest Fails
A bequest can fail even when the will is perfectly valid. Three situations account for most failures: ademption, lapse, and abatement.
Ademption
If a will leaves someone a specific item and the testator no longer owns that item at death, the gift is adeemed — it simply fails. If your will leaves your house to your son but you sell the house before you die, your son does not receive the house or the sale proceeds. The property described in the will no longer exists in the estate.4Cornell Law Institute. Ademption by Extinction Some states following the Uniform Probate Code soften this result by letting the beneficiary receive a replacement item. If you sold the car named in your will and bought a different one, the beneficiary may receive the replacement vehicle.
Lapse
A bequest lapses when the named beneficiary dies before the testator. Without a safety net, a lapsed gift falls into the residuary estate. If there is no residuary clause, it passes to the testator’s heirs under intestacy law.
Most states have anti-lapse statutes that redirect the gift to the deceased beneficiary’s surviving descendants rather than letting it fail.5Cornell Law Institute. Nonlapse Statute These statutes usually apply only when the deceased beneficiary was a relative of the testator and left surviving children or grandchildren. Naming a contingent beneficiary in the will overrides the statute and gives you direct control over who receives the gift.
Abatement
If an estate does not have enough assets to pay all debts and fulfill every gift, bequests are reduced in a set order. Property not covered by the will is used first, followed by residuary gifts, then general gifts, and finally specific gifts. A specific bequest is the last to be cut; a residuary bequest is among the first. A will can override this default order with its own abatement instructions.
Taxes on a Bequest
A bequest you receive is not treated as taxable income on your federal return. Several other tax rules can still affect what you keep.
Federal Estate Tax
The federal estate tax applies only to estates valued above the basic exclusion amount, which is $15,000,000 per person for 2026.6Internal Revenue Service. Whats New Estate and Gift Tax A surviving spouse can use any portion of a deceased spouse’s unused exclusion, potentially sheltering up to $30,000,000 for a married couple. Estates below those thresholds owe no federal estate tax, so most bequests pass to beneficiaries without any federal tax hit.
Step-Up in Basis
When you inherit property, your tax basis is generally the fair market value on the date of the decedent’s death, not the price the decedent originally paid.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 US Code 1014 – Basis of Property Acquired From a Decedent That step-up can sharply reduce capital gains tax if you later sell. If a parent bought stock for $10,000 and it was worth $100,000 at death, your basis starts at $100,000. You would owe capital gains tax only on any increase above that figure.8Internal Revenue Service. Gifts and Inheritances
State Inheritance Tax
A handful of states impose an inheritance tax on the person receiving the gift rather than on the estate. The rate usually depends on how closely related the beneficiary is to the deceased. Spouses are typically exempt, while unrelated beneficiaries may face rates up to 16 percent. If you live in one of these states, or inherit from someone who did, check the state’s current rules.
Charitable Bequests
A bequest to a qualifying charity, religious organization, or government entity reduces the taxable value of the estate. Federal law allows the estate to deduct the full value of charitable bequests when calculating estate tax, with no cap on the deduction.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 US Code 2055 – Transfers for Public, Charitable, and Religious Uses For very large estates, charitable giving can meaningfully lower or even eliminate the estate tax bill.
Refusing a Bequest
You are not required to accept a bequest. Federal law allows a “qualified disclaimer,” a formal refusal that treats the property as though it were never transferred to you.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 2518 – Disclaimers People disclaim to avoid tax consequences, to sidestep the responsibility of owning an asset, or to let the gift pass to another family member in line.
To be qualified, the disclaimer must meet four requirements:
- It must be in writing, signed, and delivered to the executor or the person holding legal title to the property.
- It must be delivered within nine months of the decedent’s death. If the beneficiary is under 21, the deadline extends to nine months after their 21st birthday.11eCFR. 26 CFR 25.2518-2 – Requirements for a Qualified Disclaimer
- You cannot have already used the property, collected income from it, or accepted any benefit from owning it. Receiving a title document does not count as acceptance, but depositing a dividend check does.
- You cannot choose who gets the property. It passes to the next person in line under the will or state law.
A disclaimer that misses any of these requirements is not qualified under federal law, which can create unintended gift tax consequences for the person refusing the gift.