When devised property changes form through conveyance, settlement, or other act by which an estate in property previously disposed of by will is altered but not wholly divested, what happens to the disposition?

• A. The disposition is not revoked, and the estate in the remaining property passes to the beneficiaries according to the disposition.
• B. The disposition is revoked.
• C. The entire bequest is increased.
• D. The disposition becomes a residuary bequest.

Answer: (A)

The idea is that a testamentary plan persists even when the property it covers is altered in form by an inter vivos act, as long as the change does not divest the entire property from the estate. If only part of the property previously disposed of by the will is conveyed, settled, or otherwise altered, the will’s disposition continues to govern the portion that remains in the estate. The transferred portion leaves the estate and is no longer subject to the will, but the remaining property still passes to the named beneficiaries according to the will. For example, if a will leaves all the land to a beneficiary, and part of the land is conveyed to another person while some remains, the remaining land still passes to the original beneficiary, and the conveyance is outside the will. Thus the disposition is not revoked; the estate in the remaining property passes as originally planned.