Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Ademption definition

What does Ademption mean? Ademption describes the failure, wholly or partly, of a gift in a will because the testator has dealt with the subject-matter during lifetime. Two forms are recognised across the UK and Ireland. Ademption by extinction occurs where a specific legacy (or specific devise) is not in the estate at death; the gift fails to the extent the property has been disposed of. Changes of name or form that do not alter substance (for example, a company share reorganisation) will not usually adeem. General or demonstrative legacies do not adeem. Ademption by satisfaction arises where a lifetime payment or transfer is intended...

Ademption and satisfaction of testamentary gifts: classification of legacies, principles, case law, construction, statutory exceptions, and drafting strategies (England and Wales)

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Practice notes

When the doctrines of ademption and abatement are engaged, a line is drawn between specific, general, and demonstrative legacies.

Classification of legacies

The categories were set out in Walford v Walford in these terms: legacies fall into three groups. As the court there expressed it, and that description is adopted. The explanation distinguishes the nature of each gift without altering their substantive effect under the Will and on administration. A specific legacy is a particular res secured to the beneficiary by the testator’s Will at death; it does not abate even if the remaining estate cannot satisfy general legacies; however, it carries the drawback that, should the precise res which forms the subject of the gift cease to exist in the interim, the legatee receives nothing. At the opposite end lies the general legacy, payable from the residue; this abates if the residue is inadequate, but, prima facie, by a rule of the court’s administration, it bears interest from one year after the testator’s death. Between these sits the demonstrative legacy: in essence a general legacy with an added attribute, namely a direction that it be satisfied from a specified fund, and, if assets are short and that fund remains,...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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