WHAT DOES “PER STIRPES” MEAN AND WHY IS IT IN MY WILL?

You find the words “per stirpes” in a paragraph that goes something like this, “I leave my grand piano to my dearest cousin Herbie Jazz. If Herbie doesn’t survive me then to his decedents per stripes.”  “Per stirpes” is a Latin word meaning to take “by representation” or “by class.”

Basically, if the named beneficiary (Herbie) dies before the testator (the person who’s Will it is), then all of the living people who are closest in relationship to Herbie, basically his children, will take “by representation” what their deceased parent would have taken, and if any of those children pre-decease the testator, their children will take by representation what their deceased parent would have taken and so it goes down the line.