Beneficiary Rights to General vs. Specific Gifts

A little bit about the difference between general gifts and specific gifts and then we'll also talk about residue gifts or remainders so basically speaking a specific gift is when you're given the gift of a specific property the most common specific gift is real property so if you're giving a gift that is described by an address of a real property that's a specific gift and you're entitled to that asset and the trustee has to give you that asset now there's times when the asset might have to be sold to cover expenses of the decedent but that's fairly rare but that's a specific gift anytime you can specifically identify something a specific piece of property a general gift is a gift of money and a general gift is different from a specific gift because money is interchangeable so one doll one $20 bill is no different from another $20 bill when it comes to gifts under a trust so specific gifts have to be given out first the next-in-line are people who are getting general gifts which are gifts of money and then last in line are the residue beneficiaries those are the people who are going to get the rest residue and remainder all that means the same thing whatever is left over it goes to those people they're the remainder beneficiary so that's the difference between between a specific gift the general gift which is generally money and a residue or remainder gift albertson and Davidson is here to help you fight for your inheritance check out out a vlog comm for our complete library of helpful legal videos and articles from your favorite California trusts and we'll litigation law firm Albertson and Davidson LLP.