Ademption

The law of wills and trusts
Part of the common law series
Inheritance
Intestacy  · Testator  · Probate
Power of appointment
Simultaneous death  · Slayer rule
Disclaimer of interest
Types of will
Holographic will  · Will contract
Living will
Joint wills and mutual wills
Parts of a will
Codicil  · Attestation clause
Incorporation by reference
Residuary clause
Problems of property disposition
Lapse and anti-lapse
Ademption  · Abatement
Acts of independent significance
Elective share  · Pretermitted heir
Contesting a will
Testamentary capacity  · Undue influence
Types of Trusts
Express trust  · Asset-protection trust
Protective trust  · Spendthrift trust
Charitable trust  · Honorary trust
Resulting trust  · Constructive trust
Special Needs trust
Doctrines governing trusts
Pour-over will  · Cy pres doctrine
Other areas of the common law
Contract law  · Tort law  · Property law
Criminal law  · Evidence

Ademption is a term used in the law of wills to determine what happens when property bequested under a will is no longer in the testator's estate when the testator dies. For devises of specific items of property, the property is adeemed, and the gift fails. If, for example, the will bequeathed the testator's car to a specific person, but the testator owned no car at the time of his death, then the gift would have been adeemed.

General devises - gifts of cash amounts - are never adeemed. If there is not enough cash in the testator's estate to satisfy the gift, then other assets in the residuary estate are sold to raise the necessary cash.

Some property lies in a gray area, where the testator's specific intent must be determined. For example, where the testator bequests "500 shares of stock" in a company, this may be read as a general devise (that the estate should purchase and convey the particular stocks to the beneficiary), or it may be read as a specific devise, particularly if the testator used a possessive ("my 500 shares").

Ademption may also be waived if the property leaves the estate after the testator has been declared incompetent. Furthermore, in some cases the beneficiary will be entitled to the proceeds from the sale of property, or to the insurance payout for property that is lost or destroyed.