If a will does not provide guidance on abatement, which class abates last?

• A. Residual devises
• B. General devises
• C. Specific and demonstrative devises
• D. Demonstrative devises

Answer: (C)

Abatement is the process courts use when the estate isn’t big enough to pay every bequest in full. The gifts are paid out in a set order, starting with those that are less tied to particular assets and moving toward the most fixed, asset-specific gifts. This prioritizes preserving the more general or flexible gifts first and leaves the most specific ones for last.

Specific devises are gifts of a particular item, and demonstrative devises, while tied to a source, are still more fixed in nature than pure general bequests. Because these gifts are the most concrete and hardest to substitute, they are the last to be reduced. In other words, when abatement is necessary and no guidance exists in the will, the last gifts to be reduced are those that specify a particular asset or a specific funding source, i.e., specific and demonstrative devises.