In an intestate estate valued at $800,000, with a $100,000 pre-death gift to X considered an advancement, how should the estate be distributed?

• A. X receives $200,000; Y and Z each receive $300,000
• B. X receives $300,000; Y and Z each receive $250,000
• C. X receives $300,000; Y receives $300,000; Z receives $200,000
• D. X receives $800,000; Y and Z receive nothing

Answer: (A)

When distributing an intestate estate with an advancement, you treat the lifetime gift as an advance on the recipient’s share and compute equal shares as if the advancement were added back to the estate. Here there are three heirs, so each would receive one third of the total if there were no advancement. Add the advancement back: 800,000 + 100,000 = 900,000. One third of that is 300,000 for each heir.

X has already received 100,000 during life, so from the estate he should receive the remaining 200,000 to reach his equal share of 300,000. Y and Z each receive 300,000 from the estate. This uses up the full 800,000 and ensures each heir ends up with an equal total. If you don’t account for the advancement, you’d misallocate and X could end up with more than the others.