Which statement is true about anti-lapse and survivorship language?

• A. Survivorship language always avoids anti-lapse
• B. Anti-lapse cannot apply if survivorship language is present
• C. Survivorship language does not necessarily avoid anti-lapse
• D. Anti-lapse always applies regardless of survivorship

Answer: (C)

The concept being tested is how survivorship requirements interact with anti-lapse rules in estate gifts. Survivorship language says a beneficiary must survive the testator to take the gift, but that doesn’t automatically prevent anti-lapse from operating. Anti-lapse is a default rule that, if the predeceased beneficiary left surviving issue who meet the statutory requirements, redirects the gift to that beneficiary’s descendants rather than letting it lapse.

That’s why survivorship language does not necessarily avoid anti-lapse. If a beneficiary dies before the testator but left qualifying descendants, anti-lapse typically makes the gift pass to them, preserving the intended interest through the beneficiary’s line. If there are no such descendants, or the will consciously excludes anti-lapse or the jurisdiction’s rules don’t apply, the gift may lapse or follow another provision.

So the true statement is that survivorship language does not necessarily avoid anti-lapse, because the anti-lapse mechanism can still take effect if the predeceased beneficiary left eligible issue.