§ 19-319 — Advancements.

(a) If a child or descendant has been advanced by the intestate during the intestate’s lifetime, by settlement or portion, real estate or personal estate, the value thereof is reckoned for the purposes of descent and distribution as part of the estate of the intestate descendible and to be divided among his heirs or distributed to his distributees. Where the advancement is equal to or greater than a share, the child or descendant is excluded from any further share in the estate of the intestate and is not liable to refund any part of the amount so advanced; but the surviving spouse has no advantage by bringing the advancement into reckoning. Where the advancement is less than a share, the child or descendant receives so much, only, of the personal estate, and inherits so much, only, of the real estate, of the intestate, as is sufficient to make all the shares of all the children in the whole property, including the advancement, equal. The value of real or personal estate so advanced shall be estimated according to the worth thereof when given. Maintenance or education of a child or descendant, or giving him money or real estate, without a view to a portion or settlement in life, is not an advancement.

(b) Where an advancement to be adjusted, as provided by subsection (a) of this section, consisted of real estate, the adjustment shall be made out of the real estate descendible to the heirs. Where the advancement was in personal estate, the adjustment shall be made out of the surplus of the personal estate to be distributed to the distributees. Where either species of estate is insufficient to enable the adjustment to be fully made, the deficiency shall be adjusted out of the other.

Legislative History

Sept. 14, 1965, 79 Stat. 699, Pub. L. 89-183, § 1