## Facts

- Merle Jeffers McFarland executed a holographic will that appointed an administrator, directed burial arrangements, set aside 2% of the estate for funeral expenses, and made a $3,000 specific bequest to a cemetery bank fund.
- The will’s residuary clause stated that “the rest of the estate” would be divided among eighteen named individuals and entities in specified percentage shares.
- Three named residuary beneficiaries predeceased McFarland and died without issue, making Tennessee’s anti-lapse statute inapplicable.
- A dispute arose over whether the three failed percentage shares should be redistributed among the surviving residuary beneficiaries or instead pass to McFarland’s heirs at law through intestate succession.
- The probate court held the failed shares created a partial intestacy and passed to heirs at law; the Court of Appeals affirmed under Tennessee precedent.

## Issues

1. Under Tennessee law, when a residuary beneficiary’s percentage gift lapses and the anti-lapse statute does not apply, must the lapsed portion pass by intestacy to heirs at law or be reallocated among the surviving residuary beneficiaries?

## Decision

- The Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed the lower courts.
- The court held that the three lapsed residuary gifts created a partial intestacy.
- The lapsed shares passed to the decedent’s heirs at law under intestate succession statutes, not to the remaining residuary beneficiaries.

## Legal Principles

- In Tennessee, absent a contrary intent expressed in the will, a lapsed residuary share does not “fall into” the residue for redistribution; it passes by intestate succession (the “Ford rule”).
- The anti-lapse statute preserves a failed devise only when its statutory conditions are met; if a predeceased beneficiary leaves no issue (and other conditions are unmet), the statute does not prevent lapse.
- Fixed percentage allocations in a residuary clause, without language directing survivorship or redistribution, do not alone show intent to enlarge surviving beneficiaries’ shares when one share fails.
- Stare decisis carries substantial weight in wills and estates because predictability in property distribution is favored; change to established distribution rules is generally left to clear testamentary language or legislative action.

## Conclusion

The court reaffirmed that, when a residuary beneficiary’s gift lapses and the anti-lapse statute does not apply, Tennessee treats the failed residuary portion as a partial intestacy and distributes that portion to the decedent’s heirs at law rather than increasing the remaining residuary beneficiaries’ shares.


In re Estate of McFarland, 167 S.W.3d 299 (Tenn. 2005)