Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Virginia

Re: Who gets the leftover dollars from the checks?

If the will contained a residuary clause relating to so-called residual assets, the person or persons or (charitable?)entities so named as beneficiaries of this residue would get these residual assets belonging to the estate. If no such clause or beneficiaries were designated in the will, then all of the named beneficiaries in the will would likely split these "leftover" assets which you've described(which may or may not be merely hypothetical) according to the percentage designations accorded each of them as to the distribution of the will's primary assets.

Re: Who gets the leftover dollars from the checks?

I would first caution again that one should look

at all of the documents, the trust and the decedent's will and look at exactly the history of what happened. It is especially important to read the trust very carefully. I said that USUALLY the investment income or interest earned before the first beneficiary dies belongs to the

first beneficiary. However, it is possible that

the language of the trust might affect that.

It all depends on what the trust says and what

the creator of the trust intended (as shown by

the written language.)

However, as a general rule, ANY money belonging

to the decedent at her death MUST be handled

in accordance with her will or if there is no

will then under the general rules for someone

with no will (intestate succession) which are

very similar to the usual will.

So it really makes no difference where the

money comes from. An executor's job is to collect ALL money that is owed to the decedent,

even if it means bringing a lawsuit from an

injury to the decedent before her death, or

whatever. It makes no difference where the money comes from. The will does not have to specifically name the type of money or where the money is coming from. It is all to be handled the same way... IF it is the decedent's money.

Then *ALL* the money that belonged to the

decedent before her death MUST follow the will,

paying debts and expenses first and then going

to the HEIRS of the decedent according to the will.

So it does not matter if the will specfically

talks about the checks or the trust.

The only thing that matters is *IF* the checks

written from the trust were the property of the

decedent before her death or not.

And that depends on what the trust actually says.