**Ademption** (noun) — The legal principle where a specific gift named in a will cannot be given because the asset no longer exists in the estate at the time of death.
Ademption happens when you've left something specific in your will, but that item isn't part of your estate when you die. The gift simply fails, and the person who was meant to receive it gets nothing instead.
This often catches people by surprise. You might have written your will leaving your blue sedan to your nephew, but if you sold that car and bought a different one before you died, your nephew doesn't automatically get the new car. The gift has adeemed—it's gone.
It's different from when you deliberately change your mind about a gift. Ademption is an accidental failure that happens when circumstances change but your will doesn't get updated to match.
⏱ When you'll encounter this term
Ademption most commonly affects specific gifts of identifiable items: particular vehicles, specific bank accounts, named pieces of jewelry, or particular parcels of real estate. It doesn't usually affect general gifts of money or percentages of your estate.
You'll encounter this term if someone's challenging whether a gift in a will should be replaced with something equivalent, or if executors are trying to work out what to distribute when specific items mentioned in the will no longer exist. Courts generally apply ademption strictly—if the specific item is gone, the gift fails.
The best protection against ademption is keeping your will current. When you sell property, close accounts, or give away items mentioned in your will, update the document. Many people forget this step, leading to confusion and sometimes hurt feelings when beneficiaries discover their expected gifts have adeemed.
**Related terms:** [Bequest](/dictionary/bequest), [Lapsed Gift](/dictionary/lapsed-gift), [Specific Bequest](/dictionary/devise)
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"Dad's will left me his 2015 Toyota, but he'd sold it two years before he died and bought a Honda instead. The gift was adeemed—I got nothing, not even the Honda."