California Partition Law Blog
“Who” gets “what” is the most important part of creating a will, trust, or other similar instrument. Often the terms heirs and beneficiaries come up and can be disputed during the probate process. The two terms often are mentioned in the same document and can seem like they refer to the same people. However, while heirs and beneficiaries can overlap in a will or trust they do have important differences to note.
What is a beneficiary?
A beneficiary can be anyone. Under California’s Probate Code, a beneficiary is designated as someone able to take an interest in something. (Prob. Code § 262.) This interest can be personal or real property, different assets, or an estate in property. A beneficiary’s interest may also be the right or power to control property. (Prob. Code § 267.) This could be something like the right to drill for and produce oil on land. (Gerhard v. Stephens (1968) 68 Cal.2d 864, 878–879.) A beneficiary is given this interest by a testamentary instrument, which can be a trust or will.