Substitute Gift Law and Legal Definition
A substitute gift refers to a testamentary gift given to one person in place of another person. Under the substitute gift, a person receives the gift on behalf of another person as s/he is unable to take under the will for some reason. For example, if the future interest is not in the form of a class gift and the deceased beneficiary leaves surviving descendants, a substitute gift is created in the beneficiary's surviving descendants. The beneficiary's surviving descendants take the property by representation to which the beneficiary would have been entitled if the beneficiary had survived the distribution date.[Braun Estate, 358 Pa. 271 (Pa. 1948)]
