Residuary Estate (Residuary Clause)

In plain English

However carefully you list your gifts, some property almost always slips through the cracks: a bank account you forgot, something you bought after signing the will, or a gift that fails because that person died before you. A residuary clause is the safety net that says who gets *all the rest*. Skip it and that leftover property is treated as if you had no will for it, so it passes by the intestacy rules to your legal heirs rather than to whoever you actually wanted, which is one of the most common and costly mistakes in home-made wills.

Relevant law

• Indian Succession Act, 1925 — s.102 (how a residuary legatee is constituted — any words showing intent that a person take the residue)
• Indian Succession Act, 1925 — s.103 (residuary legatee entitled to all property not otherwise validly disposed of by the will)
• Indian Succession Act, 1925 — s.105 & s.106 (lapsed and void legacies fall into the residue)