Representation · as in force on May 31, 2026
§ 1-2.16 Representation
By representation means a disposition or distribution of property made in the following manner to persons who take as issue of a deceased ancestor:
The property so passing is divided into as many equal shares as there are (i) surviving issue in the generation nearest to the deceased ancestor which contains one or more surviving issue and (ii) deceased issue in the same generation who left surviving issue, if any. Each surviving member in such nearest generation is allocated one share. The remaining shares, if any, are combined and then divided in the same manner among the surviving issue of the deceased issue as if the surviving issue who are allocated a share had predeceased the decedent, without issue.
A distribution by representation first creates equal shares for survivors in the nearest generation containing a survivor and for deceased members of that generation who left descendants. The survivors there each take 1 share; all remaining shares are combined and redivided the same way among the deceased members’ surviving descendants, as though the first-generation survivors had died without descendants. ★
Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.
This provision appears in Volume 1 — The Surrogate's Court in Plain English; Volume 3 — The Surrogate's Court: Court Rules & the EPTL; Volume 5 — Your Career: Surrogate's Court in Plain English.