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What happens to a beneficiary’s share under a Will if he or she dies before the probate administration is concluded?
If the Will named that beneficiary, there may be provisions for his or her succession, including whether there was a required survival period. If so, then the beneficiary’s share may well be given to someone else pursuant to the Will.
If the estate was intestate (there was no Will), or if the beneficiary survived any requires survival period, then the share of that beneficiary is considered “vested” so it would go to that beneficiary’s estate.
The next question is who inherits from the beneficiary’s estate? That falls within the scope of either the beneficiary’s last will, or alternately, whomever inherits under the intestacy statutes. Probate may also be likely needed for the beneficiary as well, in order to pass what comes from the first decedent to the beneficiary.
Your trusted probate lawyer can guide you through this administration process, whether as the personal representative of the first decedent’s estate, or in representing the beneficiary who died.