Cannon Trust School Level I Practice Exam 2026 - Free Trust School Practice Questions and Study Guide

Abatement is the process by which a estate’s gifts to beneficiaries are reduced when there aren’t enough assets to pay everything in full. After debts and administrative expenses are covered, if the remaining funds aren’t enough to satisfy all bequests, the distributions are lowered so the total fits the available assets, following the rules in the will or by law. A simple way to picture it: if gifts total $1,000 but only $600 remains, the distributions are scaled back to use just the $600. This concept explains why some bequests aren’t paid in full.

The other terms don’t describe this situation. Intestate means dying without a valid will, which is about the absence of instructions rather than the handling of limited funds. Simple and Complex are general descriptors and don’t refer to the specific process of reducing beneficiaries’ shares due to insufficient funds.