A default gift is simply a provision that states if a particular gift cannot be given to the person initially chosen for it, it should instead go to someone else.
This is often the case for valuable items, or items of special sentimental significance that you would like to ensure go to a specific person rather than being dealt with as part of your residuary estate. In theory, you can have several default options for a single item.
For the sake of keeping your Will as clear as possible for your executors, it is not recommended that you include a large number of default options for gifts, as it will make your Will lengthier than it needs to be. Good alternative options are leaving money to charity, or allowing your executors to use their discretion in the case of a default.
The default beneficiaries – the people who will benefit if your first choice cannot do so – do not have any entitlement to anything unless the first beneficiary cannot take the gift.
You can make a default gift of your residuary estate or your whole estate.
Ultimate default gift
Wills often have an ultimate default gift to avoid the Will failing and your estate then being distributed according to the intestacy rules. If, for example, you leave your estate to your partner and then to your children, there could be no beneficiaries left in the very unlikely event that none of them survive you.
Ultimate default gifts are in effect a back-stop measure and are often made in favour of charities. You can nominate which specific charities are to benefit but, or leave it to your executors to decide on the precise charities.
Including an ultimate default gift in your Will can also help if any trust that your Will has created has not been fully distributed within the allowable life of the trust. It is very unlikely, but if the trustees have not distributed the trust assets within this timeframe, the remaining assets will revert to your estate. If all of the beneficiaries you have named in your Will are no longer living, there will be no-one left to benefit from these assets. Having an ultimate default gift in favour of charities gets round this problem.