Some legal terms carry their own peculiar definition but others mean exactly what they seem to mean. The expression share and share alike means the same thing in a will that it does on the playground: everyone who is included in the group at the time of distribution gets an equal share of the object or assets in question.
Drafting Wills
A will is a legal document in which a person describes who she wants to have her assets when she dies. Bequests in a will can leave all property to one specified person or you may divide assets between two or more individuals. If an item such as a ring or a car is left in equal shares to more than one person, it is generally sold and the proceeds are divided equally.
Equal Shares
When the person making a will wants two or more persons to have equal shares in an asset or in the entire estate, she can use the term "share and share alike." For example, a will-maker might leave a bank account to "my three daughters, share and share alike." This indicates that each of the daughters gets one-third of the money in the account. If one daughter dies before the person who created the will, in most jurisdictions the two remaining daughters will split the money.
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Writer Bio
Teo Spengler earned a JD from U.C. Berkeley Law School. As an Assistant Attorney General in Juneau, she practiced before the Alaska Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court before opening a plaintiff's personal injury practice in San Francisco. She holds both an MA and an MFA in English/writing and enjoys writing legal blogs and articles. Her work has appeared in numerous online publications including USA Today, Legal Zoom, eHow Business, Livestrong, SF Gate, Go Banking Rates, Arizona Central, Houston Chronicle, Navy Federal Credit Union, Pearson, Quicken.com, TurboTax.com, and numerous attorney websites. Spengler splits her time between the French Basque Country and Northern California.