Latin for "by head," meaning to be determined by the number of people.
Per capita is often used in the context of government demographic data. For example, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita refers to a country’s GDP divided by the country’s population.
Under a will, the term per capita is commonly employed to determine what share of property each beneficiary gets when one of the beneficiaries dies before the testator (i.e. the deceased individual who created the will) leaving children of his or her own. For example, Fred leaves his house jointly to his son Alan and his daughter Julie. But Alan dies before Fred does, leaving two young children. If Fred’s will states that heirs of a deceased beneficiary are to receive the property per capita, Julie and the two grandchildren will each take a third. If, on the other hand, Fred’s will states that heirs of a deceased beneficiary are to receive the property per stirpes, Julie will receive one-half of the property, and Alans two children will share his half in equal shares (through Alan by right of representation). Courts will look to whether the testator specifically referenced the beneficiaries claiming to inherit through a will per capita. For example, in Maud v. Catherwood, the California District Court of Appeal ruled that, since the testator referred to the grandchildren as “descendants,” and not as “grandchildren,” he did not intend to name the grandchildren as beneficiaries per capita.
[Last updated in August of 2020 by the Wex Definitions Team]