A Family Affair: National Cousins Day and the Bar Exam Connection

Today, July 24, is National Cousins Day, and while most people are celebrating family ties, bar examinees might want to celebrate a different kind of “relative” connection—how cousins sometimes show up on the bar exam, particularly in Wills and Estates questions.

Take, for example, the February 2021 Multistate Essay Examination question that names Charles, the testator’s “first cousin,” as a potential beneficiary. This seemingly simple label hides a potential trap: Does the bar exam expect you to know what a first cousin is—and how they differ from second cousins or cousins once removed?

Let’s clear that up first, and then look at how this shows up in bar exam scenarios.

Quick Refresher: Family Tree Terminology

Relationship	Who They Are	Shared Ancestor
First Cousins	Children of siblings (e.g., your aunt/uncle’s child)	Grandparents
Second Cousins	Children of first cousins	Great-grandparents
First Cousin Once Removed	Either your parent’s cousin or your cousin’s child	Grandparent (but different generation)

So when a bar exam question says "first cousin", it's referring to someone who shares grandparents with the decedent—not great-grandparents or great-aunts/uncles. That’s an important distinction in intestacy.

You’re unlikely to be tested directly on the degrees of cousinhood, but cousins show up in two bar exam contexts:

1. Intestate Succession

If a decedent dies without a will, the intestate statutes (like those modeled after the Uniform Probate Code) dictate the order of who inherits:

First: Spouse and descendants

Then: Parents

Then: Descendants of parents (i.e., siblings and nieces/nephews)

Then: Grandparents and their descendants—which includes first cousins

Tip: Under the Uniform Probate Code (UPC § 2-103), if there are no surviving descendants, parents, or descendants of parents, the estate passes half to the paternal grandparents or their descendants and half to the maternal grandparents or their descendants. This includes aunts, uncles, and first cousins. If there are no relatives on one side, the entire estate passes to the other side.

2. Anti-Lapse Statutes

These laws prevent gifts from failing (lapsing) if a predeceasing beneficiary is in a protected class (usually a descendant of the testator’s grandparents).

Under UPC § 2-603:

✅ First cousins are protected by the anti-lapse statute.

❌ Second cousins are not protected, as they descend from great-grandparents, not grandparents.

So if your essay involves a lapsed gift and a named cousin, you need to ask:

💭 Was the cousin related to the testator through a parent, aunt, or uncle?

💭 Did they predecease the testator?

💭 Do the state’s anti-lapse statutes cover descendants of grandparents?, but cousins show up in two bar exam contexts:

Happy National Cousins Day! And remember, you don’t need to call your cousin to ask how you’re related—just remember: first cousins share grandparents. And on the bar exam, that might be the difference between a valid gift and a lapsed legacy.