Question

A descendant's estate was distributed by will as follows: 54% to the surviving spouse, 18% to the children, 16% to the grandchildren, and the remainder to the descendant's college. The college received $79,000. How much did the children receive?

a) $45,000
b) $33,000
c) $27,000
d) $18,000

Answer 1

The children received approximately 118,500 from the descendant's estate, which was calculated by first finding the total estate value using the amount the college received and then determining 18% of the total estate.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question asks how much the children received from a descendant's estate that was distributed by will. We are told the college received 79,000, which represents the remainder of the estate after the spouse, children, and grandchildren have received their shares. To find out the total amount of the estate, we need to calculate the total percentage given to the spouse, children and grandchildren, subtract this from 100%, and then calculate what this remaining percentage represents in terms of the actual amount received by the college. Then, we can use the total estate value to find out how much the children received.

Let's do these calculations step by step:

1. First, we add together the percentages given to the spouse, children, and grandchildren: 54% (spouse) + 18% (children) + 16% (grandchildren) = 88%.
2. The remainder percentage for the college is 100% - 88% = 12%.
3. Since 12% of the estate equals 79,000, we calculate the total value of the estate by dividing 79,000 by 12% (0.12), which gives us approximately 658,333.33.
4. Now we can find out how much the children received by calculating 18% of the total estate: 18% of 658,333.33 is approximately 118,500.

Therefore, the children received approximately 118,500 from the descendant's estate.