heir

/er/

See heirs

@ heir apparent

An heir whose right of inheritance is indefeasible, provided he outlive the ancestor; as in England the eldest son, or his issue, who must, by the course of the common law, be heir to the father whenever he happens to die. One who, before the death of the ancestor, is next in the line of succession, provided he be heir to the ancestor whenever he happens to die.

See also apparent heir

@ heir at law

At common law, he who, after his ancestor dies intestate, has a right to all lands, tenements, and hereditaments which belonged to him or of which he was seised. The same as "heir general." A deceased person's "heirs at law" are those who succeed to his estate of inheritance under statutes of descent and distribution, in absence of testamentary disposition, and not necessarily his heirs at common law, who are persons succeeding to deceased's realty in case of his intestacy. In re Towndrow's Will, 47 N.M. 173, 138 P.2d 1001, 1003.

As the term is used in wrongful death statute, means lineal descendants. Howlett v. Greenberg, 34 Colo.App. 356, 530 P.2d 1285, 1287.

See also descent; heir, legal

@ heir beneficiary

In the civil law, one who has accepted the succession under the benefit of an inventory regularly made. Heirs are divided into two classes, according to the manner in which they accept the successions left to them, to-wit, unconditional and beneficiary heirs.

Unconditional heirs are those who inherit without any reservation, or without making an inventory, whether their acceptance be express or tacit.

Beneficiary heirs are those who have accepted the succession under the benefit of an inventory regularly made. Civ.Code La. art. 883. If the heir apprehend that the succession will be burdened with debts beyond its value, he accepts with benefit of inventory, and in that case he is responsible only for the value of the succession.

See also beneficiary; beneficiary heir

@ unconditional heir

Unconditional heirs are those who inherit without any reservation, or without making an inventory, whether their acceptance be express or tacit.

See also heir beneficiary

@ heir by adoption

By statute in most all jurisdictions, an adopted child takes all the rights of succession to intestate property as those of a natural born child unless a contrary intention is clearly expressed. Statutes differ however as to whether such adopted child may in addition inherit from its natural parents or family

@ heir by custom

In old English law, one whose right of inheritance depends upon a particular and local custom, such as gavelkind, or borough English

@ heir by devise

One to whom lands are devised by will; a devisee of lands. Answering to the haeres factus (q.v.) of the civil law

@ heir collateral

One who is not lineally related to the decedent, but is of collateral kin; e.g., his uncle, cousin, brother, nephew

See also collateral heir

@ heir conventional

@ conventional heir

In the civil law, one who takes a succession by virtue of a contract or settlement entitling him thereto

@ heirdom

/erdam/

Succession by inheritance

@ heiress

/eras/ A female heir to a person having an estate of inheritance. When there are more than one, they are called "co-heiresses," or "co-heirs."

@ heir expectant

See heir apparent

@ heir, forced

@ forced heir

One who cannot be disinherited.

See forced heirs

@ heir general

An heir at law. The ordinary heir by blood, succeeding to all the lands

@ heir hunter

Those whose business or occupation consists in tracking down missing heirs

@ heir, legal

@ legal heir

The person to whom the law would give the decedent's property, real and personal, if he should die intestate.

In legal strictness, the term signifies one who would inherit real estate, but it is also used to indicate one who would take under the statute of distribution.

See also descent

- heir at law

- heirs

@ heirless estate

The property of one who dies intestate leaving no heirs in which case there generally is escheat (q.v.)

@ heirlooms

/erluwmz/

In general, valued possessions of great sentimental value passed down through generations within a family.

In old English law, such goods and chattels as, contrary to the nature of chattels, shall go by special custom to the heir along with the inheritance, and not to the executor.

The termination "loom" (Sax.) signifies a limb or member; so that an heirloom is nothing else but a limb or member of the inheritance. They are generally such things as cannot be taken away without damaging or dismembering the freehold; such as deer in a park, doves in a cote, deeds and charters, etc

@ heir, male

@ male heir

In English law, the nearest male blood-relation of the decedent, unless further limited by the words "of his body," which restrict the inheritance to sons, grandsons, and other male descendants in the right line

@ heir of the blood

An inheritor who succeeds to the estate by virtue of consanguinity with the decedent, either in the ascending or descending line, including illegitimate children, but excluding husbands, wives, and adopted children.

@ heir of the body

An heir begotten or borne by the person referred to, or a child of such heir; any lineal descendant of the decedent, excluding a surviving husband or wife, adopted children, and collateral relations; bodily heir.

May be used in either of two senses:

In their unrestricted sense, as meaning the persons who from generation to generation become entitled by descent under the entail; and in the sense of heirs at law, or those persons who are descendants of him whom the statute of descent appoints to take intestate estate

@ heir presumptive

The person who, if the ancestor should die immediately, would, in the present circumstances of things, be his heir, but whose right of inheritance may be defeated by the contingency of some nearer heir being born; as a brother or nephew, whose presumptive succession may be destroyed by the birth of a child

@ heir, pretermitted

One who, except for an unambiguous act of the ancestor, would take his property on his death.

See also pretermitted heir

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