coparcenary

/kowparsiynariy/ Such estate arises where several take by descent from same ancestor as one heir, all coparceners constituting but one heir and having but one estate and being connected by unity of interest and of title. Winters Nat. Bank & Trust Co. v. Riffe, Ohio Prob., 194 N.E.2d 921, 924.

A species of estate, or tenancy, which exists where lands of inheritance descend from the ancestor to two or more persons. It arose in England either by common law or particular custom. By common law, as where a person, seised in fee-simple or fee-tail, dies, and his next heirs are two or more females, his daughters, sisters, aunts, cousins, or their representatives; in this case they all inherit, and these coheirs, are then called "coparceners," or, for brevity, "parceners" only. 2 Bl.Comm. 187. By particular custom, as where lands descend, as in gavelkind, to all the males in equal degree, as sons, brothers, uncles, etc. An estate which several persons hold as one heir, whether male or female. This estate has the three unities of time, title, and possession; but the interests of the coparceners may be unequal. 2 Bl.Comm. 188. Today, this type of tenancy is obsolete