inheritance

Property received from a decedent, either by will or through state laws of intestate succession, where the decedent has failed to execute a valid will.

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inheritance n. whatever one receives upon the death of a relative due to the laws of descent and distribution, when there is no will. However, inheritance has come to mean anything received from the estate of a person who has died, whether by the laws of descent or as a beneficiary of a will or trust. (See: inherit, heir, heiress, descent and distribution, intestacy, intestate succession, will)

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inheritance noun appanage, benefaction, bequest, devise, dispensation, endowment, gift, hereditas, heritage, inherited property, legacy, presentation, property obtained by descent, property obtained by devise, provision, seisin, succession of property
Associated concepts: coparcenary, curtesy, descent, dower, inheritance estate, inheritance tax, intestate succession, patrimony, wills
Foreign phrases: Haereditas, alia corporalis, alia incorpooalis; corporalis est, quae tangi potest et videri; incorpooalis quae tangi non potest nec videri.An inheritance is eiiher corporeal or incorporeal; corporeal is that which can be touched and seen; incorporeal is that which can neither be touched nor seen. Feodum simplex quia feodum idem est quod haereditas, et simplex idem est quod legitimum vel purum; et sic feodum simplex idem est quod haereditas legitima vel haereditas pura. A fee-simple is so called beeause fee is the same as inheritance, and simple is the same as lawful or pure; and so fee-simple is the same as a lawful inneritance or pure inheritance. Filius est nomen naturae, sed haeres nomen juris. Son is the natural name, but heir is aname of law. Haeredum appellatione veniunt haeredes haeredumin infinitum. Under the name heirs come the heirs of heirs without limit. Haereditas est successio in univerrum jus quod defunctus habuerit. Inheritance is the succession to every right which the deceased had possessed. Haereditas nihil aliud est, quam successio in universum jus, quod defunctus habuerit. An inheritance is nothing other than the succession to all the rights which the deceased had. Si quis praegnantem uxorem reliquit, non videtur sine liberis decessisse. If a man dies, leaving his wife preggant, he is considered as having died childless. Major haereditas venit unicuique nostrum a jure et legibus quam a parentibus. A greater inheritance comes to each one of us from justice and the laws than from our parents.

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See also: bequest, birth, birthright, dower, estate, hereditament, heritage, legacy, lineage

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INHERITANCE, estates. A perpetuity in lands to a man and his heirs; or it is the right to succeed to the estate of a person who died intestate. Dig. 50, 16, 24. The term is applied to lands.
     2. The property which is inherited is called an inheritance.
     3. The term inheritance includes not only lands and tenements which have been acquired by descent, but also every fee simple or fee tail, which a person has acquired by purchase, may be said to be an inheritance, because the purchaser's heirs may inherit it. Litt. s. 9.
     4. Estates of inheritance are divided into inheritance absolute, or fee simple; and inheritance limited, one species of which is called fee tail. They are also divided into corporeal, as houses and lands and incorporeal, commonly called incorporeal hereditaments. (q. v.) 1 Cruise, Dig. 68; Sw. 163; Poth. des Retraits, n. 2 8.
     5. Among the civilians, by inheritance is understood the succession to all the rights of the deceased. It is of two kinds, 1 . That which arises by testament, when the testator gives his succession to a particular person; and, 2. That which arises by operation of law, which is called succession ab intestat. Hein. Lec. El. Sec. 484, 485.