1. Property received from an ancestor under the laws of intestacy. [Cases: Descent and Distribution 1,
8. C.J.S. Descent and Distribution §§ 1–5, 9–12; Right of Privacy and Publicity§ 42.]
2. Property that a person receives by bequest or devise.
dual inheritance. An adopted child’s intestate inheritance through both his adopted family and his natural parent. • The problem of dual inheritance occurs only if a relative of the birth parent adopts the child. For instance, if a child’s mother dies and the maternal grandparents adopt the grandchild, and if a grandparent then dies intestate, the child qualifies for two separate shares — one as a child and the other as a grandchild. In some jurisdictions, by statute, such a child is allowed to inherit only the adopted child’s share. Under the Uniform Probate Code, the child takes the larger of the two shares.
several inheritance. An inheritance that descends to two persons severally, as by moieties.
shifting inheritance. Under intestacy laws, an inheritance that is transferred from an heir who was living when the intestate died to an afterborn heir who is more closely related to the intestate.
universal inheritance. A system by which an intestate’s estate escheats to the state only if the decedent leaves no surviving relatives, no matter how distant. • Universal inheritance has been abandoned in almost all Anglo-American jurisdictions. See UNIVERSAL-INHERITANCE RULE.
