Also known as: heir at law · heirs-at-law · heir-at-law · legal heirs · heirs by law
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Persons designated by the law of intestate succession to succeed to the property of a decedent who dies without a valid will. Modern statutes treat language in a donative instrument describing beneficiaries as the transferor's heirs at law as creating a remainder interest in those persons rather than presumptively retaining a reversion in the transferor.
Diego created a trust directing income to his children for their lives and then the corpus to his heirs at law. After Diego's death his daughter Lena sold her claimed remainder interest to an investor. The investor's title is valid because the language creates a genuine remainder in the class of heirs at law rather than a reversion in Diego's estate.
A settlor conveyed property to a trustee with directions to pay income to the settlor for life and then convey the land to the settlor's heirs at law. The settlor's daughters claimed the remainder after the settlor's death. The trustee must convey to the daughters because they qualify as heirs at law under the governing instrument.
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A grantor transferred land to a trustee to pay the grantor an annuity and then convey the premises to the grantor's heirs at law. One daughter conveyed her interest to her husband. The husband holds a valid remainder interest because the grant to heirs at law creates a remainder in the daughters as the grantor's heirs at law.
Farkas executed declarations of trust naming Williams as beneficiary of corporate stock. After Farkas's death his administrators claimed the stock as heirs at law. The administrators hold no interest because the declarations created valid present interests in Williams rather than leaving the property to pass through Farkas's estate to his heirs at law.
Erickson executed a will that left property to named relatives and then to his heirs at law. After Erickson's death a dispute arose over whether the heirs at law took a remainder. The heirs at law receive the property because the will language designates them as the takers of the future interest.
No. Modern law abolishes the doctrine of worthier title both as a rule of law and as a rule of construction. Language in a governing instrument describing beneficiaries as the transferor's heirs at law does not create or presumptively create a reversionary interest in the transferor.
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Heirs at law are the persons who would succeed to the designated individual's intestate estate under the intestate succession law of the designated individual's domicile if the designated individual died when the disposition is to take effect in possession or enjoyment.
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Yes. Once the worthier title doctrine is abolished the phrase creates a genuine remainder interest in the class of heirs at law. That remainder is presently alienable once the transferor's death fixes who the heirs are.
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No. The phrase designates a separate class of takers determined at the time the disposition takes effect in possession. It is not merely a descriptive label for the life beneficiaries already named.
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…the deed. He was also empowered to sell. Upon the death of the grantor, he was to “convey the said premises (if not sold) to the heirs at law of the party of the first part.” In case of a sale, he was to pay to the heirs at law “the balance of the avails of sale remaining unexpended.” He was authorized at any time, if he so…