Also known as: inherit · inherits · inherited · inheriting · inheritable · inheritances · inheritor · inheritors · inheritrix · heir · succession
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Property acquired by a person upon the death of another under the laws of intestate succession or by devise. The transfer occurs by operation of law without a deed when the decedent dies intestate or leaves a will directing distribution to heirs or devisees.
Ilana Isaacs gave her son Ike Ingram $200,000 to buy a home five years before her death. She left a note stating the sum should reduce his share of her estate. When Ilana died intestate, the probate court subtracted the gift from Ike's intestate share before distributing the remaining assets to him and his siblings.
Isabelle Inman owned a farm in fee simple at her death without a will. Under the state statute of descent, title to the land passed directly to her two children as heirs by operation of law. No deed from Isabelle was required to complete the transfer.
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Ivy Ibarra conveyed land to her brother for life with remainder to his heirs. When the brother died without children, his collateral relatives inherited the remainder interest along with any lineal descendants who might have existed.
Idina Iverson forged documents to convince her aunt to change her will and exclude her cousin Ismael Ibrahim. After the aunt died, Ismael sued Idina under tort principles for intentionally preventing him from receiving the inheritance he would otherwise have obtained.
Imperial Motors incorporated under the Model Act and later merged with another firm. Because the corporation possessed perpetual succession in its name, its rights and obligations passed automatically to the surviving entity without interruption upon the original corporation's dissolution.
Integrity Partners held title to real estate in State B. When a dispute arose over an inheritance claim in State A court, the forum applied the full law of State B, including its choice-of-law rules, to determine ownership of the immovable property.
A gift counts as an advancement only when the decedent declared in a contemporaneous writing or the heir acknowledged in writing that the gift is an advancement. The writing must also indicate the gift will be taken into account when dividing the intestate estate.
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Real property passes by operation of law through intestate succession or by will. These transfers are governed by probate codes and statutes of descent and distribution rather than by deed.
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A person who uses fraud, duress, or other tortious means to prevent another from receiving an inheritance or gift is subject to liability for the loss of that inheritance or gift.
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Under older common-law rules, a conveyance created a fee simple only when it included words of general inheritance such as 'to B and his heirs.' Modern statutes in nearly every state have eliminated this requirement.
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…only the potentiality of life. Similarly, unborn children have been recognized as acquiring rights or interests by way of inheritance or other devolution of property, and have been represented by guardians ad litem. [^maj-66] Perfection of the interests involved, again, has generally been contingent upon live birth. In…