Also known as: lineal descents · direct descent · lineal heirs
Written by attorneys — see sources below.
The transmission of property or status from an ancestor to a descendant through an unbroken chain of direct blood relationship. This form of succession passes only along the vertical line connecting parent and child or grandparent and grandchild. It stands in contrast to collateral descent that moves through siblings or other oblique relatives.
Latoya Lane devised her cottage to her daughter Lily Lopez and Lily's heirs. Lily died without children, leaving the property to pass under intestacy rules. Latoya's grandson Lorenzo Lugo claimed the cottage as Lily's sole lineal descendant. The probate court recognized Lorenzo's claim because the estate descended directly through the parent-child-grandchild line.
Laura Lewis left her building to her son Liam Larson and his heirs. Liam died intestate without descendants. His sister Lillian Locke asserted a claim as a collateral heir. The court examined whether the original devise created an estate limited to lineal succession or one open to all heirs.
Mrs. Jessie Lide died on February 15, 1973, leaving a holographic will which, in its entirety, reads as follows. The will appointed her niece Sandra White Perry as executrix, stated that Evelyn White was to have the home to live in and that it was not to be sold, and left all personal property to Sandra White Perry. Mrs. Lide was a widow with no children. Although she had nine brothers and sisters, only two sisters residing in Ohio survived her. These sisters quitclaimed any interest they might have in the residence to Mrs. White. The nieces and nephews of the testatrix served as defendants in the action. For approximately twenty-five years, Evelyn White, her husband who was the testatrix’s brother, and their daughter Sandra lived with Mrs. Lide as a family. After Sandra married in 1969 and Evelyn’s husband died in 1971, Evelyn White continued to reside with Mrs. Lide until the latter’s death in 1973 at age 88. Evelyn White, joined by her daughter as executrix, filed suit seeking construction of the will and alleging fee simple title to the home. The defendants contended that only a life estate passed to Mrs. White. The Chancellor held that the will conveyed only a life interest, refused to consider extrinsic evidence concerning Mrs. Lide’s relationship with her surviving relatives, and ordered the property sold with proceeds distributed among the beneficiaries. The Court of Appeals affirmed that decision.
View caseLineal descent follows the direct vertical line from ancestor to descendant. Collateral descent moves sideways through siblings or cousins. The Restatement treats fee simple estates as inheritable by both lines unless the instrument expressly restricts succession.
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No. The phrase and his heirs creates a fee simple that passes to both lineal and collateral heirs under the Restatement definition. Courts reject attempts to narrow the class through extrinsic statements when the deed or will uses standard fee-simple language.
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A grant to a person and the heirs of his body creates a fee tail that restricts succession to lineal descendants. The present holder still enjoys full incidents of ownership comparable to a fee simple, but the estate cannot pass outside the direct bloodline.
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No. The parol evidence rule bars use of contemporaneous oral declarations to contradict the unambiguous words of a recorded deed. Only language inside the instrument can limit the class of heirs.
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…Thereafter, the word “heirs,” when used in a conveyance to a man “and his heirs,” came to include collateral as well as lineal heirs, ultimately indicating that such grantee took an estate which would pass to his heirs or the heirs of anyone to whom he aliened it. That is, “heirs” ceased to be a word of purchase and…