Online dictionaryOnline dictionary
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home
English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Heir-at-law   /ɛr-æt-lɔ/   Listen
Heir-at-law

noun
1.
The person legally entitled to inherit the property of someone who dies intestate.






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |
Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar





"Heir-at-law" Quotes from Famous Books



... took any great risks for himself, except so far as his immortal soul was concerned—consequently when death overtook him and he, perforce, laid down the only thing he valued, his fortune, it had reached proportions of which figures could give but little idea. His daughter Joyce, sole heir-at-law, was almost overwhelmed by the burden of these millions, especially as she realized how dishonestly they had been acquired. She thoroughly appreciated the methods taken to possess them (one cannot say earn in this connection) and her sensitive soul shrank in terror from benefiting only through ...
— Joyce's Investments - A Story for Girls • Fannie E. Newberry

... England, I saw an account in the newspapers of the death of the surviving children of your father's elder brother, and now he himself has followed them to the grave. As far, therefore, as I can learn, you are heir-at-law to the title and estates ...
— In the Eastern Seas • W.H.G. Kingston

... junior, would be happy to hear what I had to say upon the subject! It needed but this. Chilton had, as I feared he would, after finding we had been consulted, sold his secret, doubtless advantageously, to the heir-at-law. There was still, however, a chance that something favorable might turn up, and, as I had no notion of throwing that chance away, I carelessly replied that we had reason to believe Chilton's story was a malicious fabrication, and that we should of course ...
— The Experiences of a Barrister, and Confessions of an Attorney • Samuel Warren

... among members of the family. In the north of England there is Netherall, near Maryport, Cumberland, the seat of the old family of Senhouse. In this old mansion there is said to be a veritable secret room, its exact position in the house being known but to two persons—the heir-at-law and the family solicitor. It is affirmed that never has the secret of this hidden room been revealed to more than two living persons at a time. This mysterious room has no window, and, despite every endeavour to ...
— Strange Pages from Family Papers • T. F. Thiselton Dyer

... that the property left behind him by the old lord would be at once given up to those who would inherit it under the order of things as thus established. The Countess would receive that to which she would be entitled as widow, the daughter would be the heir-at-law to the bulk of the personal property, and the Earl would merely claim any real estate, if,—as was very doubtful,—any real estate had been left in question. In this case the disposition of the property would be just ...
— Lady Anna • Anthony Trollope

... "the heir-at-law" of Baron Duberly. It was generally supposed that he had perished at sea; but he was cast on Cape Breton, and afterwards returned to England, and married Caroline Dormer, an orphan.—G. Colman, ...
— Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama - A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook, Vol. 3 • E. Cobham Brewer

... have been fraught with danger to himself personally; and, had it been in the Burleigh library, whether it could have escaped notice. This, however, is to be noted. After Vernon's death there was a dispute whether his MSS. were to pass to his heir-at-law or to his personal representatives, and the court ordered the MSS. (Reports) to be printed. This was done very incorrectly, and Lord Kenyon seems to have hinted that private reasons have been assigned for that, but these could hardly have ...
— Notes & Queries, No. 27. Saturday, May 4, 1850 • Various

... Effingham. "I am an only child, and as for cousins through my mother, there are so many who stand in an equal degree of affinity to me, that no one in particular can be my heir-at-law. If there were, I am an Effingham; my estate came from Effinghams, and to an Effingham it should descend in despite of all ...
— Home as Found • James Fenimore Cooper

... death of the incumbent, is said to be in abeyance until the next incumbent takes possession. The most common use of the term is in the case of peerage dignities. If a peerage which passes to heirs-general, like the ancient baronies by writ, is held by a man whose heir-at-law is neither a male, nor a woman who is an only child, it goes into abeyance on his death between two or more sisters or their heirs, and is held by no one till the abeyance is terminated; if eventually only one person represents the claims of all the sisters, ...
— Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia



Words linked to "Heir-at-law" :   heritor, inheritor, heir



Copyright © 2024 Dictionary One.com