heir at law
a person who inherits, or has a right of inheritance in, the real property of one who has died without leaving a valid will.
Origin of heir at law
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use heir at law in a sentence
It could hardly be expected that the heir-at-law would have fulfilled these intentions, even had he been cognisant of them.
Bentley's Miscellany, Volume II | VariousThe heir-at-law was well inclined to it, but melancholy, so that the people dare not trust to a settlement from him.
Memorials of the Independent Churches in Northamptonshire | Thomas ColemanIt would be fatal to the interests of Floyd if the will should be ignored and half the estate allowed him as heir-at-law.
The Incendiary | W. A. (William Augustine) LeahyTill she became my widow and my heir-at-law, the mercenary baronet would play his cards to win her honorably.
The Master of Appleby | Francis LyndeIt turned out that Mr. Dorrit, being of the Dorrits of Dorsetshire, was heir-at-law to a great fortune.
The World's Greatest Books, Vol III | Arthur Mee and J.A. Hammerton, Eds.
British Dictionary definitions for heir-at-law
property law the person entitled to succeed to the real property of a person who dies intestate
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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