What is a decendant? Is it an heir? A Son?

Answer 1

A descendant is a biological offspring. Example: biological children, the children's biological children, and so on.

Answer 2

A descendant (working from the past towards the present) or an ancestor (working from the present to the past) is a direct blood line relative.

A descendant will always have the word "child" in the relationship descriptor (child, grandchild, great grandchild, etc.)

Similarly an ancestor will always have the word "parent" in the relationship descriptor (parent, grandparent, great grandparent, etc.)

So your father's brother - your Uncle - is NOT your ancestor, nor are you his descendant. But you are related because of a common ancestor. Your Uncle's PARENTS are your grandPARENTS.

An heir is just someone (or THING) that will receive benefit upon the death of a person. It certainly can be a descendant (a son or daughter, etc.) or it could be a cousin. But it can be anyone (or THING). This is exemplified by a recent event (I can't remember the person's name) where this person left millions of dollars to their CAT. Obviouslly the cat was not related in any way (including by species) to the person - but the cat was an heir. A person may also "leave" money to a foundation. In which case, the foundation is an heir....again, not an individual.

Answer 3

You are a direct descendant of all your many times great grandparents. You are a linear descendants of your many times great granduncles and great grandaunts.

A lot of people think of descendancy only in terms of direct descendancy. But a person can legtimately claim to be a descendant of a great great great uncle as he is a linear descendant of that great great great uncle.

An heir and a descendant are 2 different things. In the U. S., unless you live in Louisiana, a direct descendant might not be an heir at all. Louisiana laws are based on the Civl Laws of France, not the Common Law of England. You cannot disinherit any of your natural heirs there. There is a way they get around it. If you own property there and want to leave it to someone other than your natural heirs, what you do is this.
Deed it to the person or persons you want to have it right now. Put that deed in an escrow to be open after your death.

Answer 4

A descendant is a person's child, grandchild, great-grandchild and so forth...they can be male or female.
Basically it's a person who "descends from" (comes after) another person biologically.
A person's aunts & uncles, sisters & brothers, as well as neices & nephews are relatives but since they do NOT descend from that person ... they are not that persons descendants.
An heir is simply someone who has inherited (or will inherit) something from another. This is usually a descendant, but an heir can be anyone named in a person's Will; a relative, a friend or even a stranger.
A son is a descendant, but so is a daughter.

Answer 5

Offspring. Any person who shares the same specific ancestor-children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and so on. A person whose ancestry can be traced to a particular individual.

So a son is the descendant of his mother, his father, his grandparents-and daughters are also descendants of their mothers, fathers, and grandparents.

Heir is a legal term; it means a person who inherits, or is entitled to inherit, property, rank, title, or office from a predecessor. An heir is not necessarily related to the person they inherit from.

Added in EDIT- To Shirley T: I have never seen a reference to "linear descendancy". I realize that a person would share a common ancestor with a great-great uncle; but have never seen this referred to as a linear descendency. Thanks for the
tip. Do you have a reference (book or website) where I could learn more about it?

Answer 6

One who comes after so sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, their children and their children's children, etc. as long as it's by blood and not marriage or adoption. A direct descendent would be a son or daughter, grandson or granddaughter, etc. and could be illegitimate or arguably adopted.

An heir can be anyone who will come into some property or title upon the death or abdication of the present holder of the property or title. In traditional English use only it would tend to be the oldest legitimate male child (arguably including adopted children) of usually a man who would receive the lion's share of the parent's title(s) and property.