In strict legal usage, "heir" describes only those who take under the intestacy statute. A person who takes under a will is a "devisee" or "beneficiary." Casually, the terms are mixed and the statutory distinction is often blurred — but it matters in court papers and title opinions.
Identifying heirs is the curative landman's most common task. The chain of title is broken every time someone dies; closing the break requires naming every heir under the applicable statute and confirming the share that flowed to each.
Heirship can cascade: if an heir died intestate before being identified, their heirs become heirs of the original decedent. A 1948 decedent in a 2026 curative file may have living great-great-grandchildren whose claim runs back through three intervening intestate deaths.
Worked examples
- Decedent dies in 1962 leaving three children. One of those children dies intestate in 1989 leaving two grandchildren. Today, the three "heirs" of the 1962 decedent are: child A, child B, and the two grandchildren splitting child C's share per stirpes.