What’s an “indirect descendant” anyway, your brother’s or your uncle’s descendants?
Do you promise it’s the last time?
Just for me, yeah. You promise to be factual?
or (somewhart different)
or
Ok then, it’s merely a reinforcement when considering things like inheritance or perhaps royal succession.
Not “merely a reinforcement”, it’s an important distinction.
I don’t have children: if I die untestated, my brothers are my heirs. But if I had children and died untestated, my brothers would get to help carry the coffin. Big distinction, from “split everything in half” to “zero”. There are other jurisdictions where my brothers would be my heirs only if I wrote a will.
Nava biological children. You could take in an orphan baby and raise it as your own, and s/he would inherit your property and be your child in everyway, but they would not be your descendant.
I never had any doubt about this: My ‘direct’ descendants are my children and my children’s children… ad infinitum.
It follows then, that ‘indirect’ are my siblings children etc.
As a nitpick for
The word is ‘intestate’, at least here in the UK. Here, and I guess, in most countries, there are strict rules for dividing up an estate where there is no will.
If he bled to death because he got his “family jewels” ripped off would he die untestated?
Awesome pun, of course. But I think the only family jewels Nava possesses will be safely ensconced in a jewel case.
They wouldn’t inherit unless I didn’t merely raise that baby but adopt them. pokes fun at the lawyer who forgot that detail
Touche.
Old joke:
“He died intestate.”
“Oooh, sounds painful.”
Same here across the pond: testate and intestate.
Yes, but the precise rules will be different in every jurisdiction. It might all go to a surviving spouse, or all to the deceased’s children, or to the deceased’s direct descendants, or to all of the deceased’s blood relatives, or to relatives including by marriage, and in any case where it’s split up, it might be split evenly, or proportionate to the degree of relatedness, and so on.
But the discussion is about descendants, not heirs and assigns.
What kind of descendant is not a direct descendant? My nieces and nephews and their kids are not my descendants, are they? They’re my parents’ (or my spouse’s parents’) descendants.
Seems to me “direct” is superfluous and used only for emphasis.
The exception to this is when we add “male” or “female” to the equation, indicating an unbroken patrilineal or matrilineal line. I don’t think that’s the kind of usage the OP objects to, though.
It’s just another case for the Department of Redundancy Department.
That depends on whether the context is social or biological.
I’m adopted, as are my siblings, but our children and their children think of themselves as descendants of our adoptive parents and grandparents. Socially, but not genetically. It’s a family matter, not a biological one.
Your neices and nephews are your indirect descendants. They share some genes with you via your siblings. For some medical purposes and some inheritance purposes (esp. if you die intestate and without children or a spouse) that could matter.
Informally, it also counts, because aunts and uncles - especially childless ones - usually have some part in their neices’ and nephews’ lives.
It’s not like there’s “direct descendants” and then “virtual strangers” with nothing in between.