Re: Back to school

Renia--
Do you see the irony here? You said to me what some of the clowns on
this board have been saying to the beginners.

I thought Nat was joking. You guys really don't know what an
intestate estate is, do you?

When someone dies intestate, it means they die without making a will.
When someone died without a will, the law dictated who received their
property. An intestate estate is just the estate (property) of
someone who died without a will. It's not an esoteric concept. It's
Genealogy 101.

Didn't you read my post on the statutes in effect when Dale made his
will? That law says where a person's property goes if someone dies
intestate. Somebody would apply to be *administrator* of the estate
(just like Edward Dale applied to be administrator of Mary Harrison
Jones' estate) and see that the property was distributed according to
the specified progression of heirs.

My dictionary defines intestate as: "Having made no legally valid
will before death or not disposed of by a legal will." What is your
problem? Don't you have a dictionary?

If someone leaves a will, the *executor* assumes responsibility to see
the heirs get that which the testator bequeathed them. If a man wrote
a will, the only person with a legal claim against his estate was his
wife (except creditors of course). The probate reform during the
reign of Henry VIII freed testators (those making a will) from the
constraints of primogeniture. This gave those making a will
tremendous power. Some testators followed primogeniture anyway,
because if a man split up his estate, the family tended to decline in
status--but it was an option of the testator.

Whatever merits some of you may have as a medieval genealogist, you
lack the necessary grounding in colonial Virginia probate and property
law. Is there some reason you can't do what I did and get a book on
the subject?
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: possible Skipwith maternity of Elizabeth (Dale) Rogers
    ... There are various types of "estoppel", but none of them are relevant to landed estate or Edward Dale's will. ... When women of substance were married, even as recently as a century ago, the father and the prospective husband made out a marriage contract. ... If a man died intestate, that is, he left no will, then his property, real and personal would go to his right heirs, by right of primogeniture. ... His right heir was his eldest son, or the eldest son of that eldest son, if his own eldest son was dead. ...
    (soc.genealogy.medieval)
  • Statutes in force when Maj. Edward Dale made his will Aug. 24, 1694
    ... dying intestate, and of what parte thereof ought to appertaine to the ... personall estate, if there be but one or two children, but if there be ... A wife of a testator (a husband who left a will) was the only ... reject the will and sue in a county court to reclaim her dower. ...
    (soc.genealogy.medieval)
  • Re: possible Skipwith maternity of Elizabeth (Dale) Rogers
    ... notion that Edward Dale's first wife would have had an  intestate ... dead intestate, then she would have an intestate inheritence to pass on to her   ... an intestate step-parent's estate? ... If a step-parent wanted a step-child to have ...
    (soc.genealogy.medieval)
  • Re: edward Dales will & its anomaly
    ... downe for the ordering the estate of persons intestate"--that's ... You just can't get it through your head that a law made to protect ... orphans affected ALL wills. ... estate was treated as intestate is not exactly correct. ...
    (soc.genealogy.medieval)
  • Re: possible Skipwith maternity of Elizabeth (Dale) Rogers
    ... notion that Edward Dale's first wife would have had an intestate ... estate is ridiculous.>> ... dead intestate, then she would have an intestate inheritence to pass on to her ...
    (soc.genealogy.medieval)