LAUGHING HEIR

A distant heir who will inherit rights even without having a close and personal relationship with the decedent. In most cases, the law requires the property of an individual who passed away, who did not have a last will and testament, should give his or her possessions to immediate family members. But under the common law, the hierarchy extends as far as it can be trailed back, especially to folks who may have never heard of the decedent’s inheritance rights.