direct descendants
Children and grandchildren
Direct descendants are people in an unbroken line of biological or legal succession from an ancestor—children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on downward.
The term distinguishes this vertical lineage from collateral relatives like siblings, cousins, or nieces.
The estate passes only to direct descendants.
In genealogy and inheritance law, the distinction often determines who inherits property or titles.
- heirsThose who inherit
- legitimate heirLawfully entitled inheritor
- rightful heirPerson legally due inheritance
- scionsHeirs or plant shoots
- offspringBiological descendants produced
flesh and blood · child · progeny · primogeniture · issue · sons · bloodline · royal bloodline · family line · ancestral line · dynastic succession · daughters · birthright · pedigree · inheritance · passing down · successors · families
direct descendantsancestors
Those from whom one descends
forebears · progenitors · forefathers · forbears · antecedents
direct descendantsextended family
Relatives beyond parents, siblings
cousins · nephews · nieces · distant relatives · second cousins
direct descendantsadopted children
direct, directly, directness, direction, directions, directional, directive, directives, director