natural heir
Legitimate bloodline inheritor
A natural heir is someone who inherits by blood relationship rather than by will or legal arrangement.
The term emphasizes biological descent—children, grandchildren, or other blood relatives who would receive an estate under intestacy laws if no will existed.
As the only surviving son, he was the natural heir to the family fortune.
The phrase can also be used figuratively for someone positioned to inherit a role, tradition, or legacy: She's the natural heir to the folk music tradition her grandmother established.
- firstbornFirst child born
- birthrightEntitlement from origin
- successorOne who replaces another
- line of successionSequence of potential heirs
- lineageDescent from progenitors
family tree · estate · primogeniture · bloodline · blood relative · descendant · legacy · passing the torch · throne · entitlement · patrimony · dynasty · crown · scion · noble birth · offspring · rightful · rightful owner
- heirsheirs, coheirs, beneficiary, beneficiaries, successor
- inheritanceinheritances, heirs, bequest, bequests, beneficiary
natural heirillegitimate heir
Offspring lacking lawful inheritance rights
legitimate heir · heir apparent · rightful heir · legal heir
natural, heir, nature, naturally, unnatural, naturalist, naturalism, naturalize, naturalization