One needs to be careful about " old law in UK " because there are several.  I think here you mean England because that is different to other parts of the UK.  Then you have to differentiate between land and other types of property and so it goes on.  The whole thing is a minefield, which is why in Chancery the only beneficiaries are the lawyers.  Scottish law was always rather better on this and laid down strict proportions for the widow (The widow's terce) and for the children, but again land could be handled differently.  You really need to look at all cases individually and I think the earlier answer mentioning children already provided for and family feuds should also be considered.  In the case of wishing to ensure that a widow or children couldn't claim more from a deceased's estate, it was common to leave them a shilling, which meant in law they then couldn't challenge the will. Tomas Christie ________________________________ From: Muriel <muriel.hornby@sympatico.ca> To: eng-merseyside@rootsweb.com Sent: Tue, 10 August, 2010 19:18:32 Subject: Re: [ENG-MERSEYSIDE] Last Will and Testament I think the old law in UK led to everything left to the eldest son. This may throw light on why only one was named. In some cases even the widow was left out. I stsnd to be corrected but that is what i have always been led to understand.  Good that some things change!!!Muriel -------------------------------------------------- From: <Preulet@aol.com> Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 1:26 PM To: <ENG-MERSEYSIDE@rootsweb.com> Subject: [ENG-MERSEYSIDE] Last Will and Testament > Hi Folks > > Has anyone ordered a Will only to find out upon receiving it, that only > one > child was mentioned within the will > even though there were other living children at the time?  I'm  just > curious. > > Thank you > Eleanor > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ENG-MERSEYSIDE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-MERSEYSIDE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message