Correct, which is why I mentioned personal estate rather than real estate. You did write that "it was impossible to leave anything to an illegitimate offspring." I was pointing out that it was possible to leave something to illegitimate offspring. Cheers Guy Tim Powys-Lybbe wrote: > In message of 28 Oct, Guy Etchells <guy.etchells@virgin.net> wrote: > > >>It has always been possible to leave personal estate > > > What do you mean by "personal estate"? > > Personal estate used to mean movable items, not land. So in the days > when the only significant wealth was land, which was "real estate", this > would not have been part of personal estate and could not have been > left. > > >>to whomever one wished, the confusion with illegitimate offspring is >>they had no automatic right to inherit. This means that anything left >>had to be specifically left to them as with other people who were >>not blood relations. Cheers Guy >> >>Tim Powys-Lybbe wrote: >> >> >> >>>My understanding is that at least up to the 18th century and probably >>>also the 19th, it was impossible to leave anything to an illegitimate >>>offspring. So I suspect most of this will was invalid. It was, however, >>>possible to give them things in their lifetime, which is what an >>>ancestor of mine did in the early 17th century for a son born before he >>>married the mother. >>> >>>As late as 1880 a gt-gt-grandfather, a lawyer, thought is best to set up >>>a trust for his second family, so that the gift was to the trustees, not >>>to his offspring. Then in his will he considered the possibility that >>>this trust might be overturned so added in that his will would set up a >>>similar trust to replace it. Anyhow he succeeded in providing for his >>>second family. >>> >> > -- http://freespace.virgin.net/guy.etchells Transcripts, Parish Records, Calendar, Scaleable Map of Uk. Link to LDS website, Abbreviations, Returns of Owners of Lands etc. Visit the new British Genealogy Forums http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums/index.php?referrerid=7