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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: farmeroman on Tuesday 24 May 22 10:50 BST (UK)
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Would it be expected (is there even a rule or convention covering this?) that siblings or children named in a will would be listed in order of age (eldest first)?
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Would it be expected (is there even a rule or convention covering this?) that siblings or children named in a will would be listed in order of age (eldest first)?
I have often found that to be the case, but also sometimes sons mentioned before daughters regardless of age.
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Would it be expected (is there even a rule or convention covering this?) that siblings or children named in a will would be listed in order of age (eldest first)?
I have often found that to be the case, but also sometimes sons mentioned before daughters regardless of age.
It goes mother, sister, brother, brother, brother, brother-in-law and sister. Bequests are small (in the shillings!), but are not in decreasing order, so that is not the listing criteria.
It's of interest to me because the birth/baptism dates are unknown for all but the two bolded siblings and there are gaps where the others could fit in.
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In my experience, if the children of the testator/testatrix are listed one after another (e.g. to my children Elizabeth, Thomas, Sarah etc.), then they are usually listed in either age order, or sons followed by daughters. However, if they are mentioned separately in different bequests I would say it isn't that unusual for them to be just in some random order. I've certainly had a number of wills that mention specific children first that are not the eldest son/daughter. Sometimes daughters might be grouped together by their marital status as well.
I've not thought about it much, but my feeling would be that siblings might be less likely to be ordered by age than children.
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In my experience, if the children of the testator/testatrix are listed one after another (e.g. to my children Elizabeth, Thomas, Sarah etc.), then they are usually listed in either age order, or sons followed by daughters. However, if they are mentioned separately in different bequests I would say it isn't that unusual for them to be just in some random order. I've certainly had a number of wills that mention specific children first that are not the eldest son/daughter. Sometimes daughters might be grouped together by their marital status as well.
I've not thought about it much, but my feeling would be that siblings might be less likely to be ordered by age than children.
Thanks. It's not really important, but more of "I wonder if"...