Issue (genealogy)

In genealogy and wills, a person's issue means all their lineal descendants.

Lineal descendants

Issue typically means a person's lineal descendants—all genetic descendants of a person, regardless of degree.^[1] Issue is a narrower category than heirs, which includes spouses, and collaterals (siblings, cousins, aunts, and uncles).^[2] This meaning of issue arises most often in wills and trusts.^[3] A person who has no living lineal descendants is said to have died without issue.

A child or children are first-generation descendants and are a subset of issue.^[4]

See also

• Legitimacy (family law) – Legal status of a child born to parents who are legally married
• Lineal descendant – Blood relative in the direct line of descent
• Primogeniture – Inheritance by the eldest, usually male, child
• Royal bastard – Child of a reigning monarch born out of wedlock
• Royal descent – Genealogical kinship and descent