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139 stories matching heir
- The Legal Trap of Unsurveyed Land
A legal clarification reveals that heirs of homesteaders on unsurveyed land in Washington may lose their claims entirely upon the settler's death.
- The Decades-Long Battle for the McAleer Tract Ends in Court
After years of tangled legal claims, Judge Hanford rules against the McAleer heirs, clearing the way for new development on a large, vacant stretch of land once visible from the old Lake Washington cable cars.
- The Homestead That Built Everett
A multi-year land dispute over a timber claim settles in favor of the heirs of a deceased squatter, clearing the way for the city's future.
- The Hatch Heirs' Victory: A Seattle Attorney Wins Half of a $400,000 Everett Tract
A federal appeals court upholds the rights of the children of Ezra Hatch—a Mexican War veteran who married an Indian woman—to 128 acres in the heart of Everett, and their lawyer, A.D. Warner, takes home half.
- A Legal Battle for an Inheritance
The abandoned son of an early Whatcom pioneer fights for his father's homestead after collateral heirs sell the land out from under him.
- Dirty Tricks, 1892: Yakima's Candidate for Governor Fights Back
A Seattle paper accused the Democratic nominee of fleeing his debts and defrauding orphans. Snively's supporters called it a Republican smear—and produced letters to prove it.
- The Hermit Rancher Who Died Without Ever Knowing He Was Worth $4 Million
For years Ansel White scratched a living from a Clallam County farm while a fortune waited for him in the East. By the time his nephew tracked him down, he had been dead three years — and sixteen heirs were still waiting for the money.
- The Search for a Missing Seattle Heir
After twenty-seven years of silence, a missing heir surfaces to claim a $300,000 estate, reuniting a family divided by distance and time.
- The Heirs Who Came for a Snohomish Subdivision — and Went Home Empty
Five years of litigation over half of a $40,000 estate ends in a demurrer: under the law of 1879, a dead wife's share of the community property belonged to her husband, and the people who bought lots in the Clay addition can keep their houses.
- The Widow and the Will: A Legal Battle Over the Ebey Donation Claim
After the death of Isaac N. Ebey, the courts faced a complex dispute between his widow, his children, and an unexecuted will, testing the limits of land ownership in the Washington Territory.
- The Hermit’s Missing Millions
A young Olympia lawyer inherits a $4 million fortune from an eccentric Port Angeles rancher—if the old man’s buried money, vanished books, and multiple wills can be untangled.
- A Missing Section 25: How a Clerk's Slip Could Cost the Collins Heirs $500,000
Grandchildren of John Collins's first wife want a one-sixth share of the Seattle hotel property. The whole case turns on whether a territorial statute took effect on December 2, 1869 — or 42 days too late.
- A Grandmother's Bonds: Walla Walla Man Finds a $75,000 Inheritance After 20 Years
E. L. Smalley learns he is one of five heirs to $75,000 in government bonds and 80 acres near Quincy, Illinois—an estate that has waited two decades in chancery court for missing family to be found.
- Thirty-Three Acres and a Question of Heirs: A Native Estate Argued in Chinook
A probate courtroom fills with White River Indians, most seated on the carpet, as a judge who once rode Chinook jargon as his Pegasus weighs whether to sell a dead man's land to pay his debts.
- The Man Who Thought He Owned Seattle Died Chasing a Ghost Fortune
Henry Zechow spent nine years and a small army of lawyers trying to claim an uncle's imaginary empire—including a block of downtown Seattle—before his body turned up in the Fraser River.
- The Property Battle for Old Seattle
A lawyer and property claimant fight to secure titles to a sprawling Seattle donation land claim amidst territorial legal confusion.
- A Million-Dollar Land Grab and the Wife Left Behind
Abandoned for ten years in Pennsylvania, Mrs. J. E. Jordan comes to Seattle's superior court to stop her husband from deeding away the community's real estate to a medicine company — and names the men who helped him do it.
- Ending the Corporate Bias Against Married Workers
A new state law finally forces employers to pay damages to the families of single men killed on the job, ending a decade of discriminatory hiring practices.
- The School-Land Grab Bellingham Fought at the Governor's Desk
Protests flood the governor against a bill that would hand a valuable Bellingham Bay school section to the Dealy and Yostkins heirs — and leave the state with nearly worthless lieu land.
- The Final Division of the Terry Estate
After twenty years of shared ownership, the heirs of Seattle pioneer C.C. Terry divide the family’s downtown real estate holdings.
- Children Fight to Reclaim Property Sold by Their Father
After their mother died, the heirs of the Wist estate allege their father illegally sold their share of family lands to local investors.
- The Land Baron Who Never Was: The Bizarre Legal Saga of Burke's Second Addition
A territorial secretary’s attempt to claim land in Seattle collapsed when it was revealed that the man who actually bought the property had already died years ago.
- Fake Heirs Besiege a Seattle Undertaker for an Avalanche Victim's Body
Jacob Brackmann died in the Wellington slide, leaving $40,000 to $50,000 and an identification problem. Strangers claiming to be family called day and night.
- The Struggle Over Minor Heir Property Rights
A state attorney general's ruling clarifies the limits of county power when minors attempt to redeem land lost to tax sales.
- A Reunited Heir in a Gambling Den
Thirty years after a pioneer staked his claim, a wandering son is tracked down in a Spokane gambling house to collect his inheritance.
Also about this, in other words
- The Administrator, the Heir, and the Living Dead Man
General R. G. O'Brien faces a court showdown after a legal battle over an inheritance that traveled all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
- The Heir Who Sold His Parents' Grave
A young Seattle man's inherited fortune was gone, and a request to move his mother and father to a smaller plot exposed a family rupture at the health office.
- The Forgotten Heir of Everett
A legal battle pits an Indigenous heir against local titans in the fight for the heart of a burgeoning city.
- A Candidate’s Character and the 'Fallon Orphans' Scandal
Gubernatorial candidate Henry J. Snively faces accusations regarding unpaid funds meant for orphaned children, sparking a heated war of telegrams and character attacks.
- The Heiress, the Invalid, and the Absent Executor
A nineteen-year-old Snoqualmie woman fights a legal battle against a powerful executor who left her destitute and in debt despite a $100,000 family estate.
- The Landmark Case of an Indigenous Heir
A court ruling recognizes a marriage between a white pioneer and a niece of Chief Seattle, potentially shifting land title laws across the region.
- The Secret Parentage of a Bellingham Heir
A custody battle in Bellingham uncovers a hidden family history involving two wealthy men and a child caught in the middle.
- The False Heir of Tacoma
A young woman's desperate scheme to secure her marriage leads to a surrogate child and a city-wide scandal.