If a will or estate settlement refers to some individuals as legatees and to others as devisees, there is a difference.

Generally speaking legatees take legacies (personal or chattel property) from the estate  and devisees take devises (real property) from the estate. The are bequeathed the property in the individual’s will.

They are different from heirs. Heirs are individuals who have the right to inherit from an individual based upon their biological relationship to the deceased and contemporary statute. Legatees and devisees can be heirs, but they do not have to be.

A testator can bequeath property in their will so that heirs receive nothing.

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