Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Indiana

Re: First born rights

Primogeniture as a theory of inheritance has been pretty much legislated out of existence in the United State, and certainly in Indiana. All children share equally in a parent's estate. The oldest is not entitled to more than the youngest.

However, situations arise where there are both adult and minor children, when the courts make a public policy decision (based on local statutory law) that it is more fair to provide a larger portion of an estate to the children who are minors rather than to the adults - obviously under the theory that the adults can fend for themselves while the minors cannot. This protection comes in the form of a survivor's allowance.

There is no survivor's allowance where there is no surviving spouse and no surviving minor children.

No child has a preference over another due to his age in the courts when a parent's estate is administered.

However, non-probate property depends upon who the parent chose as the beneficiary or joint owner of the property. To the extent a parent may have preferred one child over another, then there is no remedy for the oldest, youngest or whatever.