**Descendants** (noun) — All individuals who descend from a common ancestor, including children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and all successive generations through a direct bloodline or legally recognized parent-child relationship.
Your descendants are everyone who comes after you in your family line. This includes your children, your children's children, and so on down through the generations.
The term is broader than "children" because it includes all future generations. If your will leaves something "to my descendants," that could include your grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and beyond—not just your immediate children.
Descendants can be biological or adopted. In most jurisdictions, legally adopted children are considered descendants with the same rights as biological children.
⏱ When you'll encounter this term
In estate planning, "descendants" is commonly used when you want to provide for multiple generations of your family. For example, if you leave property "to be divided among my descendants," the estate will be distributed to your children, and if any child has died, their share typically passes to their own children.
This term helps prevent unintentional exclusions. If you write "to my children" and one of your children dies before you, their children (your grandchildren) might not inherit anything. But if you write "to my descendants," your grandchildren automatically take their deceased parent's share.
Many wills include provisions like "if any of my children predecease me, their share shall pass to their descendants." This ensures that your assets stay within your family line across generations, rather than being redistributed only among surviving children.
**Related terms:** [Issue](/dictionary/issue), [Per Stirpes](/dictionary/per-stirpes), Lineal Descendant, [Beneficiary](/dictionary/beneficiary)
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