presumptive : Idioms & Phrases

• noun a person who expects to inherit but whose right can be defeated by the birth of a nearer relative
  

WordNet

• one who, if the ancestor should die immediately, would be his heir, but whose right to the inheritance may be defeated by the birth of a nearer relative, or by some other contingency.

Webster 1913

• (Law), that which is derived from circumstances which necessarily or usually attend a fact, as distinct from direct evidence or positive proof; indirect or circumstantial evidence. "Presumptive evidence of felony should be cautiously admitted." Blackstone. The distinction, however, between direct and presumptive (or circumstantial) evidence is now generally abandoned; all evidence being now more or less direct and more or less presumptive.

Webster 1913

• . See Heir presumptive, under Heir.

Webster 1913