Daily AncestorDistributee
A distributee is a person entitled to a share when an estate is divided, especially an heir of someone who died without a will.
A distributee is an heir in the sense of someone who takes part of an estate. In the strict older sense it meant a person entitled under the statute of distributions, the law that divided the personal property of a person who died without a will.
In estate settlements the distributees are the people who actually received shares, so a list of them can serve as a list of the heirs.
As seen in a recordFinal settlement of an estate, 1840s
Paid to Wm. Bell in right of his wife Polly, one of the distributees, $112.50
Sources
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Daily Ancestor. "Distributee." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/legal-land/distributee. Last checked 2026-10-10.