children

Persons of tender years; the sons or daughters of one, whether adults or infants; a word which is not a technical legal term having a fixed and definite meaning, but one which is flexible and subject to construction to give effect to the intention of the maker of the instrument in which it appears. Conner v Gardner, 230 Ill 258, 82 NE 640. Not being the equivalent of "heirs," "children" usually is a word of purchase rather than a word of limitation in a deed, but becoming a word of limitation where the limitation in the instrument is to children of the grantee, and the grantee has no children in being at the time of the execution of the deed. 28 Am J2d Est § 43. It is also a word of purchase in a will, except as the context of the instrument or the force of surrounding circumstances, such as there being no children in existence at the death of the testator, may make it a word of limitation. 19 Am J1st Est § 44; 57 Am J1st Wills § 1364. The word "children" appearing in a deed, trust indenture, or will, may, but does not necessarily, include an adopted child, the question being one of construction. 2 Am J2d Adopt §§ 92 et seq. It means, prima facie, legitimate offspring. Anno: 34 ALR2d 19; 10 Am J2d Bast § 137. It has been held that an illegitimate child is a "child" within the provisions of inheritance, succession, or estate tax statutes respecting exernp- I lion and tax rates. Whorff v Johnson, 143 Me 198, 58 A2d 553, 3 ALR2d 160. But it has also been held to the contrary under some of such statutes. Anno: 3 ALR2d 166. As a designation of beneficiaries in an insurance policy, the term "children" ordinarily means descendants of the first degree, not including grandchildren, but including an after-born child, even an adopted child. 29A Am J Rev ed Ins § 1658. See after-born child; child; grandchild; wife and children.