Rule of shifting heirs – this legal term finds application in the Inheritance Law in Common Law systems. There it details that if a heir dies, he/she may be substituted by another one who is not a direct heir; and if a new direct heir is born, then again the non-direct heir will be substituted by them.  An important point is that every heir has rights for benefits and profits, achieved from the estate of the deceased during the period in which they were legal heirs and controlled the estate.