My understanding of Quit Claims is they were used by expected heirs who were moving on to settle the land in the hands of an heir who stayed behind. If you notice frequently when a family moved, it was another family member who bought their land. Often a son-in-law. But the person buying the quit claim did not own land but was buying a future interest in the land that was to come to the seller by the death of the owner. When primogenitor ended in the mid 1780 all heirs had a claim to the estate. The widow got her third and the rest divided the remainder. Each state made it's own laws and they should always be checked for the details. Something I have not seen mentioned in this discussion is Hennings Statues at Large for Virginia. It can now be purchased for under $50.00 on a CD-ROM and is a wonderful source for the laws of Colonial Virginia Margaret R. Amundson, CGsm is a service mark of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, used under license by Board-certified associates after periodic proficiency evaluations. To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html