Another possibility I have thought of - if William Senior of Ballakeigh was alive and did not approve of the heir's intended, there was no obligation on him to make any settlement on the heir, as even an eldest son had no vested right to enter into any part of the farm in his father's lifetime unless his mother was an heiress. A decent guy would have taken another farm on lease to make a home for his family, but maybe there was a threat of disinheritance which was by this time possible (if highly frowned on by "custom"). The method was what was described later as "a parcel of lawyers making deeds of sale and resale" the first instance of which was the Nunnery in the first half of the 18th c. Literally the old farmer "sold" the property to a trusted (and usually wealthy) friend for a seemingly genuine amount. A year or so later, the friend sold it back for slightly more. This converted the property into a chattel which could be disposed of at the owner's discretion. This was considered safer than creating a trust.

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