Commentary for Bava Batra 8:2
סֵדֶר נְחָלוֹת כָּךְ הוּא, (במדבר כז) אִישׁ כִּי יָמוּת וּבֵן אֵין לוֹ, וְהַעֲבַרְתֶּם אֶת נַחֲלָתוֹ לְבִתּוֹ, בֵּן קוֹדֵם לַבַּת, וְכָל יוֹצְאֵי יְרֵכוֹ שֶׁל בֵּן קוֹדְמִין לַבַּת. בַּת קוֹדֶמֶת לָאַחִין. יוֹצְאֵי יְרֵכָהּ שֶׁל בַּת, קוֹדְמִין לָאַחִין. אַחִין קוֹדְמִין לַאֲחֵי הָאָב. יוֹצְאֵי יְרֵכָן שֶׁל אַחִין, קוֹדְמִין לַאֲחֵי הָאָב. זֶה הַכְּלָל, כָּל הַקּוֹדֵם בַּנַּחֲלָה, יוֹצְאֵי יְרֵכוֹ קוֹדְמִין. וְהָאָב קוֹדֵם לְכָל יוֹצְאֵי יְרֵכוֹ:
The following is the order of inheritance: (Numbers 27:8): "A man, if he die, and he have no son, then you shall pass his inheritance to his daughter": A son takes precedence to a daughter, and all the offspring of a son take precedence to a daughter. A daughter takes precedence to brothers (of the deceased). The offspring of a daughter take precedence to brothers. Brothers (of the deceased) take precedence to the brothers of the father (of the deceased). The offspring of the brothers take precedence to the brothers of the father. This is the rule: All who take precedence in inheritance, their offspring (also) take precedence. [And if his offspring are not alive, their inheritance reverts to the father. How so? If Reuven died, Chanoch, Falu, Chetzron, and Karmi, his sons, inherit him. If one of the sons died before Reuven, leaving over a son or a daughter, or a son of a son or a daughter of a son, or a son of a daughter or a daughter of a daughter — until a hundred generations — he inherits in place of his father in the property of his father, Reuven, sharing as one of the sons of Reuven. And if Reuven has neither sons, nor sons of sons, and not even daughters of sons, then the daughters of Reuven inherit Reuven. And if Reuven has neither daughters nor sons of daughters, nor daughters of daughters until the end of all the generations, then Yaakov inherits Reuven, his son. And if Yaakov is not alive, then Shimon, Levi, Yehudah, Yosef, Binyamin, etc., Reuven's brothers, the sons of his father, inherit him. And if they are not alive, the sons of Shimon, Levi, etc. inherit Reuven. And if they have neither sons nor sons of sons, their daughters, or sons of daughters, or daughters of daughters inherit. For the male and his heirs always take precedence to the female. And if the brothers of Reuven died without children, or if he never had a brother, he is inherited by his sister, Dinah, the daughter of Yaakov, or her sons, or the sons of her sons, or her daughters or the daughters of her daughters, until the end of time. And if Reuven has neither sister nor children of sister, his inheritance reverts to his father's father, Yitzchak. And if Yitzchak is not alive, Reuven's inheritance reverts to Esav, Yitzchak's son, the brother of the father of Reuven. And if Esav is not alive, the inheritance reverts to Elifaz, the son of Esav, or his sons, or the sons of his sons, or his daughters, or the daughters of his daughters, until the end of all the generations. And if no brothers of Reuven's father nor descendants of theirs are alive, Reuven's inheritance reverts to his father's sister, or her sons, or the sons of her sons, or her daughters, in the aforementioned order. And if Reuven's father has neither brothers nor sons of brothers, nor sisters nor sons of sisters, then his inheritance reverts to Avraham, the father of the father of his father, and so on, until Adam.] And the father (of the deceased) takes precedence to all of his (the father's) offspring. [He takes precedence to the brothers of the father (i.e., the deceased) and their sons. And the brothers of the father take precedence to the sisters of the father, and the brothers of the father and the sisters of the father take precedence to the father of the father (of the deceased). And the father of the father takes precedence to the brothers of the father of the father. And the brothers of the father of the father and even the sister take precedence to the father of the father of the father, and so on, in perpetuum.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Bava Batra
English Explanation of Mishnah Bava Batra
The daughter precedes the brothers and the daughters’ offspring precede the brothers.’
Brothers precede the father’s brothers and the brothers’ offspring precede the father’s brothers.
This is the general rule: whosoever has precedence in inheritance, his offspring also has precedence.
The father has precedence over all his offspring.
Mishnah two lists the order of the inheritance, whose inheritance takes precedence over others.
This mishnah deals with the order of inheritance as mentioned in the verse, quoted in section one. A son precedes a daughter in inheritance. In addition, if the son had children they inherit even if the son is no longer alive. In other words grandchildren inherit directly from their grandfather if the father is no longer alive. As stated in the general rule in section five, offspring in essence take the place of the supposed inheritor. So too if the daughter has offspring and she is no longer alive, they will inherit in place of the brothers of the deceased. If the brothers of the deceased have offspring and the brothers are no longer alive, they will inherit in place of the deceased man’s father’s brothers.
Finally, the mishnah teaches us one other piece of information that we might have assumed from the Torah but is not explicit. The Torah lists the father’s brothers as being on the line of inheritance but it does not list the father himself. Our mishnah states that if a person dies without children, his or her father becomes the primary inheritor. Likewise, if a grandchild would die with no offspring and the grandchild’s father is also not alive the grandfather would inherit from his granchild.