In England, it would depend on a couple of things.
If the real property were held in fee tail (Entailed) a person would need the agreement of the heir to break the fee tail.
If a tail could not be broken, the ancestor/father could leave all of his personal property,money or unentailed real property any way that he chose. Theoretically an heir could inherit a parcel of land/estate and have no financial means to keep it up.
An heir could voluntarily abjure a title. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abjuration.
I am not aware of a means to force an heir out unless the parent filed a writ to have him declared a bastard. Until the 20th century bastards could not inherit a title or take from a parent who died intestate.
On teh Continent, in what we call France and some of teh German principalities, Sa;ic Law governed civil law issues including inheritance.
I am less familiar with Salic Law provisions