Category Archives: Succession
Albert Feuer, ‘A Proposal to Modernize Small Estate Law in New York’
ABSTRACT The NYSBA Trusts and Estates Law Section approved the proposed Who May Become a Voluntary Administrator Act in January of 2025. The proposal would modernize the procedures for a decedent’s small estate by providing that the implicit and explicit fiduciary preferences of those who die with property of a small value be treated the […]
Sam Bannister, ‘Public policy and the Forfeiture Act 1982: assisted suicide, mercy killings and domestic abuse’
ABSTRACT Examines judicial approaches to litigation under the Forfeiture Act 1982 in three policy contexts: assisted suicide, mercy killings and victims of domestic abuse killing their abuser. Considers prima facie application of the forfeiture rule to all unlawful killers and the bar to granting relief for those convicted of murder. € (Westlaw) Sam Bannister, ‘Public […]
David Horton, ‘Probate Codes as Procedural Codes’
ABSTRACT In every state, a collection of statutes called the Probate Code is the main source of substantive inheritance law. However, Probate Codes also serve another purpose: if litigation arises in probate court, they operate as codes of civil procedure. And although probate procedures are arguably more important than ever – over the next two […]
Natia Nakashidze, ‘Inheritance Law in Georgia: Acceptance of Inheritance, Heirs’ Rights, Escheat Property, Judicial Practice, and the 2026 Reform’
ABSTRACT This article examines inheritance law in Georgia, with particular emphasis on the acceptance of inheritance, heirs’ rights, intestate and testamentary succession, estate property, inheritance registration, escheat property, and the legislative reform effective from 1 July 2026. It analyses the relevant provisions of the Civil Code of Georgia, including Article 1343, together with the jurisprudence […]
‘The Biggest Shake-Up of English Family Law in Over Two Decades?’
On 5 June 2026 the government published a Consultation Document titled ‘A Fairer End to Relationships’. This consultation will close on 14 August 2026. If the proposed changes are later introduced into legislation, the practical implications for families (and family law practitioners alike) in England and Wales could be significant and will mark the biggest […]
Claire-Michelle Smyth, ‘Deathbed gifts after Wills reform: digital dominion, testamentary formality and the future of Donatio Mortis Causa’
ABSTRACT This article examines the future of donatio mortis causa in light of proposed reforms to Wills law and the growth of digital wealth. It argues that statutory dispensing powers and electronic wills weaken the justification for expanding deathbed gifts. Comparative analysis of New South Wales, New Zealand and British Columbia demonstrates that testamentary informality […]
Joel Patterson, ‘Electronic Wills after Modernising Wills Law’
ABSTRACT In May 2025 the Law Commission of England and Wales recommended that electronic wills be capable of formal validity on an equal basis with paper wills, and published a draft Bill to do it. The recommendation is routinely reported as ‘wills going digital’, which invites a specific misreading: that what is proposed is permission […]
Stewart Sterk, ‘Why Complicate Intestacy?’
ABSTRACT Intestate succession statutes have two primary objectives: first they should reflect the likely intent of the decedent, and second, they should facilitate efficient administration of the decedent’s estate. As changes in modern family structure have made it more challenging to determine decedent intent, statute drafters must decide how to prioritize these two objectives. The […]
Lukas Rass-Masson, ‘The Impact of European Private International Law and the réserve héréditaire in France’
ABSTRACT Whether the réserve héréditaire (forced heirship under French inheritance law) forms part of French international ordre public, and therefore falls within the public-policy exception, has long been the subject of a major doctrinal debate in France. While the traditional answer was positive, the contemporary evolution of French private international law, driven in particular by […]
Juan Carlos Ibarra, ‘Racial Legal Entitlements and Heirs’ Property’
ABSTRACT Heirs’ property – land inherited by multiple family members, most commonly by intestate succession – produces disproportionate land loss for Black families and other families of color when outsiders force the sale of commonly owned land. Existing scholarship has documented heirs’ property’s racialized consequences and generated significant legal and policy reforms. Yet these efforts […]