Category Archives: Succession
Rzewuski and Rzewuska, ‘The public policy (Ordre Public) exception in succession cases in the European Union’
ABSTRACT Pursuant to the provisions of Regulation No 650/2012, ordre public is a legal concept that protects the fundamental values and principles of legal order in an EU Member State. Courts that adjudicate over succession matters apply the public policy exception to protect the fundamental principles of legal order in their respective countries. In practice, […]
Ashley Pyle, ‘A Toxic Inheritance: Addressing the Legal Implications of Inheriting Hazardous Waste Land’
ABSTRACT Inheritance law, governing the transfer of assets and rights from generation to generation, is a cornerstone of legal systems worldwide, Inheritance law’s implications extend beyond wealth management and tax strategies. This Article addresses a neglected area of overlap: inheritance law and hazardous waste. Consider Sarah, a Southern California beneficiary whose narrative exemplifies that overlap, […]
‘The Conflict Between Copyright Law and Donative Freedom’
Lee-ford Tritt, ‘The Curious Case of the James Brown Estate’, 92 George Washington Law Review 753 (2024). In ‘The Curious Case of the James Brown Estate’, Lee-ford Tritt explores how certain provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976 can upend an artist’s estate plan. Professor Tritt makes a persuasive case for legal reform and documents […]
Report: ‘Modernising Wills Law’ (Law Commission for England and Wales)
The Law Commission has published its recommendations to reform the law of wills in its Report: Modernising Wills Law. The reforms will modernise the law governing wills to ensure it is fit for purpose in the modern age. Our recommendations are aimed at supporting testamentary freedom, protecting testators, and increasing clarity and certainty in the […]
Hall, Cockburn, Crawford, Harding and Purser, ‘Risks, Benefits, Opportunities, and Electronic Formalities In the Law of Wills: A Comparative Approach’
ABSTRACT Traditional ‘formalities’ in the law of wills – including formal requirements for revocation by destruction – contemplate paper documents, wet signatures, and testators and witnesses in the physical presence of one another. Unless these traditional requirements have been modified by legislation, wills made using one or more electronic formalities will not meet the formal […]
Chang and Ho, ‘Intestacy and Inequality Under China’s Revised Succession Law’
ABSTRACT This Article assesses how Chinese intestacy laws augment and redress wealth inequality. In 2021, China’s first civil code took effect, reforming, among other things, the decades-old Succession Law. Focusing on the Intestacy Rules within the Revised Succession Law, we show how the prioritization of testamentary freedom and intrafamilial wealth preservation undercuts the Chinese Communist […]
Mark Glover, ‘Nominal Bequests’
ABSTRACT De minimis non curat lex. This maxim provides that the law does not concern itself with trifles. Regardless of whether the law generally abides by this principle, the law of wills does not not. For centuries, case after case has delved into the consequences of de minimis bequests of one shilling or of one […]
Ashton Austin, ‘From Property Rights to Human Rights: Combating Forced Partition in Louisiana with the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act’
INTRODUCTION ‘Because of a technicality you done uprooted a family’. The Lewis family is a Black, low-income family who owned 480 acres of land and a homestead in northern Louisiana. Throughout the years, the Lewis family lived on the land and consistently paid their property taxes. However, this land was heirs property, a relatively new […]
Amy Sedgwick, ‘The cost of claims brought under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975: Hirachand v Hirachand [2024] UKSC 43′
ABSTRACT In Hirachand v Hirachand, the Supreme Court considered the payment of CFA success fees in claims brought under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. The court decided that a CFA success fee is not a debt, the satisfaction of which may constitute a financial need for which the court may make […]
Adam Hirsch, ‘Beyond Privity of Blood: Intestacy and Charity’
ABSTRACT When an individual dies without leaving a will, the law of intestacy functions to distribute the decedent’s estate to a surviving spouse and/or close blood relatives. Yet, this default regime fails to account for the possibility that some individuals wish to allocate part of their estates to charity. Drawing on empirical evidence, including data […]