Family, Law, and Inheritance in America
Family, Law, and Inheritance in America

Author: Yvonne Pitts

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-05-20

Total Pages: 219

ISBN-13: 1107035503

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Yvonne Pitts explores nineteenth-century inheritance practices by focusing on testamentary capacity trials in Kentucky in which disinherited family members challenged relatives' wills, claiming the testator lacked the capacity required to write a valid will. By anchoring the study in the history of local communities and the texts of elite jurists, Pitts demonstrates that "capacity" was a term laden with legal meaning and competing communal values.

Dead Hands
Dead Hands

Author: Lawrence M. Friedman

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2009-03-09

Total Pages: 342

ISBN-13: 0804771081

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The law of succession rests on a single brute fact: you can't take it with you. The stock of wealth that turns over as people die is staggeringly large. In the United States alone, some $41 trillion will pass from the dead to the living in the first half of the 21st century. But the social impact of inheritance is more than a matter of money; it is also a matter of what money buys and brings about. Law and custom allow people many ways to pass on their property. As Friedman's enlightening social history reveals, a decline in formal rules, the ascendancy of will substitutes over classic wills, social changes like the rise of the family of affection, changing ideas of acceptable heirs, and the potential disappearance of the estate tax all play a large role in the balance of wealth. Dead Hands uncovers the tremendous social and legal importance of this rite of passage, and how it reflects changing values and priorities in American families and society.

History of Inheritance Law
History of Inheritance Law

Author: Harry L Munsinger J D, PH D

Publisher:

Published: 2020-11-09

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 9781480898417

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Experts estimate that eighty percent of household wealth is inherited, and the average American who died in 2015 left approximately $177,000 to his or her family. Harry L. Munsinger, a lawyer practicing in Texas, explores the history of inheritance law in this fascinating book. Topics include: - English laws of succession, which evolved to favor wealthy families by passing real estate and family titles to the eldest surviving son. In contrast, the American colonies developed a democratic system of inheritance where land was divided equally among all the sons. - Goals of early inheritance laws, which were to keep ancestral lands in the family and to determine who would take the land when a father died. - Ways American laws of succession followed English common law during the colonial period and then developed variations more suited to America's social and economic needs after the colonies won their independence from Britain. The author also highlights how any interested party can allege a defect in the execution of a will, how trusts were developed by courts of equity to avoid the rigid rules of English common law governing legal title and use of real property, and how families can safely and effectively transfer wealth.

States Without Nations
States Without Nations

Author: Jacqueline Stevens

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 0231148771

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

As citizens, we hold certain truths to be self-evident: that the rights to own land, marry, inherit property, and especially to assume birthright citizenship should be guaranteed by the state. The laws promoting these rights appear not only to preserve our liberty but to guarantee society remains just. Yet considering how much violence and inequality results from these legal mandates, Jacqueline Stevens asks whether we might be making the wrong assumptions. Would a world without such laws be more just? Arguing that the core laws of the nation-state are more about a fear of death than a desire for freedom, Jacqueline Stevens imagines a world in which birthright citizenship, family inheritance, state-sanctioned marriage, and private land ownership are eliminated. Would chaos be the result? Drawing on political theory and history and incorporating contemporary social and economic data, she brilliantly critiques our sentimental attachments to birthright citizenship, inheritance, and marriage and highlights their harmful outcomes, including war, global apartheid, destitution, family misery, and environmental damage. It might be hard to imagine countries without the rules of membership and ownership that have come to define them, but as Stevens shows, conjuring new ways of reconciling our laws with the condition of mortality reveals the flaws of our present institutions and inspires hope for moving beyond them.

Encyclopedia of Law and Society
Encyclopedia of Law and Society

Author: David S. Clark

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 2007-07-10

Total Pages: 1809

ISBN-13: 076192387X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Introduction to and survey of the field of law and society. Includes interdisciplinary perspectives on law from sociology, criminology, cultural anthropology, political science, social psychology, and economics.

Inheritance Law And The Evolving Family
Inheritance Law And The Evolving Family

Author: Ralph Brashier

Publisher: Temple University Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 1592132227

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Nontraditional families are today an important part of American family life. Yet when a loved one dies, our inheritance laws are often stingy even towards survivors in the nuclear family. With humor, enthusiasm, and a bit of righteous outrage, Ralph C. Brashier explores how probate laws ignore gender roles and marital contributions of the spouse, often to the detriment of the surviving widow; how probate laws pretend that unmarried couples—particularly gay and lesbian ones—do not exist; how probate laws allow a parent to disinherit even the neediest child; and how probate laws for nonmarital children, adopted children, and children born of surrogacy or other forms of assisted reproductive technology are in flux or simply don't exist. A thoughtful examination of the current state of probate law and the inability of legislators to recognize and provide for the broad range of families in America today, this book will be read by those with an interest in the relationship between families and the law across a wide range of academic disciplines.

Inheritance Matters
Inheritance Matters

Author: Suzanne Lenon

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2023-09-21

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 1509964827

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book makes a compelling case for placing the social and legal practices of inheritance centre stage to make sense of fundamental questions of our time. Drawing on historical, literary, sociological, and legal analysis, this rich collection of original, interdisciplinary and international contributions demonstrates how inheritance is and has always been about far more than the set of legal processes for the distribution of wealth and property upon death. The contributions range from exploring the intractable tensions underlying family disputes and the legal and political debates about taxation, to revisiting literary plots in the past and presenting a contemporary artistic challenge of heirship. With an introduction that presents a critical mapping of the field of inheritance studies, this collection reveals the complexity of ideas about 'passing on', 'legacies', and 'heirlooms'; troubles some of the enduring consequences of 'charitable bequests', 'family money', and 'estate planning; and, deepens our understanding of the intimate and political practices of inheritance.

Wills, Trusts, and Estates, Eleventh Edition
Wills, Trusts, and Estates, Eleventh Edition

Author: Jesse Dukeminier

Publisher: Aspen Publishing

Published: 2021-11-01

Total Pages: 1524

ISBN-13: 1543824471

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Widely hailed as one of the best casebooks in legal education, this comprehensive text combines interesting cases, thoughtful analysis, notes, images, and a clear organization for an excellent teaching tool. Cartoons, illustrations, case documents, and photographs provide engaging visual commentary. Sidebars on relevant persons, places, and things provide interesting and sometimes humorous context. New to the Eleventh Edition: New section on will execution during the COVID-19 pandemic, with attention to reconciling “presence” with social distancing Updated and completely revised section on electronic or digital wills, with attention to the latest cases and statutes Updated to account for the 2021 and 2019 revisions to the Uniform Probate Code that, among other things, eliminated gender-based distinctions and expanded recognition of non-biological parent-child relationships Updated coverage of wealth and income inequality and new material on recent proposals for a wealth tax Updated and completely revised section on trust decanting, with attention to the latest statutory and case law developments Updated and completely revised section on asset protection trusts, with attention to key choice-of-law and fraudulent transfer principles Professors and students will benefit from: Unique blend of wit, erudition, insight, and playfulness retained from the late Jesse Dukeminier Organization that covers all the key topics in a logical and clear format Interesting cases that are not only fun to read, but fun to teach Cases enhanced and connected to broader legal principles by well-written connective text, notes, questions, problems, and sidebars Arresting two-color design Cartoons, illustrations, wills and other case documents, and photographs that provide visual commentary and teaching aids