ABSTRACT
Family relationships that are not otherwise terminated during life are eventually terminated by death. What happens to a deceased person’s property can have a signifi cant impact on the well-being of the surviving family members. This chapter considers current policy challenges regarding how family members are, and are not, provided for upon death in a variety of jurisdictions. (See also Chapter 5.1 of this book.)
This chapter consists of three parts. The fi rst provides an overview of the rules governing the distribution of property at death in both common law and civil law countries. The second focuses on current policy issues in succession law in two common law countries, the United States and England (which for these purposes includes Wales), and the third focuses on such issues in succession law in France, a civil law country.
