ABSTRACT
This chapter considers at policy challenges regarding how family members are, and are not, provided for upon death in a variety of jurisdictions. It provides an overview of the rules governing the distribution of property at death in both common law and civil law countries. The chapter focuses on policy issues in succession law in two common law countries, the United States and England. Succession laws extend their protections to individuals based on status. Neither the US nor England provide intestacy rights for cohabiting couples, i.e. couples who live together in an intimate relationship but are neither married nor registered in a civil partnership. Most civil law countries have adopted marital property rules whereby property earned by either spouse during a marriage is community property, over which both spouses have ownership interest. Adopted children are treated the same as natural children of their parents for all purposes.
