Full Description
This third volume in a series on Comparative Succession Law concerns the entitlement of family members to override the provisions of a deceased person's will to obtain money or assets (or more money or assets) from the person's estate. Some countries, notably those in the civil law tradition (such as France or Germany), confer a pre-ordained share of the deceased's estate or of its value on certain members of the deceased's family, and especially on the deceased's children and spouse. Other countries, notably those in the common law tradition (such as England, Canada, or Australia), leave the matter to the discretion of the court, the amount awarded depending primarily on financial need. Whichever form it takes, mandatory family provision is both a protection against disinheritance and also, therefore, a restriction on testamentary freedom.
The volume focuses on Europe and on countries influenced by the European experience. In addition to detailed treatment of the law in Austria, England and Wales, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Scotland, and Spain, the book also has chapters on Australia and New Zealand, South Africa, the United States, Canada, the countries of Latin America, and the People's Republic of China. Some other countries are covered more briefly, and there is a separate chapter on Islamic law. The book opens with accounts of Roman law and of the law in medieval and early-modern Europe, and it concludes with a comparative assessment of the law as it is today in the countries and legal traditions surveyed in this volume.
Contents
Preface
List of Abbreviations
List of Contributors
1: Reinhard Zimmermann: Protection Against Being Passed Over or Disinherited in Roman Law
2: Sebastian Lohsse: Passing Over and Disinheritance in the Days of the Ius Commune
3: Thomas Rüfner: Customary Mechanisms of Family Protection: Late Medieval and Early Modern Law
4: Cécile Pérès: Compulsory Portion in France
5: Alexandra Braun: Forced Heirship in Italy
6: Sergio Cámara Lapuente: Forced Heirship in Spain
7: Jan Peter Schmidt: Forced Heirship and Family Provision in Latin America
8: Christiane Wendehorst: Compulsory Portion and Other Aspects of Family Protection in Austria
9: Reinhard Zimmermann: Compulsory Portion in Germany
10: Wilbert D Kolkman: Compulsory Portion and Family Provision in the Netherlands
11: Lajos Vékás: Compulsory Portion in Hungary
12: Frederyk Zoll: Compulsory Portion in Poland
13: Roger Kerridge: Family Provision in England and Wales
14: Kenneth G C Reid: Legal Rights in Scotland
15: Nicola Peart and Prue Vines: Family Provision in New Zealand and Australia
16: Marius J de Waal: Family Provision in South Africa
17: Alexandra Popovici and Lionel Smith: Freedom of Testation and Family Claims in Canada
18: Ronald J Scalise Jr: Family Protection in the United States of America
19: Jens M Scherpe and Thomas Eeg: Compulsory Portion and Minimum Inheritance in Norway
20: Knut Benjamin Pißler and Timo Kleinwegener: Necessary Portion in China
21: Nadjma Yassari: Compulsory Heirship and Freedom of Testation in Islamic Law
22: Reinhard Zimmermann: Mandatory Family Protection in the Civilian Tradition
23: Kenneth G C Reid: Mandatory Family Protection in the Common Law Tradition
24: Kenneth G C Reid, Marius J de Waal, and Reinhard Zimmermann: Mandatory Family Protection in Historical and Comparative Perspective
Index
