Testamente och arvsrätt

Rätt arv handlar om hur en avliden persons kvarlåtenskap ska fördelas; en fråga som i alla tider har tilldragit sig uppmärksamhet. Många har intresse, berättigat eller inte, av att få del av den efterlämnade egendomen. Reglerna om arv och testamente anger hur man ska gå tillväga i denna situation. De ger uttryck för en avvägning mellan olika intressen; arvingarna och i synnerhet barnens intresse av kvarlåtenskapen, en efterlevande makes eller sambos intresse av att få behålla det gemensamma hemmet intakt samt arvlåtarens intresse av att genom testamente få förfoga över sin egendom efter eget huvud. I Rätt arv beskrivs bl.a. arvsordningen och förutsättningar för arv samt skyddet för en efterlevande make, både genom giftorätt och arvsrätt. Vidare behandlas efterarvsrätt, testamentsrätten samt förmånstagarförordnanden i försäkring. Boken innehåller en genomgång av de frågor som ett arvskifte aktualiserar. I ett avslutande kapitel uppmärksammas några successionsrättsliga frågor av rättspolitiskt intresse – är reglerna om arv och testamente avpassade för vår tid? Rätt arv är främst avsedd att vara en lärobok för studerande på juristlinjernas grundutbildning. Boken har emellertid också stort värde för alla med ett yrkesmässigt eller privat intresse av successionsrättsliga frågor.

Denna bok behandlar rättshandlingar för dödsfalls skull, alltså främst testamenten men också arvsavtal och förmånstagarförordnanden vid livförsäkring och individuellt pensionssparande. När det gäller testamenten behandlas - testamentsrättens historia - rätten att göra eller ta testamente - upprättande och återkallelse - ogiltighet och klander - förverkande och preskription - tolkning - testamente av make och inbördes testamenten. Beträffande förmånstagarförordnanden åskådliggörs likheter och skillnader i relation till vad som gäller för testamenten. I boken ges en översikt av regelsystemet, av sammanhanget mellan olika bestämmelser och av skälen för olika lösningar. Referat av rättsfall används som illustration. Lagförslag som lämnats av Utredningen om en arvs- och testamentsrätt i tiden (SOU 2025:91), omnämns men analyseras inte. Boken är skriven för studerande på juristutbildningar men kan också användas av andra kategorier av läsare.

Med Ekonomisk familjerätt förstås reglerna om makars och sambors egendom samt reglerna om arv, testamente och boutredning. Regler som inte har ekonomisk anknytning (t.ex. faderskap, vårdnad och adoption) berörs mera kortfattat. Regler om gåva hör inte traditionellt till familjerätten, men eftersom gåvoavtalet har störst betydelse i relationer mellan anhöriga, innehåller boken även ett avsnitt om gåva. Författaren förklarar på ett klart och lättbegripligt sätt de ofta komplicerade reglerna. Han ger exempel på avtal och andra rättshandlingar (t.ex. äktenskapsförord, testamenten och skifteshandlingar) och tydliggör med uppställningar och sifferexempel.

I denna tionde upplaga har författaren gjort ändringar och kompletteringar och fört framställningen à jour fram till mars 2022. Boken vänder sig till studerande vid universitet och högskolor och praktiskt verksamma jurister men även till den intresserade lekmannen.

Den kvarlåtenskap som någon lämnar efter sig vid sin död ska enligt arvsrätten fördelas på dennes arvingar och/eller testamentstagare. Ibland förekommer det att en arvtagare eller testamentstagare först ska få kvarlåtenskapen men att den därefter, vid denne arvinges eller testamentstagares död, ska tillfalla någon annan. Den som slutligen ska få arvet brukar då benämnas efterarvinge eller sekundosuccessor och det arv som tillfaller denne brukar kallas efterarv.

Reglerna om efterarv är i sig ganska komplicerade och innehåller dessutom ett antal otydligheter. I boken behandlas detta utförligt och tydliggörs genom exempel. Efterarvsreglerna kan också i förening med andra regler i arvslagstiftningen leda till mycket krångliga arvssituationer. I boken behandlas sådana komplicerade fall.

Boken vänder sig främst till personer som arbetar med arvs- och testamentsrättsliga frågor på t.ex. domstolar, advokatbyråer, banker, försäkringsbolag, socialkontor, bouppteckningsbyråer och liknande. Den bör också kunna användas vid utbildning för sådana arbetsuppgifter.

BOUPPTECKNING & ARVSKIFTE visar steg för steg hur du upprättar en korrekt bouppteckning och hur ett slutligt arvskifte genomförs. Du får en utförlig genomgång av alla frågor som blir aktuella vid ett dödsfall, exempelvis frågor om arvsordning, dödsbodelägarkrets, bodelning mellan makar eller sambor, testamenten och värdering av tillgångar och skulder. Tydliga exempel visar hur alla dokument kan utformas. Boken är skriven på begriplig svenska och innehåller många praktiska exempel som underlättar förståelsen.

Hur skall ett testamente utformas? Vilka rättigheter och skyldigheter för testamentstagarna kan bestämmas i ett förordnande? I vilka fall kan arvingar och andra berörda få ett testamente ogiltigförklarat? Testamentsrättens ändamål är att ge möjligheter för en person att bestämma hur kvarlåtenskap skall fördelas inom och mellan generationer. I denna bok behandlas hur avvägningen bör göras mellan de legala arvingarnas rätt att ärva i kraft av släktskap och testatorns rätt att bestämma över sin kvarlåtenskap, samt i vilken utsträckning arvingarna är skyldiga att beakta en avlidens olika viljeyttringar om kvarlåtenskapen. Framställningen bygger på den grundläggande principen att ett testamente skall vara rationellt såväl från samhällsekonomiskt perspektiv som från den legala arvsordningens perspektiv. I boken diskuteras också successionsrättens allmänna läror liksom tänkbara reformer inom testamentsrätten.

En klassisk och utförlig kommentar till ärvdabalken, 1-17 kap. om arv och testamente, paragraf för paragraf med redovisning av förarbeten, rättspraxis och doktrin. I denna åttonde upplaga kommenteras ny relevant rättspraxis och litteratur som publicerats sedan förra upplagan kom ut. Bl.a. annat har ett antal avgöranden från HD inom arvs- och testamentsrätten vilka rört allt ifrån tillämpning av principerna för testamentstolkning, återkallelse av testamente, sekundosuccession, det förstärkta laglottsskyddet till frågan om en fullmakts rättsverkan sedan fullmaktsgivaren avlidit tagits med. Vidare kommenteras ett stort antal hovrättsavgöranden som illustrerar behandlingen av materiella eller processuella frågor.

Till betydelsefulla legislativa nyheter under denna period hör den nya lagen (2021:401) om Allmänna arvsfonden och förordningen (2021:403) som är knuten till den nya lagen, vilka trädde i kraft den 1 juli 2021. Även annan ny lagstiftning utanför ÄB har aktualiserat tillämpningen av olika stadganden i balken.

The eighth edition of Wills, Probate and Estates has been written to provide trainee solicitors with a clear and thorough understanding of current best practice in the area of wills, trusts, probate, and the administration of estates. The manual takes into account all recent changes in legislation.The book outlines the basic elements of a will, familiarising trainees with the common law and statutory background, and enabling them to draft wills and simple trusts in accordance with statute and their clients' informed instructions. It then outlines how to obtain the necessary grant of representation on the death of a client, either with or without a will, and how to administer such an estate, taking into account the various obligations on the personal representative.Wills, Probate and Estates provides succinct and practical advice, provided by solicitors for solicitors, tackling questions of practice and procedure that are of central importance not only for students on the Professional Practice Course, but also to practitioners who deal with any area of wills, trusts, probate, or the administration of estates.

The Issue of how assets are distributed after death is of increasing significance for larger numbers of people. In this original and path-breaking study, the authors examine the principle means through which people plan to dispose of their assets after death: by the use of wills. By offering an empirical study of 800 English wills, the book identifies significant patterns of bequeathing among a cross-section of the population, and not just among those sections of society who enjoy substantial wealth. This leads us to focus upon what wills tell us about the family and kin relationships, and upon how people transmit their assets across generations: to their families and to institutions and organizations.

This important collection of essays by a distinguished group of trust lawyers demonstrates that trusts law continues to be an area of great vitality and practical significance. Trusts is a subject that excites interest with its mixture of sophisticated thinking and practical commercial application. The papers in this volume not only have international appeal but also cover areas which are currently important to the legal profession. The essays range widely over subjects as varied as non-charitable purpose trusts (important for their use in tax havens in commercial and estate planning roles), the protector (a figure increasingly introduced to discretionary trusts in tax havens), pension trusts (important in the light of recent pension fraud), the duty of care owed by company directors to the company, liability and remedies for breach of trust, equities reaction to modern domestic relationships and taxation of the constructive trustee.

Increasing numbers of people have connections with one country, but live and work in another, frequently owning property or investments in several countries. People with lifelong or subsequently developed impairments of capacity move cross-border or have property or family interests or connections spread across different jurisdictions. This new work fills a gap in a specialist market for a detailed work advising lawyers on all the considerations in these situations. The book provides a clear, comprehensive, and unique overview of all relevant capacity and private international law issues, and the existing solutions in common law and civil law jurisdictions and under Hague Convention XXXV. It sets out the existing law of various important jurisdictions, including detailed chapters on the constituent parts of the UK, Ireland, Jersey, the Isle of Man and the Hague 35 states; and shorter chapters on 26 Non-Hague states and those within federal states, including coverage of the United States, several Australian and Canadian states, and a number of other Commonwealth jurisdictions. Containing a number of helpful case studies and flowcharts, the book draws upon the expertise of the editors in their respective fields, together with detailed contributions from expert practitioners and academics from each relevant jurisdiction.All the editors and many of the contributors and correspondents are members of STEP.

Testamentary capacity is an increasingly difficult and important area in will preparation. The rise in capacity issues, associated with the increasing aging population and longer life expectancy, has become a fruitful area for dispute and litigation. This book equips practitioners with the knowledge and practical guidance needed in this complex but commonplace problem area.Featuring an explanation of the law relating to testamentary capacity, the book also includes a practical section on the role of the will draftsman. Covering all associated areas such as interviews, questioning, recording of relevant information, and risk management policies, these issues are put into context by a guide to mental health issues that can affect capacity.This books also features a section on litigating in this area including pre-litigation considerations, a guide to ADR and settlement, and procedural issues. Written by experienced wills practitioners and an expert in old age psychiatry, this book is the first to link relevant medical issues directly to law and practice, presenting all the information a draftsman or litigator needs on the subject. This is an invaluable resource for all concerned with issues of testamentary capacity.

Intestate Succession is the second volume in the Comparative Succession Law series which examines the principles of succession law from a comparative and historical perspective. This volume discusses the rules which apply where a person dies either without leaving a valid will, or leaving a will which fails to dispose of all of the person's assets. Among the questions considered are the following: What is the nature of the rules for the disposal of the deceased's assets? Are they mechanical or is there an element of discretion? Are particular types of property dealt with in particular ways? Is there entitlement to individual assets (as opposed to money)? Do the rules operate in a parentelic system or a system of some other kind? Are spouses treated more favourably than children? What provision is made for extra-marital children, for adopted children, for step-children? Does cohabitation give rise to entitlement? How are same-sex couples treated? Broader questions also arise of a historical and comparative nature. Where, for example, do the rules in intestate succession come from in particular legal systems? Have they been influenced by the rules in other countries? How are the rules explained and how are they justified? To what extent have they changed over time? What are the long-term trends? And finally, are the rules satisfactory, and is there pressure for their reform?As in the first volume, this book will focus on Europe and on countries which have been influenced by the European experience such as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the United States of America, Quebec, and the countries of Latin America. Further chapters are devoted to Islamic Law and Nordic law. Opening with a discussion on Roman law and concluding with an assessment of the overall development of the law in the countries surveyed, this book will provide a wider reflection on the nature and purpose of the law of intestate succession.

Claiming a Promised Inheritance examines those cases where a person is promised a future inheritance and, having acted on it, later discovers that the promise is unfulfilled. The book structures its analysis and argument around the stories of disappointed promisees and their unfulfilled expectations of a future inheritance, and how they might seek redress. It maps and compares the various, and often very diverse range of legal responses that a promisee can avail herself of across different legal areas of the law (ranging from contract law to property law, employment law, unjust and unjustified enrichment law, and succession law) and in both common and civil law traditions. Braun asks how these responses protect the interests of promisees and whether they are sensitive to the context in which such promises are expressed. In doing so, the focus rests on the level of protection the various forms of redress grant, their scope, and the challenges promisees face when brining a claim, but also on the values and interests that are at stake when granting relief. This book argues that due to the social and legal context within which promises of a future inheritance are normally made, promisees are usually in a vulnerable position that can easily by exploited. It further argues that the law is usually more acutely attuned to the risks that the promisor incurs and that greater attention should be paid to the challenges promisees face. Claiming a Promised Inheritance thus complements the traditional viewpoint by bringing into focus the (too often ignored) perspective of promisees.

The resulting trust has received little attention in recent years and this may be because, until relatively recently, the law relating to resulting trusts was thought to be settled and uncontroversial. Most of the current academic writing about resulting trusts is found in the established textbooks on equity and trusts, but these tend to provide little more than catalogues of the situations in which resulting trusts arise. There is, however, very little consensus on the principle by which the resulting trust operates, including the fundamental question whether it arises by opertaion of law or depends on the presumed intention to create a trust. This book examines the true nature of the resulting trust and the question whether the trusts brought into being to reverse unjust enrichment should not include resulting trusts. It then considers whether, when resulting trusts are properly understood, it does turn out that it is through the resulting trust that equity makes its principle contribution to reversing unjust enrichment. This book examines principally the case law of the UK, Canada and Australia, and it also makes reference to the views of academic commentators as found in the standard texts and law journals.

This is the first book to examine in depth the doctrinal character of the unit trust. The author begins by tracing the history of the unit trust as a sub-set of the trust and the company. He goes on to examine a whole range of related topics, including the contractual ingredient of the unit trust and its implications on doctrines of perpetuities, important case law such as the case of Saunder v Vautier, frustration, and remedies. This is followed by an analysis of the unit trust's relationships, obligations, and rights aspects -- including the associative, agency and fiduciary character of the relationships; the 'split of trusteeship' between the trustee and the manager (in the form of directory, veto, delegation, and advisory powers); and the nature of the unit trust. The relevant provisions of the Financial Services Act 1986 and its subsidiary legislation are also analysed. Clearly this book will be invaluable to all those who require a better understanding of the unit trust.

Presented and written in a friendly and engaging style, Dr Brian Sloan continues to update Borkowski's classic textbook which is perfectly pitched for today's undergraduate students. Considerable attention is given to the area's rich and evolving case-law, illustrating the relevance of the law to modern life; the central issues and academic debates surrounding inheritance are discussed fully.New to this edition chapter nine, Family provision, has been restructured to include Ilott v The Blue Cross and subsequent case law, an expanded section on inheritance tax and more diagrams on key concepts and processes, all presented in a clear design to aid understanding and ease navigation.igital formats and resourcesThe fourth edition is available for students and institutions to purchase in a variety of formats, and is supported by online resources.- The e-book offers a mobile experience and convenient access along with functionality tools, navigation features and links that offer extra learning support: www.oxfordtextbooks.co.uk/ebooks - Borkowski's Law of Succession is accompanied by online resources featuring a bank of useful and relevant web links, post-publication updated to the law and a range of companion multiple choice questions on the key areas of succession law.

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.

This new edition has been extended to include chapters on the Czech Republic, Gibraltar, Indonesia, Luxembourg, and the Phillipines, making this the most comprehensive analysis of succession laws available.Each country analysis is based on a similar set of questions to ensure that all issues are tackled for every jurisdiction and to enable the reader to make easy comparisons between the countries included. The questionnaire has been updated to include a new section on challenges to an administrator's decision, and extends the section on inheritance orders to address the interaction of trusts and forced heirship. The book also considers the law at regional level in the European Union explaining the effect of recent EU legislation with regard to harmonization, and considering the impact of the European Succession Regulation post-implementation.Now covering 56 jurisdictions, this work is an invaluable reference source for those advising on matters of international succession, especially in cases where there are cross-border elements.

This fourth volume in the Comparative Succession Law series provides a historical and comparative study of how and by whom the estates of deceased persons are administered, drawing upon the legal traditions of Europe and beyond. When a person dies, their assets (or their value) will transfer to those entitled to inherit them following the deceased's will or, in the absence of a will, according to the rules of intestate succession. Along the way, the assets have to be identified, located, collected in, and safeguarded. Debts owed by the deceased or arising from the death must likewise be identified and then met (if need be, with the proceeds from a sale of estate assets). The whole process by which this is done, from the time of the death until the time of final distribution of the assets to those entitled to receive them, is the subject of Administration of Estates. The topic has sometimes been neglected even within national legal systems, and systematic comparative analysis, at least in the English language, is almost wholly lacking. The volume thus seeks to fill an important gap in the field of comparative succession law.Focusing on the legal systems of Europe and on countries which have been influenced by the European experience, the volume examines the law in Austria, England and Wales, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Scotland, and Spain, as well as presenting chapters on Australia and New Zealand, Canada, China, South Africa, South America, and the United States of America. The historical background to the main legal traditions in Europe is represented by chapters on Roman law, the customary law of early-modern Continental Europe, and English law before 1837.

The growing trend for purchasing property in France, either as a main or second home, has led to a corresponding need for a book which explains the French conveyancing system for lawyers trained in other legal systems. French Property and Inheritance Law offers practical guidance to lawyers and other professionals advising clients on property transactions and related matters in France including: buying, selling, and mortgaging land; the ownership of flats and leases; and the establishment of companies to own land as a means of avoiding French inheritance rules and to mitigate French inheritance tax. It unravels the mysteries of many features of the French system such as the marriage régime, the PACS, and sales en viager which can often be advantageous to non-French clients.The book also covers all aspects of French inheritance law, including the rules of intestacy, the making of wills, and the inheritance rights of the surviving spouse and the rights of other members of the family. The author offers advice on how beneficiaries can avoid personal liability for the debts of a deceased and provides practical guidance on the administration of estates. A glossary and relevant legal precedents are also included. The author also writes regular updates on new key developments in French property law - please see the publication Solicitors' Journal for details of his articles on the subject.

Highly regarded, and cited in a number of judgments, Thomas on Powers is concerned with the general principles and doctrines governing or affecting the creation, exercise, and operation of powers in private law, and provides a discursive, intellectual analysis of the principles underlying the problems commonly encountered by practitioners. The first edition of Thomas on Powers was published in 1998 as part of Sweet & Maxwell's Property and Conveyancing Library. This new edition both updates the original work and expands the scope of the book significantly to include coverage of offshore trusts and current trusts issues such as fiduciary powers, protectors, and "shams".Thomas on Powers provides extensive coverage of recent statutes dealing with trustee delegation; developments to the law relating to pension schemes; and cases relating to the rule in Hastings-Bass, which has had a series of contentious recent decisions. This edition includes expanded discussion of case law from Commonwealth countries and focuses more on the numerous judgments from offshore jurisdictions, some of which raise novel questions and issues. The book also includes an increased emphasis on the specific legislation of offshore trusts, where practical problems centred around the creation and exercise of trustee powers have become very important. This edition covers the problematic interaction of powers of revocation and sham trusts; the scope and effects of powers of amendment; the powers and role of protectors of offshore trusts; and the powers of directors of companies; and the relationship between fiduciary powers in private law and powers exercised by public bodies.

The use of international trusts continues to expand, and practitioners increasingly need to be aware of cross-border considerations. This title provides a concise and practical overview of the key aspects of law and practice in all the key jurisdictions offering trusts. Private and commercial trusts are established under the law of an increasing number of jurisdictions, which are competing to attract trust business, and these laws are often dissimilar. As international trusts mature, established trust jurisdictions are changing their laws to comply with the legal demands and standards imposed by international agencies, as well as to meet the legitimate expectations of the institutional investor. The courts of international centres are also developing their own jurisprudence. In addition, jurisdictions new to trusts are introducing trusts in the vehicles which they offer investors, and legislation from these new trust centres is opening up new routes for international investment and tax mitigation. This book provides a comprehensive treatment of the subject, covering all the key on-shore and off-shore jurisdictions that practitioners typically encounter. It offers a very practical overview of the subject using a questionnaire format for each country, avoiding academic material, and giving concise answers to the sorts of frequently asked questions that arise in trust law and practice. The questionnaire covers a full range of subjects such as the mechanics of trusts, issues such as anti-money laundering laws and conflicts of laws, shams, protectors, and forced heirship as well as the different types of trusts used in a jurisdiction.Formerly an annual special issue in the journal Trusts & Trustees, this title has been improved and extended with a reworked questionnaire, new countries and contributors, and new editors, Charles Gothard and Sanjvee Shah.

Risk and Negligence in Wills, Estates, and Trusts provides essential guidance for all will draftsmen. It offers in-depth analysis of negligence and wills, together with commentary on safe practice and the avoidance of risk. Together the areas covered provide a framework for the safe practice that is now essential in this much disputed area of work.This updated edition examines the new developments in will preparation and what is needed for safe practice as well as the important cases since the last edition. This work contains indispensable practical guidance, tailored to meet the demands of all those involved in wills, trusts, and estates and disputes relating to them. Practical advice in establishing best practice to avoid disputes is given and the appendices include practical forms and checklists to assist this. In addition there is analysis of the allied subjects of estate and trust administration and commonly encountered problem areas. A section also concentrates on duties in relation to taxation aspects of this work. Negligence and private client work is a fast developing area of modern law. The recent financial crisis has helped to focus attention closely on what risk is and how it should be managed. This has not merely been in the financial sector but in all areas of business. The legal profession has seen some major financial failures and an operating climate that is increasingly difficult. The rise in PI claims, the insurers' restrictions on cover, and the increased cost of cover have led to an increased focus on professional ability and risk management. Therefore, knowledge of the risks, what constitutes safe practice, and how to manage risk, are essential for anyone practising in this area.

Launching a major new research project examining the principles of succession law in comparative perspective, this book discusses the formalities which the law imposes in order for a person to make a testamentary disposal of property. Among the questions considered are the following. How are wills made? What precisely are the rules - as to the signature of the testator, the use of witnesses, the need for a notary public or lawyer, and so on? Is there is a choice of will-type and, if so, which type is used most often and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each? How common is will-making or do most people die intestate? What happens if formalities are not observed? How can requirements of form be explained and justified? How did the law develop historically, what is the state of the law today, and what are the prospects for the future?The focus is on Europe, and on countries which have been influenced by the European experience. Thus in addition to giving a detailed treatment of the law in Austria, Belgium, England and Wales, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain, the book explores legal developments in Australia, New Zealand, the United States of America, and in some of the countries of Latin America with a particular emphasis on Brazil. It also includes chapters on two of the mixed jurisdictions - Scotland and South Africa - and on Islamic Law. The book opens with chapters on Roman law and on the early modern law in Europe, thus setting the historical scene as well as anticipating and complementing the accounts of national history which appear in subsequent chapters; and it concludes with an assessment of the overall development of the law in the countries surveyed, and with some wider reflections on the nature and purpose of testamentary formalities.

Clignet's analysis of inheritance patterns in modern America is the first sustained treatment of the subject by a sociologist. Clignet shows that even today inheritance serves to perpetuate both familial wealth and familial relations. He examines what leads decedents to chose particular legal instruments (wills, trusts, insurance policies, gifts inter vivos) and how, in turn, the instrument chosen helps explain the extent and the form of inequalities in bequests, of a result of the gender or matrimonial status of the beneficiaries. The author's major is to identify and explain the most significant sources of variations in the amount and the direction of transfers of wealth after death in the United States. He uses two kinds of primary data: estate tax returns filed by a sample of male and female beneficiaries to estates in 1920 and 1944, representing two successive generations of estate transfers, and publicly recorded legal instruments such as wills and trusts. In addition, Clignet draws widely on secondary sources in the fields of anthropology, economics, and history. His findings reflect substantive and methodological concerns. The analysis underlines the need to rethink the sociology of generational bonds, as it is informed by age and gender. Death, Deeds, and Descendants underscores the variety of forms of inequality that bequests take and highlights the complexity of interrelations between the cultures of the decedents' nationalities and issues like occupation and gender. Inheritance is viewed as a way of illuminating the subtle tensions between continuity and change in American society. This book is an important contribution to the study of the relationship between sociology of the family and sociology of social stratification.

You have been named the executor of a will by a friend or family member. Are you prepared to meet the challenge and do you know how to avoid personal liability? Thousands of individuals each year face the daunting and often painful task of settling the estate of a loved one, and even with professional guidance from attorneys, accountants, and financial advisors, they are often ill-equipped to deal with many of the tasks necessary to manage and settle an estate—and may put themselves at serious financial risk.The Executor's Guide is the definitive instruction manual for anyone administering an estate under a will. Featuring step-by-step instructions, worksheets, checklists, and timetables, The Executor's Guide takes the reader through the entire process-from the time of death to the final closing of the estate. The Executor's Guide explains the full range of roles and responsibilities of the executor, including reading the will, hiring and supervising the attorney, dealing with court proceedings, notifying those who are entitled to property, finding and valuing assets, settling with creditors, filing taxes, and distributing the assets. Unique and highly practical elements include a comprehensive Summary of Assets (from Annuities to Videos), a glossary of essential terms, and a series of key questions to ask your attorney. Written in highly accessible language by an expert in the field, The Executor's Guide is at once authoritative and user-friendly—an essential resource for any family.

Joyce Rogers sheds new light upon Shakespeare's last public words through her study of medieval and Renaissance ecclesiastical and testamentary laws and custom. Professor Rogers provides extensive background material on English legal history and shows that the legal documents of the time do give legal answer to the doubts and speculations that have grown up around Shakespeare's will. She shows how the will is replete with elements of civil and common as well as ecclesiastical law and custom, making more understandable the disputed points of Shakespeare's will, and establishing that the will was as correct, incontestable, and conventional as possible.The main thrust of the book, however, is not on the law as such. It is on how the law was used by Shakespeare to serve the best interests and needs of the women and children in his family as well as the friends named therein. As such, the book will be invaluable to students and scholars of Elizabethan society and to all Shakespearean scholars.